The book Don’t let the Bedbugs Bite by Ellen Conford is about a girl named Sally whose mother is going to remarry a bully's father. Sally is bullied by Tina, Tina's father is marrying Sally's mother although Sally doesn’t want her to. Sally talks to her mother how Tina threatened her daily to extort things from her. Both Sally’s mother and Tina’s father teach at the same place so they don’t want anyone to know about their marriage because they know it will lead to gossip and rumors. On the day Tina's father comes for a trip, both Tina and Sally are nervous and in the car, they don’t talk to each other. After eating dinner at an expensive restaurant, they watch a show that Both Tina and Sally agree is amazing. But back in the car, Tina is silent again. When they get home, Tina sleeps in Sally's room and Sally finds out Tina is scared of the dark so she turns on some light and they go to sleep. This book teaches us about the style of bully, reason to bully, and friendship.
There are many types of bullies each with their own way of getting what they want. Verbal threats, physical beating, or even social torturing are all ways these bullies harm their victim in major ways. In the book, Sally knows that feeling because Tina got everything from her by verbally threatening to break her arm along with other threats. Sally didn’t want to lose her arm so she gave Tina what she wanted and this cycle kept on repeating daily. Tina also doesn’t just target Sally, she randomly picks and no one can stop her even though it is Tina versus everyone else. Tina is strong so no one can stop her and she gets what she wants based on fear that grows each day. Bullies try a lot of different tactics to bother kids and get their way, but no matter what tricks they use, all bullies are just trying to act tough by making others feel miserable.
These bullies have background and other factors that affect what they do and who they become. Family problems or feelings of dislike toward certain people could cause bullying behavior. Tina turns to being a bully after her mother left to be with someone else so she used this hate and anger as a motivation to bully others. This is one example of a bullies background eventually turning them into a bully. Sally on the other hand similarly didn’t have a father and even though she was sad and angry, she controlled herself and didn’t turn to bullying. Even when Sally hears about her mother marrying the bullies father, she doesn’t get mad enough to bully others or take out her hate on innocent people. Bullies have reasons behind their actions and you might know more by looking through their perspective and background.Understanding where bullies come from might help make sense of their behaviors, but bullying is never the answer.
Friends can be made even from the most unlikely people. It can form even between bully and victim or in other situations. At first, Sally is bullied by Tina and after she hears her mother will marry Tina’s father, she is devastated. This shows how much Sally dislikes Tina which would make them an unlikely pair for a friendship. At the end, they go to the theater and both love the show which helps them bond but in the car she goes back to silence. At the house however, they can relate because they are both scared of things and Sally helps Tina with the dark. They became friends even though before, they hated each other but then they realized how similar they are with likings and that everyone is afraid of something. This shows that even the most unlikely of people can become friends. Friendships can grow in different ways, like between people who used to have problems with each other as long as they choose to understand each other instead of fighting.
The book Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite by Ellen Conford is an interesting book about a girl named Sally who is bullied by Tina and it teaches us themes of style of bullying, reason to be a bully, and friendship. Bullies have different ways to bully others and they may also pick certain kids for specific reasons but all of them bully to get what they want. There can be many reasons a normal person can turn into a bully like family, hate, or just the want to be popular. Friendship can be made from unlikely people if they get to know each other and the other person's perspective can be just as important as their own. This book mainly talks about bullying but also gives us an insight deeper into the why and how of bullying.
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