Billy's Tenth Birthday : Life Lesson - Bullying

Although written for entertainment about a boy becoming ten - a milestone birthday, the story also deals with the issue of bullying, keeping secrets and not being able to talk to adults. These are common concerns for children of this age. Parents can use this book as an icebreaker to stimulate discussion on subjects many children find hard to talk openly about. Billy is entering young adulthood. He has to make sense of his environment. Like all children, he is confronted with a complex, diverse, fast changing, exciting world full of opportunities, contradictions and dangers through which he must navigate on his way to becoming a responsible adult. This is a confusing time with a plethora of conflicting information coming from a variety of sources including family, friends, peers, teachers, television and the internet. What underlies Billy's journey, as with all children, is the values he will adopt. Values provide us with the basis on which we assess the usefulness of what we are told, and how to react to situations we experience; in short, how to forge a path through life. Young children have leanings mostly gained from their parents; becoming a young adult is the time they form values for themselves. The Life Lessons Series are written to have children form positive values which will serve them at this stage in their life. Each book uses the power of traditional storytelling to illustrate, guide and shape their understanding in a safe environment. Bullying is a big problem for children today but it is also part of learning to stand up for oneself. In this story Billy, like any other child, is looking forward to a big birthday. However, the local bullies hear he's been given a twenty pound note and challenge him to hand it over. Billy realises he can't fight the gang so has had to agree to their demands. At first Billy doesn't dare tell a grownup as he feels guilty about losing it. Billy and his friend Ant try to hatch a plan to get it back. But it's not until Maxine, Ant's sister, hears about the problem that she realises an adult needs to be involved. Grandad who does party magic, is the ideal person to get it back. Max and Grandad hatch a plot. The bullies don't realise what is happening until it's too late. Grandad recovers the twenty pound note leaving the bullies bemused. Disarming a bully is the better way of dealing with them. You can't rid the world of bullies but you can do something about how you deal with them.