Nov. 15 to 19 is Anti-bullying week in Canada, and Carolyn (Curtis) Greig has just released a new book that captures the feelings those who are bullied can go through.
Greig is a long time teacher and promoter if literacy, and said she wrote her first book when she was unable to find one that she, as an adult, and her daughter, a child, could both enjoy.
Her books feature a dachshund named Jerry, and Greig writes the story of dogs in a manner that it could be replaced with children. In this book, Jerry goes to school, but because of his short legs and long ears, some of the other dogs, German shepherds in particular, bully him. They take his dog biscuit lunch, order him to bring afternoon treats for them the next day, and generally make Jerry’s life miserable.
Jerry suddenly becomes valuable when the dogs’ ball goes down a gopher hole. Only he is small enough to crawl down it, and only he is able to retrieve their ball.
The story has a happy ending as the bigger dogs agree that even short dogs with long ears can do some things that they cannot.
“The story about bullying has been in my head for quite a while,” Greig said in an interview. Dachshunds are just a little bit different.”
It is that difference that attracted bullies, but Greig is aware that bullying is a big problem in schools.
She tested the book by having Hope Lehman, of St. Mary’s Catholic School in Mount Forest read the story to her grade one class.
“I wanted to make sure it was at their level,” she said.
She concluded when it comes to bullies and their targets “You don’t realize a person’s strengths by looking at them.
School Days is currently available in Fergus at Roxanne’s Reflections and at Eclectics, in Arthur.
Greig has plans to make the book available for sale in Mount Forest, Guelph, and other areas as quickly as possible.
As for bullying in general, she noted “It’s a common problem. It’s a growing problem.”
She hopes that her book can alleviate that problem for students through School Days.
The theme for Anti-bullying Week 2010 is Taking Action Together.
