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ENLARGE
Jim Knapp, principal of Sunnyslope Elementary School in Green, wrote a fictional book about bullying, ‘Bobby’s Story’.
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ENLARGE
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Jim Knapp, principal of Sunnyslope Elementary School in Green, works with fifth-graders as they write a play ‘The Lippendippens’ at the school last week. Knapp wrote a fictional book about bullying called ‘Bobby’s Story.’ The students used one of the characters in the book as a springboard for the play.
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Bobby’s Story” tells of a middle-school-aged boy who’s poor and has moved to a new school.
Bobby doesn’t fit in, and he becomes the victim of bullies, both girls and boys.
While the story, particularly the ending, is fiction, most of it is true. Jim Knapp lived it, but rather than being bullied for several weeks, he endured beatings and harassment for years.
Knapp, now 57 and principal at Sunnyslope Elementary School in Green, sat down one July and wrote for 10 or 12 hours every day, recording and compressing his memories into about 175 pages.
The message of the book, which is written for a fourth-grade audience and older, is that while it may be hard for one person to stand up for what’s right, it’s easy for a group to do it. Knapp also hopes children will think about how they treat one another, especially kids who are new to a school or don’t easily fit with a group.
Knapp used to tell his children stories when they were little. Now one is a school counselor and another is a school principal, and they told their father he should write down those stories.
Writing “Bobby’s Story” was therapeutic for Knapp.
“That felt good to actually take the time and put it into some meaningful words,” he said.
Knapp tested the book with students at Sunnyslope. They didn’t know who had written it, and all but one gave it a superior rating. They were surprised to learn they knew the author, who also turned out to be Bobby.
Knapp wants adults to spend more time with the victims of bullying. Most bullies get over that behavior as they get older.
“The victim, whatever it is that’s happened to them, never forgets it,” Knapp said.
Certain children are more likely to be targets — they may be poor, quiet and weaker than the bully.
Knapp’s experience was typical. The worst of the bullying tapered off after middle school, and during his high school years, the older kids who had bullied him left school and moved on.
In Douglas County, 43 percent of eighth-graders reported being harassed at school or on the way to and from school during the 2005-06 school year, according to the Oregon Healthy Teens Survey. The most common reason for the harassment was because of weight, clothes, acne and other physical characteristics.
“Bobby’s Story” teaches children — whether they are victims, witnesses or bullies themselves — how to stop the cycle.
Knapp wanted to give children the message that “the behavior is wrong, and the other part is we don’t have to accept it. ... There are some ways to deal with it when it shows up.”
Bobby doesn’t fit in, and he becomes the victim of bullies, both girls and boys.
While the story, particularly the ending, is fiction, most of it is true. Jim Knapp lived it, but rather than being bullied for several weeks, he endured beatings and harassment for years.
Knapp, now 57 and principal at Sunnyslope Elementary School in Green, sat down one July and wrote for 10 or 12 hours every day, recording and compressing his memories into about 175 pages.
The message of the book, which is written for a fourth-grade audience and older, is that while it may be hard for one person to stand up for what’s right, it’s easy for a group to do it. Knapp also hopes children will think about how they treat one another, especially kids who are new to a school or don’t easily fit with a group.
Knapp used to tell his children stories when they were little. Now one is a school counselor and another is a school principal, and they told their father he should write down those stories.
Writing “Bobby’s Story” was therapeutic for Knapp.
“That felt good to actually take the time and put it into some meaningful words,” he said.
Knapp tested the book with students at Sunnyslope. They didn’t know who had written it, and all but one gave it a superior rating. They were surprised to learn they knew the author, who also turned out to be Bobby.
Knapp wants adults to spend more time with the victims of bullying. Most bullies get over that behavior as they get older.
“The victim, whatever it is that’s happened to them, never forgets it,” Knapp said.
Certain children are more likely to be targets — they may be poor, quiet and weaker than the bully.
Knapp’s experience was typical. The worst of the bullying tapered off after middle school, and during his high school years, the older kids who had bullied him left school and moved on.
In Douglas County, 43 percent of eighth-graders reported being harassed at school or on the way to and from school during the 2005-06 school year, according to the Oregon Healthy Teens Survey. The most common reason for the harassment was because of weight, clothes, acne and other physical characteristics.
“Bobby’s Story” teaches children — whether they are victims, witnesses or bullies themselves — how to stop the cycle.
Knapp wanted to give children the message that “the behavior is wrong, and the other part is we don’t have to accept it. ... There are some ways to deal with it when it shows up.”
Cheryl Gifford, a psychologist from Sutherlin, wrote a letter in support of “Bobby’s Story” as a selection for the Parent’s Choice Award for children’s literature. The book is currently in competition for the award.
“As a clinical psychologist I work with children and their parents to address the emotional aftermath of bullying in the schools and in the community,” she said. “This book is a wonderful resource for parents, children and professionals who are trying to use positive coping skills to address an increasingly predatory childhood culture. This book offers hope where children and their parents have felt only unheard and powerless.”
Knapp believes the story will be a good supplement to school curriculum on bullying.
He and his wife, Barbara, have e-mailed teachers and school librarians across the nation, and his Web site has received thousands of hits. He doesn’t know how many books he’s sold — his publisher is taking care of that — but the book is available through online retailers amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.
Knapp never told adults he was being bullied, but he credits his strength to his father, his love of the arts to his mother, and his strong sense of right and wrong to his grandparents.
His parents also encouraged him to pursue an education, and Knapp became the first person in his family to go to college.
The road wasn’t easy.
“When I was young, an educator didn’t believe that I was smart because all they saw was poor, and that had a lasting effect with me,” he said. “The opposite side of that was a teacher who looked past the poverty and saw a kid that could write, and then this lady saying to me, ‘Don’t ever stop writing.’”
Knapp intends to follow her advice. He has enough book outlines to keep him busy through 2010. Most don’t have as clear a message as “Bobby’s Story,” he said, but his values of family and taking care of people who are different are recurring themes in his work and life.
• You can reach reporter Teresa Williams at 957-4230 or via e-mail at twilliams@newsreview.info.
“As a clinical psychologist I work with children and their parents to address the emotional aftermath of bullying in the schools and in the community,” she said. “This book is a wonderful resource for parents, children and professionals who are trying to use positive coping skills to address an increasingly predatory childhood culture. This book offers hope where children and their parents have felt only unheard and powerless.”
Knapp believes the story will be a good supplement to school curriculum on bullying.
He and his wife, Barbara, have e-mailed teachers and school librarians across the nation, and his Web site has received thousands of hits. He doesn’t know how many books he’s sold — his publisher is taking care of that — but the book is available through online retailers amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.
Knapp never told adults he was being bullied, but he credits his strength to his father, his love of the arts to his mother, and his strong sense of right and wrong to his grandparents.
His parents also encouraged him to pursue an education, and Knapp became the first person in his family to go to college.
The road wasn’t easy.
“When I was young, an educator didn’t believe that I was smart because all they saw was poor, and that had a lasting effect with me,” he said. “The opposite side of that was a teacher who looked past the poverty and saw a kid that could write, and then this lady saying to me, ‘Don’t ever stop writing.’”
Knapp intends to follow her advice. He has enough book outlines to keep him busy through 2010. Most don’t have as clear a message as “Bobby’s Story,” he said, but his values of family and taking care of people who are different are recurring themes in his work and life.
• You can reach reporter Teresa Williams at 957-4230 or via e-mail at twilliams@newsreview.info.
