Bystander by James Preller


4.5 Stars - Must read for middle school students


     Eric hated being the new kid in middle school.  To his surprise, though, he is asked to join a popular group the first week of his 7th grade year.  Griffin seemed to be the leader of the group - he was goodlooking, charming, popular, and all the parents and community members seemed to love him.  It wasn't long, though, before Eric saw Griffin's dark side.


Griffin loved to bully others - hurt them, scare them, steal their most treasured possessions.  Being in Griffin's circle came at a cost.  You were expected to participate in Griffin's "fun activities" or look the other way.


When Eric sees how Griffin tortures David, a 7th grader labeled an outcast, he finally decides to take a stand.  Eric tells Griffin he's antics are stupid and mean.  Eric will no longer be a bystander and watch Griffin run all over everyone.


Griffin has a lot of buried anger.  He doesn't like being confronted by anyone.  Now Eric has decided he want be a bystander anymore, Griffin decides to make him his next target....



*Recommended Read Aloud

29 comments:

  1. I think that Bystander is a great book for people who don't like to read. It teaches everyone about bullying. Griffin, ( the bully) is sneaky, a liar, and manipulative. He has is ( friends) do all his dirty work while he watches. Eric had become Griffin's friend untill he found out his true colors. Now he has come from his friend, to his next target. Bystander is a really good book.

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  2. omg i love this book i love to read thisbook if you do post 2 just like me ...;}:}:]:];];];};]:]

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  3. this book is awsome! my favorite part is when eric goes in to griffens house to get his stuff back for revenge and gets trapped! the way the author discibes griffens dad is sooooooooooooo! funny!LOL! i wish icould write a book that good!the book all soo tells a story like i mean a lesson wich is never trust new friends,stick up for what you belive in and for others, and dont do bad just to be cool beacause it just leads to what happend to eric and how griffen used him and tricked him! but what a goooood book!

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  4. Wow.Bystander is an amazing book.my favorate part is when Griffen pours soda on Eric behind the store. i also liked how it began and ended.;)

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  5. this book is amazing its full of surprises with griffin and his attitude i love how the book words things and puts it so discriptive.

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  6. Bystander by James Preller shows a good example of bulling , it's wrong ! I love how eric gets his revenage on Griffen for taking his stuff and gets caught by his dad, best part !! I lived how the author wrote the book and discriped somethings in the book, it really pulled me in,and sometimes it would make me have a reaction to it . Laughing, being angry, and other feelings. It showed how sometimes kids can be apart of bully sistuations and how they take it either right or wrong. In the begining i think Eric was making the wrong choice but, in the end he knew what he had to do right.

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  7. This book is a good book. I enjoyed lisinning to this book in class allmost everyday. In the beginning you think that Earic will be the bystander then he gets bullied. Later on he goes into Griffens room and takes all his stuff back. Then he leaves his shoes after that they didnt speek again and they didnt say it but they felt liike they had and agreement.

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  8. The Bystander was a good book, which I enjoyed hearing read aloud, but some parts were a little hard for me to follow. One part that I didn't understand was near the beginning. The "Ketchup Boy" part really confused me... I didn't see how it had ANYTHING to do with the story that much, but I guess the author found it neccessary. Other than that and a few other parts, the book was pretty good! My favorite part is when Griffin steals the CD's from Eric and money from Eric's brother. That part was really suspenseful. I also LOVE the suspense in the part where Eric breaks into the Connelly's house and then hears Griffin's dad snoring and accidentally leaves his shoes there!! That made me laugh, because I could clearly visualize it. I would probably recommend this book to a friend. For the most part I enjoyed it. It did a good job of teaching about bullying and how you shouldn't be a bystander.

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  9. This book is a good book because it teaches us not to bully people in school and to not be mean. Also i enjoyed reading this book in class. This book is full of suprises and it's funny.

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  10. Bystander was a very good book. It kept me on my toes and it was very suspenseful. Some people might not think that Bystander was suspenseful, but i did. My favorite scene in this book was when David Hallenback took Eric into the pet cemetery and Griffin and his gang came up and confronted Eric. During the confitation Cody punched Eric in tha face. While Eric was down David was kicking him in the stomach. That shows that Eric wasn't the bystander anymore he was Griffin's next target.

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  11. This book is a good book because it starts when Eric moves to a new town and he meets Griffin and he thinks Griffin is a good friend but he is actually a bully, but Eric figures that out the hard way.

