Summer is almost over and that means back to school shopping. An essential school supply, especially for tweens and teens is The Survival Guide to Bullying: Written by a Teen by debut author Aija Mayrock. While most non-fictions books that address bullying are written by adults, which offer a myriad of statistics and cold hard facts, The Survival Guide to Bullying: Written by a Teen, has a different and refreshing approach. As the title indicates, it is written by an actual teen. Nineteen year old Aija artfully captures readers’ attention as she engages and informs them about her own experiences with bullying and offers practical advice to help those who are dealing with bullying now.

With fun typography, delightful doodles, and stunning “roems” (which author Auja describes as “rap poems”), readers are instantly captivated by her wonderful creativity, and as Aija shares her personal struggle with bullying, readers can’t help but feel connected to this lovely and brave young woman. The guidance is useful, relatable, and tailored perfectly to the intended audience, as it reads intelligently yet is still charismatic.

Useful and inspirational, this is a beneficial book for tweens/teens that are seeking help when it comes to the “battlefield” of everyday life.

 “I can’t tell you that the methods in this book will work for you, but I can promise possibilities. So take what you can from this book and create your own journey.”
This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Scholastic

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language: 1 mild obscenity.

Violence/Gore:  Mention of teen suicide; author encourages readers to not lash out physically, harming yourself or others.

Sex/Nudity:  Mention of sexual orientation; mention of using nude photos as a form of bullying.   

Mature Subject Matter:

Bullying:  physical, verbal, mental, emotional, cyber.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

Author advocates readers to abstain from alcohol and drugs.