Prose, Francine. Bullyville. New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2007. 260 pages.


Are you looking for a book that you can personally connect to you and keep making you want to read the next page? Then read Bullyville written by Francine Prose. This a fantastic book and it is a great read for all teens!



Bart is a teenage boy going into 8th grade. His father died in 9/11 and now he lives with his mother. Bart goes to Baileywell(Bullyville) just outside of Brooklyn, New York and meets Tyro which seems to be a good friend at first, until Bart really gets to know him. Bart gets bullied by Tyro and his gang. But after meeting Nola, who is suffering from a deadly disease, Bart has a very slim amount of happiness. Will Bart be able to overcome this difficult point of his life?

This book was a great. Keeping me want to read the next page throughout the entire book. There was never a point in the book where nothing exciting was going on. Whether it was Tyro “...stuffing the shrunk-down version of me into my open locker”(Prose 115), “me” being Bart, to Bart getting revenge. The only bad thing about this book is it does have adult language during the reading Bullyville. The book is written in 1st person view so you always know what’s going through Barts’ mind at all times. Overall I think this book was a exciting and fun read, giving it 9/10 stars. I would recommend this book to all teenagers and even young adults. I wouldn’t recommend this book to kids 12 and under due to the fact that there is adult language.