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  12. this book was also a very good book.it mad me mad when griffn was bullying his class mates.ithink that eric should have stoped being hids friend when he saw griffn bullty his first classmate.but eric was also very brave to have stood up to him!!!soon after all of the people thet grifffn hung out with came around to accualy talking to eric without griffn being there it mad me happy at the end when eric went back to being just the way he was.

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  13. Bystander is awesome. U gotta read it. 5 out of 5 stars.... '-_'

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  14. I loved Bystander. Though I think this could do with 5+ stars and a sequel. A book about bullying is common these days. But not a book where it's centered around the bully's friend. Eric was a well described character in the book. I could actually feel as if he were there. A book like this is certainly uncommon, but in a good way.

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  15. This was a great book. I especially liked the part when Eric stole from Griffin and ended up losing his shoes. That was ironic. But overall, this was an amazing book!

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  16. bystander was a great book it was about kids who get bullied by there pears that were suposblly there friends. was a great book!

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  17. This book tells you alot about bullies and how you can stand there and watch it happen and you don't tell someone. Also it tells you that you can do something about it and you can tell an adult about the problem.

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  18. this book shows how much bullying can hurt people. it was a great book. something i really want to read again!

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  19. The Bystander is A Amazing Book! It Definatley Shows A grerat Example Of Bullying. It Relates to alot of students Because most of us know how it feels like to be bullied. Eric(the victim) had just moved into a new town when he starts getting harrased by Griffin(the bully) and his possy. Eric than trys to stop the bullying but finds out that in order to do that he Must to relate to the bullies. At the end of the book erik sticks up for a person that he had watched getting Harrased the same way(thats why its called the bystander). By the end of the book he realizes his mistakes and Does good.

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  20. The Bystander is A creative Book! It Definatley Shows A grerat Example Of Bullying. It Relates to alot of students Because most of us know how it feels like to be bullied. Eric(the victim) had just moved into a new town when he starts getting harrased by Griffin(the bully) and his possy. Eric than trys to stop the bullying but finds out that in order to do that he Must to relate to the bullies. At the end of the book erik sticks up for a person that he had watched getting Harrased the same way(thats why its called the bystander). By the end of the book he realizes his mistakes and changes back to his old self.

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  21. This book was good but not as great as i hoped! i love how things changed griffin by the end, eric helped alot and he was a very strange boy but he was very good. if i went to his school i would totally look up to him. he is a great role modle. bullying hurts and no one likes it. this book hoppfully changed everyone that read this to be a better person!(:

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  22. This book thoult a very good leason to me. That is never just stand around and watch bullying happen .Tell somebody! Like Eric should have done when he witnessed Griffin bullying other kids. This is a very important lesson to always remember. Because if u dont somebody could end up emotionaly hurt or even fisacaly hurt.

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  23. I didn't really like The Bystander. Many people can relate to it because in almost every school there are a lot of bullies. But some of the things that happen in this story aren't that realistic, and the story just went by over my head and I didn't understand most of the things that were happening in this book. But what I did like about the story was how the story taught you that it isn't good to be a bully.

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  24. This book shows how to choose your friends and shows how bullying can hurt people. Hanging around the wrong people make you act like that.

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  25. Bystander was a great book. It really had me hooked every time I stoped.every time I stoped I just wanted to open it again and again. there was so much action, drama, and suspense. At first I thought it would be boring unintresting and plan out lame but it was not it was just amazing.

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  26. To me this book was more boyish but told the unwanted truth about bullying. Its about the new kid Eric. Eric makes friends with the wrong crowd: Griffens crowd.Eric watches Griffen bully kids but never joins in on the action.Soon Eric was the victam of the Griffen attacts.This brings Eric to a closer to Mary an "EX member of Griffens group.

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  27. bystanderd is a book i think every one should read becuase the bulling that happens in this book realy changes ur life after u read it!

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  28. I actally read this one in class a couple of weeks back. The one thing i like about this book is...... What the kids had to go through to fit and and be like the other. their are many characters in this book...like Hallenback,their teacher,Eric, and Griffin and many more....... This is why i love this book it rocks !!!!1

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  29. This is honestly one of my favorite books. It is about this kid named Eric who is a new kid at school. He meets someone named Griffin and soon finds out that Griffin picks on some people at school. Eric stands up to him and tells him to stop picking on kids. Thats when things get bad for Eric.

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