Julie Dart Writes a Children's Book for All Ages

It’s not often that I review a children’s book, but I have one for you now.  It’s Julie Dart’s Ellie Stands Up To The Bully.  This is a book for everybody, children and adults alike.  It teaches some (and reminds us all) what it’s like to be bullied.  We’ve all been subjected to a bully at one time or another – and it can be a life-altering experience, in a bad way.

In Julie’s book, Ellie is a 2^nd grader at a new school.  Right away, she makes friends and loves her new school – until Nick calls her Smelly Ellie and is very mean to her.  Ellie is so distraught that by the 2^nd day she pretends to be sick so that she can go home.  Her mother and her grandmother both help her understand that Nick must be very sad to be so mean.  Happy people don’t bully other people.  (SPOILER ALERT!)  When Ellie stands up to Nick at the end of the book, I teared up.  Although this is not so unusual for me, I didn’t expect it to happen with a “children’s” book.

The book has excellent drawings, but it’s not a “picture” book.   There are 61 total pages (large print,), including title pages and drawings.  Most importantly, it is suitable for 2^nd graders to read.  And every 2^nd grader (and 3^rd grader, and 4^th grader, and 8^th grader…) should read it.

What’s also very cool is that at the end of the book, Julie cites resources for those who are being bullied.  She gives specific advice to children and parents and lists phone numbers and websites.  That is a great public service.

As of now, Julie has self-published Ellie.  If you want to purchase it, you can go to Amazon to get it.  Julie is hoping that it will be picked up by a publisher so that it will have a wider audience.  Of course every author wants to sell more books.  But in this case, and knowing Julie as I do, she is equally concerned about getting a very important message across.  She relies on painful personal experience to craft a story for all generations.  So, go to Amazon right now and buy this book.  I’m certainly glad I did.