METHUEN — About half the students gathered in Timony Grammar School's auditorium yesterday morning raised their hands when they were asked if they have been bullied. Roughly two-thirds raised their hands when their guest speaker, a 15-year-old author of a book about bullying, asked if they have bullied someone.
Brigitte Berman, author of the self-published bullying survival guide, "Dorie Witt's Guide to Surviving Bullies," talked to students about bullying.
"I don't think anyone should have to deal with bullying alone because they're not alone," said Berman, a Dover, Mass., resident.
One student asked if people at her high school in Brookline look at her differently now that she has written a book. Berman said no.
"I'm still Brigitte," said the self-described "science geek." "English teachers still grade me the same."
Berman urged the students to put themselves in the victim's shoes if they're giving someone a hard time, to intervene when someone else is bullied, to form groups to confront bullies, and to help victims by talking to them.
You don't have to like everyone, but you need to respect them, she told the students. She told the youngsters to "just turn around and walk away" when someone hassles them.
"It really infuriates them," she said.
That didn't work for one girl in the audience.
"I did that and I turned around and it made the situation worse. She came and hit me," the girl told the author.
Berman said other students must have witnessed the incident and neglected to intervene.
"It's your job as a bystander to step in and say, 'Stop it,'" she said.
Berman surveyed youth about their experiences and used what they said as the basis for the stories in her book. Some examples include a tale about a kid who befriended someone on the Internet who turned out to be a 50-year-old pedophile, and a chapter about bullying on the bus.
Berman said she spent "all day, every day" writing for an entire summer. The book came out last year, when Berman was 14. To learn more about it, log on to doriewitt.com.
