Recommended Ages: Gr. 6-8

Plot Summary: Zebby is frustrated that she can't write the articles she wants to write for the school newspaper so she convinces her best friend to start an online newspaper with her. Together they create Truth About Truman.com, and start off with a question for the readers about the worst teacher at Truman School. Once the popular girls hear about it, they start posting answers and claim it to be the thing everyone is doing. No one knows who created it, and Zebby knows that she can't reveal herself of they won't like it anymore because she's not popular. One day someone nicknamed milkandhoney posts a picture of a fat Lilly and asks everyone to guess who it is. Lilly is mortified and is afraid her friends will know it is her. Instead, people think it is Hayley. Their friendship gets strained but keeps going, until milkandhoney posts that Lilly is a lesbian. After that, Reece assumes they are broken up and Hayley makes the call to drop Lilly because now no one respects her and she doesn't want that lack of respect to brush off on everyone else in their group. Lilly refuses to tell her mom what is happening and pretends she is sick. Zebby and Amr don't know if they should take it off the website, but decide the purpose of the website is to give everyone the opportunity to share whatever they want, and they don't know that it is a lie. Zebby sees something suspicious while using Amr's computer one day and accuses him of being milkandhoney. After a big fight, Zebby and Amr make up and try to figure out where Lilly might have disappeared to. Will they be able to find her? Who IS milkandhoney? Why are they doing this to Lilly?

Setting: anywhere, USA

Characters:
Zebby Bower - wants to be a real journalist exposing real issues with society not gossip
Amr Nasir - Muslim, best friends with Zebby, really good with computers
Reece - Lilly's boyfriend even though he briefly dated Brianna, talks to her through chat often
Brianna Brinkman - knew that they shouldn't have been friends with Lilly to begin with, went to elementary school with Lilly and knew more about her past
Lilly Clarke - victim, used to be friends with Zebby, became overweight after her parents got divorced, came back from a summer camp skinny and popular
Hayley Wood - the queen bee of the popular crowd, works hard to be the most popular, starts a cheerleading troupe with Brianna and Lilly, they practice and research cheers in the library after school
Trevor - lost his mom to a brain clot two days after Lilly said "Trevor is so ugly his mom would probably keel over and die of embarrassment for giving birth to him", draws cartoons and is excited to post one to the website, kids at school tear apart his cartoon when he brings it to school and he is very upset because he was going to bring it to a conference and show others for the first time
Sara - unpopular girl with eczema, outcast because of her bad skin, people think she is gross, became a mute this year and only talks at home, not even to her teachers because she'd rather be known as the girl that doesn't talk than the gross girl

Recurring Themes: bullying, mean girls, popularity, friendship, cyberbullying, journalism, truth

Controversial Issues:
the popular girls are accused of being lesbians, AKA lezzies (derogatory language)
Trevor shares his story of being accused of being gay and realizes his two uncles are homosexuals

Personal Thoughts: I didn't like this one. As a librarian who teaches classes on cyberbullying, I recognize how important this topic is. However I always have a hard time with deciding what is okay to share and talk about and what might just give ideas to students. I don't think this book has any redeeming qualities to make it worthwhile. I think the writing is heavy-handed with lessons and not authentic. It reads awkwardly. The overall plot is representative of true life but the students are stereotyped with no other character development. The accusation of Lilly being called a lesbian is insulting because of the way it's written, but as a reader you don't sympathize with the character as much as you should. Even though this happens in junior highs all over the US, it just doesn't work in this story because of the character development issues and poor writing.

Genre: realistic fiction, drama

Pacing: slow-medium
Characters: each chapter switches who is telling their side of the story, easy to keep track of all the characters
Frame:
Storyline:

Activity: Discuss moral dilemma ( )

The Truth about Truman School is a realistic fiction novel addressing the issues of bullying and gossip at school. The prevalence of cyber bullying and use of social networking has taken bullying to a whole new degree in today’s youth as hinted in this book. Zebby and Amr, the nerdy creators of The Truth about Truman, had the intentions of creating an underground online school newspaper for students at their middle school. With only two rules of operation: work posted must be original and whatever is posted must be truth, the website becomes a thriving site for the middle school. Intended for topics like curriculum and school lunch quality, the site quickly transforms into a gossip column that eventually spirals into hateful posts and links (about appearances and sexual orientation) that not only damage a popular girl’s reputation, but humiliates her to the point where she becomes isolated.

The issues addressed are relevant to middle school readers, however the characters are flat, stereotypical and predictable. Hillestad Bulter ‘s writing in this book is mediocre and only peaked my interest in last 15 pages. This book bundles every bad aspect of education, middle school and social youth into one book fueling a dramatic ending. Regardless, this book does truthfully address what cyber bullying looks like, the dangers for all parties involved, legal obligations and personal ownership of the power of one’s words. Overall, a bit of a yawn.

Age Recommendations: 6-8th graders ( )

Reviewed by Jaglvr for TeensReadToo.com

Disenchanted with the censorship of their school paper, Zebby resigns as editor. Complaining to her best friend, Amr, the two decide to create a web page. If the school paper won't print the hard-hitting articles that Zebby wants written, then they will create an Internet paper.

And so, www.thetruthabouttruman.com is born.

They soon realize that unless the popular kids start talking about it, no one will bother with the web site. So with some creativity, Zebby gets the ball rolling, and before too long, they have over 400 hits to the site. And people are posting, as well. Zebby and Amr want the site to be truthful and allow anyone to post and add to it.

When a vicious poll, "Who is the biggest poseur?" is posted, Zebby and Amr debate about removing it, but instead, decide to leave it up. Little do the two realize that one simple poll will create a snowball effect.

Lilly, one of the most popular girls in school, becomes the target of the cyber-bullying. Though some of the information is true, most is false, but the kids at school start to believe it. Soon, Zebby and Amr are fighting with each other, accusing the other of being the perpetrator.

When Lilly disappears, everything comes crashing down. The police are called in, and the web site is revealed.

THE TRUTH ABOUT TRUMAN SCHOOL is a scary look at how cyber-bullying can occur. News reports make it all too clear that such things can happen in real life. By reading THE TRUTH ABOUT TRUMAN SCHOOL, it's easy to see how one simple web site can hurt an innocent person. The story makes the reader realize that anyone can be hurt, even if the information is false. ( )

Tired of being told what to write by the school newspaper's advisor, Zibby and her friend Amr start an underground newspaper online where everyone is free to post anything, but things spiral out of control when a cyberbully starts using the site to harrass one popular girl. ( )

The Truth About Truman School is a timely look at how "cyber bullying" can take on a life of its own. Two middle school students are feeling censored by the school newspaper advisor, so they create a website where all students can report the "truth" about the happenings at their school. An anonymous poster targets one of the popular girls, and soon other students join in the bullying, and it spirals out of control.

The story is told in first person, through quite a few viewpoints. It's a great way to see how the developing situation affects everyone - from the well-meaning students, to the targeted girl, to the popular clique, and the traditionally-bullied members of the school body. The characters are sort of cliché - but it works well. I particularly enjoyed the viewpoints of the popular students. It was clear that popularity isn't necessarily a great thing - the popular kids must constantly worrying about maintaining their status.

This book is targeted at the middle school readers, but it's not inappropriate for about 10 years and up. The bullying in the book centers around weight, and accusations of homosexuality. The accusations of homosexuality are very middle-school (Ewww! She's so gay!), and not at all explicit. There are some boyfriend-girlfriend issues, but they are very mild and innocent.

The reading level is about fourth grade. The story is interesting enough that stronger readers will eat it up, but it's very accessible to the more struggling readers. ( )