The Bully Book

A workbook for kids coping with bullies

It’s Not About You: Understanding Adoptee Search, Reunion, & Open Adoption is a book written for adoptive and birth parents and their therapists. After repetitive conversations with adoptees (and sometimes their parents) about reactions to their search and reunion, I knew we needed a book to share with adoptive and birth parents on the topic.

About the Book

My first job after completing my master’s degree was at a community mental health center where I saw a variety of clients. I created The bulk of The Bully Book work with one young boy who was dealing with bullying at school. Working through it together and creating his very own book was fun and empowering and healing. In 2015, I stumbled across the old file in one of my backups. My publisher loved the idea, and rather than simply creating an e-book, insisted that we also make a paperback version.

The Bully Book: A workbook for kids coping with bullies (2016) is a simple therapeutic tool to help children process a personal experience with bullying. With about 77% of students reporting being bullied, this sorely needed self-help book is designed specifically for children to complete and make their own. Despite programs and policies designed to reduce bullying, incidences are only increasing.

Working through this book—with either professional guidance or a parent’s encouragement, can help a child move from feeling like a victim to feeling empowered, capable, and confident. Despite the simplicity of The Bully Book, the power of telling one’s story can make a profound impact on a child processing distressing or confusing events. The Bully Book is the first in a series of books to help kids cope with difficult situations and emotions, and it is available in both paperback and Kindle e-book versions.

“I really liked to draw about some of the things that were bothering me. I don’t like being bullied, and I don’t like when bullies bother my friends. I don’t ever want to be a bully, and I know that I can tell my teacher or mom or dad if I have a bully.”

– Elliot LaMantia, age 7

“It would help cope with bullies to draw.” 

Trajan Campbell, age 7

“I now know what to do when someone makes fun of my butt crack.”

– Zoe Lowe, age 8

Book Reviews

“emphasizes in a gentle way how caregivers can help facilitate a child’s innate resilience through storytelling. When adults have made sense of their own narratives, they are better able to be fully present and help children navigate even the most difficult situations. Connecting the dots of our stories is so important for healing and Brooke illustrates how to help our kids acquire this important skill.”

– Lesli A. Johnson, LMFTThe Bully Book 

“The Bully Book is a must-have resource for all those involved with children. All adults will find themselves more attuned, more responsive, and more accurately reading what’s going on in those little brains. Randolph demonstrates best practices with children in their anxious moments when she unfolds a story and invites opportunities for connection during a versatile sentence stem activity that can be used for any topic. There was a time that ‘children are to be seen and not heard.’ As Oprah has said: “Now we know more, so now we can do better.” The Bully Book is that better way of guiding a child through developmental stages that creates empowered, self-knowing and resilient future adults.”

– Bonnie Brinkman, MAThe Bully Book 

“This book does a wonderful job providing children the opportunity to process and express their thoughts, concerns, feelings, and experiences with bullying. It is well organized and thorough, giving kids some concise information and the space to work at their own pace. It is great for parents and professionals who work with children to help them through a time that is often very shameful. As a child therapist, I highly recommend it.”

– Lindsay Gayle, LCSW

The Bully Book is a great workbook for kids to process their experiences with bullies. Parents/Caregivers, Teachers, and Mental Health Professionals alike will appreciate this easy to use the book when supporting kids. The combination of sentence stems, narrative processing, and artistic processing allows kids to process in a way that fits best for them. A staple on the bookshelf!”

– Kim DiNuzio, LCSW

“I had the chance to read the proof of this book and loved it! It is a set-up workbook style and helps guide conversation using CBT style prompts to help kids work through issues they have had with bullying. Great tool for therapists to use during sessions or even a parent, teacher, or guidance counselor wanting to help a kid talk about what’s happened at school.”

– Jessica Hood, LCSW

“This is a thin book, seemingly a fast-read, but it is so much more than that. Following the format of that of a workbook to help children establish their own thoughts on bullying in a safe environment. Let’s face it, we’ve all been bullied at one point or another and we would love to have had the tools in place in advance. I think this is a brilliant way to do it, both for the Visual and Kinesthetic learner. The pages are meant to be either drawn on or written in, which really speaks to the different learning and interaction styles. It’s a simple book with a brilliant premise. I’d recommend this book without reservation to anyone that has children or works with children.”

– Mark Dolfini

“As I read through this I was struck with the simplicity of the concept but how deep an impact it could have. Thoughtful questions in a safe environment can give such freedom to kids to explore how they feel even when they may not know themselves. This book helps put kids in a place where they can begin to process what they are feeling in a healthy way and also allows a parent a window into their kids hearts. A must buy even if you don’t think your kids have dealt with this.”

– Roger Rexroad

Looking for more to read?

Check out one of my other workbooks from this series.