Blubber

I loved this book as a kid and was about to give it to my third grader. I started reading it and was surprised to see that very early on in the book a child calls the teacher a "bi*ch!" This should have been in the summary above!

This book is awful. There's an incident where they try to strip a girl in the bathroom. Inappropriate!

My 11 year old was reading this book. She brought it to me and pointed to the word "chink" and asked me what the word meant. WHY is there no indication in the Common Sense review about the book containing racial slurs?

This book is worthless garbage for any age--a complete waste of time to read, but it is definitely NOT for elementary school! In the "what parents need to know section" it states that there is no profanity. Perhaps whoever wrote that did not actually read the book, as there are no fewer than 10 instances of profanity in this book! Also, the message of this book is that if you are being bullied, you should keep quiet, and when it's over, you can bully other people yourself! At no point in the story do the bullies suffer any negative consequences for their behavior, except when one of them tries to stand up to the bully, and her negative consequence is to be bullied by the previous victim! Definitely not a message children need to learn, especially with the current culture of cyber bullying! This book probably only appeals to kids because it is "shocking" with it's profanity and the viciousness depicted between the bullies and victims.

Fat kid bullied. Others faking there way to make fat kid look weird and like a liar.

Every Judy Blume book I’ve read is full of negativity and hate. It is time for people to stop celebrating her books that inspire kids to be cruel and mean. Terrible idea to have these floating around in schools and encouraging kids to read.

When you start this book it might be a little intense, but after you read all of it you'll probably want more! It shows how bullying affects some children horribly. My daughter couldn't put it down. She finished it in a manner of days and wanted a sequel.

Unlike most books about bullying, this well-written story is not told from the viewpoint of the victim (Linda), but rather one of the perpetrators, who is called Jill. While this story certainly doesn't condone her actions, it causes the reader to understand her situation and why she joins in with the taunting of her classmate. Though there is not a lot of violence or swearing, some of the scenes are pretty tough to read and they really evoke sympathy from the reader. At the same time, one of the reasons I really like this book is because it's not all doom and gloom; some funny events happen to Jill and her family (I especially like the character of her little brother!) and they make this thought-provoking book easier to stomach, whilst not distracting from the main plot.

I read this book around age 11-12 and just finished it on CD with my two kids. Forgot how incredibly cruel it was. I know that is the point, but I kept cringing until the tides turned at the end (a little too late for me).