Open Road Media Authors Speak Out Against Bullying

October marks the seventh anniversary of National Bullying Prevention Month, a campaign launched by the Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights National Center for Bullying Prevention in 2006. In support of the campaign, blockbuster authors Dean Koontz, Peter Lerangis, Bette Greene, Patricia MacLachlan, and Dr. Logan Levkoff speak out on bullying in a powerful new video from Open Road Integrated Media. Bullying Prevention Month highlights the epidemic of bullying in America and the harsh social environments children face every day. In this video children will see:

1. There is hope.

2. They are not alone.

3. There are people they can turn to for support.

4. Teachers, parents, and other authority figures have a responsibility to help.

These authors reveal their own experiences with bullies, and open up about a stressful issue that is all too common for children today.

Bestselling author Dean Koontz tackles bullying in his book Oddkins, an illustrated story for young readers. The Oddkins are toys created to befriend lonely or neglected children; as the plot unfolds, the Oddkins confront and defeat various threats. In this video, Koontz describes his response to a young fan who was being bullied at the time, a message that mirrors his book: You can survive and triumph over a bad situation.
Newbery Award–winning author Bette Greene elaborates on a true story of someone who was tragically murdered for being different. Based on actual events, her novel The Drowning of Stephan Jones tells the harrowing story of one small town’s outbreak of homophobia. Before writing her novel, Greene conducted hundreds of interviews across the country, in order to accurately describe the backgrounds and points of view of both the victims and the perpetrators of harassment and hate crimes. “It’s bullying in the extreme,” she says of such attacks.

Other authors in this video describe their personal experiences with bullying. Peter Lerangis, author of the Watchers series as well as several books in the 39 Clues series, talks movingly about being bullied himself as a child. He finally found ways to use the power of words to protect himself.

Dr. Logan Levkoff, a sexologist, relationship expert, and author of Third Base Ain’t What It Used To Be, talks about what responsible adults can do to address bullying. In her classroom, for instance, she has a no-tolerance policy for offensive language from her students. She notes, “a lot of the conversations that we have perpetuate hateful messages, and we don’t even realize it.”

Meanwhile, Newbery medal–winning author Patricia MacLachlan, who recently wrote the Boxcar Children prequel The Aldens of Fair Meadow Farm, encourages people to “tell someone you trust” if faced with harassment.
National Bullying Prevention Month provides a platform to address the potentially dire consequences of bullying—and these authors add their powerful testimony. They hope to change the way parents, teachers, children, and society as a whole deal with bullying. This video is a call to action: Speak out and speak up whenever you see or experience bullying.

Need to know what to look for? Visit the following websites for information on bullying prevention:

National Child Traumatic Stress Network

PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center

Stop Bullying