The Bully by Paul Langan Book Report Shanta R. Wilson Liberty University PSYC/221 Mrs. Rhonda Wilson July 31, 2011 I am writing my book report for Mrs. Rhonda Wilson, which is the instructor for PSYC/221. The book I will be giving my report on is The Bully by Paul Langan. This book contains 190 pages. It was copyright in 2002 by Townsend Press, Inc. and printed in the United States of America. The cover was illustrated in 2001 by Gerald Purnell and was designed by Larry Didona. I choose this book because it is something children face every day.

The Bully is a story about a boy named Darrell Mercel who lives in Philadelphia with his mom. In Philadelphia, he had a best friend named Mark that would always help him when he had a trouble because he was a small boy and skinny. At that time, his mom had a new job in California better than in Philadelphia, so Darrell and his mom had to move there. One thing which Darrell was scared when they moved to a new life was people will bully him. He thought that he would not have any friends in there.

One day, he went to the supermarket to pick up some groceries and he saw a girl who named Amberlynn studied the same school as him which was Bluford high school, and they had a chance to meet each other. The first day Darrell went to school; there was a boy who named Tyray started bullying him. He forces Darrell to paying him ten dollar every Friday. Darrell was very scared of him, so he agreed to pay Tyray every Friday. After many days Darrell talked with Amberlynn, he knew that Amberlynn liked him but Tyray liked her also, so he didn’t want to talk with her any more.

In school, he tried to practice for the wrestling team and he had got good point. Although he lost the first match by two points, the second match he won eight points. After that, they went to a party; Darrell invited Amberlynn go to a dance, but suddenly Tyray came and humiliate Darrell and so Darrell went to home early. The winter comes, and Bluford high school was closed for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. It was the first Christmas that Darrell had spent away from Philadelphia and his friend.

The first Friday of New Year, Darrell didn’t want to go to the supermarket parking lot to met Tyray because he didn’t want to be scared of Tyray. He decided that he didn’t want pay to him again. At school, Tyray came and asked Darrell about his money, but the teacher came in so Tyray went away. When they went to eat lunch, Tyray and Darrell started fighting and then Tyray was crying because he broke his wrist. Finally, they were both sent to the principal office. At that time, Darrell told the principal what happened. In conclusion, Tyray got suspended and Darrell got a warning.

There was this big fight between the two main characters Darrell and Tyray. Most fights normally go both ways but this particular fight was strangely one sided. Tyray. The excitement from this scene is clearly the fight itself and because of the irony of the situation. The irony was that the Darrell was untouchable in a fight against the bully. Constantly being laughed at and clowned by your peers can get very frustrating and unbearable. Darrell didn’t receive any respect from hardly anyone in school because he was labeled as a “punk” from not retaliating to Tyrays foolishness.

This conflict led to Darrell taking martial arts classes, learning a myriad of moves and techniques, and displaying them in the final altercation between him and Tyray. Darrell had to overcome his struggles with a bully named Tyray. What made this scene so charismatic was the fact that Darrell was always scared of Tyray the whole time and now he finally stood up to him. Another exciting aspect of the book was the way Tyray treated Darrell when he first moved to Philadelphia. He would occasionally beat him up, take his lunch money, and publicly humiliate him in front of all of Bluford High.

I believe the author’s purpose in writing this book is to show kids that everyone has feelings and what bullying can do to people. It emphasizes the feelings of bullies and victims through characters such as Tyray and Darrell. For example, Darrell tells us feelings throughout the entire book and we see how they change as he gets bullied. The theme of the novel is that you should always treat others the way that you would want them to treat you. I think that since the author conveys to us the feelings of Tyray nd Darrell, he wants us to understand how important treating each other right really is. This book sends out a positive message. It takes a careful look at bullies. It describes what happens when a young person is bullied and how it feels to be bullied. Bullying involves being singled out and teased or mistreated over a period of time. It is one of the biggest problems faced by young people. REFERENCE Langan, Paul. (2002). The Bully. Townsend Press, Inc. Bingham, Jane. (1st Ed. ). (2010). Taking Action Against Bullying. Wayland/The Rosen Publishing Group Inc.