Save Me A Seat by Sarah Weeks & Gita Varadarajan

Joe and Ravi could not be more unalike - on the surface that is. Both are starting fifth grade, both are the "different" children in the class and you know right from the start that they are going to get bullied like hell.

I have been hearing about bullying in schools - heard it a lot of late and I was surprised as I do not recall it being a problem as such when my own children were in school. Maybe because children in my part of the world all come from different communities, different religions, and even widely differing eating practices that it never struck me that being a total vegetarian in an American public school could be an ordeal. Thinking about it poor Ravi did not stand a chance - his mother and grandmother in sari, picking him up and molly coddling him all the way and his food with its smells of oil and spices. Then Joe the other boy whose mother became the lunch monitor in school and made the cardinal error of blowing him a kiss across the canteen. Then we have the all time popular boy whose main purpose was to make fun of others, and make Joe and Ravi's life a misery.

How Joe and Ravi extricate themselves without the help or rather with the guidance only of parents and go it on their own to stand up to bullying was a good story. It also helped that there were teachers who understood the problems faced by both Joe and Ravi and decided to support them all the way. In a very unobtrusive manner.

I did not know when I requested this that this would be a story good for youngsters on this theme of bullying but this would be an excellent read for school children in all schools.

This was sent to be by Edelweiss.