Review Detail

Infamous bully Niko Kaylor is back and the new student at a hippie school where the only rule is "no bullying". Rather than giving up his ways, he decides to go undercover and cyberbully his classmates.

I was really excited to get my hands on this book, as my students are greedy for anything that is written as a humorous confession: Big Nate, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Dork Diaries, etc. And even though I didn't really enjoy Journal of a Schoolyard Bully, it doesn't matter because they will be clamoring to read it. Unfortunately, this felt like a cheap imitation of those other books; it wasn't as funny and the undertones were a lot darker. Niko's relationship with his father is especially sensitive, and goes a long way to explaining his pathos.

Still, my opinion doesn't matter because Journal of a Schoolyard Bully will never see shelf time. I won't be pressing it into the hands of my students, but they will find it anyway and probably love it.