When Push Comes to Shove Back - Book Review

By Paul Langhorst, Chief Marketing Officer & Co-Founder of SchoolReach and GroupCast.

February 2012

At the School Safety Advocacy Council’s National Conference on Bullying, I had the opportunity to meet author Janet M. Irvine and pick up her book “When Push Comes to Shove Back.“  It was a chance meeting that happened while I was exploring the exhibit hall. What caught my eye with this book?
First, I love to read. Second, as part of launch of our CyberBully Hotline program I was attending the Bullying Conference to learn as much as I could about bully prevention efforts and programs. So, it was no accident that I had an interest in Janet’s book which was a fictional account of a bully, a victim and a bunch of bystanders who banded together to thwart a ring of drug dealers infecting their school.
The two main characters, Jeremy Wilson – the bully, and Matt Carver – his daily victim, are accidentally thrust together following Jeremy being tricked into becoming an agent for the dealer, Tim Halliday. Fearing he has no way out of the drug circle, Jeremy relents and accepts Matt’s offer for help. Matt uses his fascination with military strategy to plan an elaborate ruse and trap for Tim and his agents.
The book is compelling and fast paced, with short chapters consisting of just a few pages, laid out for easy reading. With the exception of some fantastic cell phone eavesdropping software that is used to track and capture the drug dealers, (which, I am not even sure exists but probably does!) the book is more than believable.
I believe “When Push Comes to Shove Back” would  make a great read for middle school aged students as part of a class room project on bully prevention to drive home the point that people are not what they may seem, and that he/she who was once the bully or the victim, could easily have those tables turned.
Enjoy it. I did!
Paul

http://www.cyberbullyhotline.com/
http://www.schoolreach.com/

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