By James Preller
A new boy falls in with the funniest, most popular boy in his grade, watches him bully a classmate, and slowly realizes what it means that he keeps standing there and doing nothing.
Eric Hayes has just moved from Ohio to a new town on Long Island, and the first person to make him feel like he belongs is Griffin Connelly — good-looking, funny, the boy everyone circles around. Griffin is also cruel, and Eric picks up on it fast. There's a boy named David Hallenback who gets slammed into lockers, chased, and forced into a twisting game the others call the Pretzel, and afterward David swears it was nothing, just his friends goofing off. Eric doesn't join in. But he doesn't step in either, and the book is honest about what that adds up to. Then Griffin steals from him and passes around something private Eric had confided about his father, and just like that Eric goes from watching to being the one they come after. The last third is Eric figuring out what he's willing to do, mostly on his own, with the grown-ups showing up late and not fixing much.
Most books about bullying pick a hero and a villain and let your child off the hook. This one puts you inside the head of the boy who's just watching, which is the spot a lot of children actually recognize, since some have stood in exactly that place and told themselves that watching isn't the same as doing. Preller doesn't let that idea stand, and he doesn't lecture either. He just keeps Eric making the easy, comfortable choice and leaves your child to sit with how it feels. Griffin is why it works: he's genuinely magnetic, so you understand why Eric wants him as a friend, and the pull registers as a real temptation instead of a lesson. It's short, fast, and written plainly, which makes it reachable for a reader who doesn't love thick books.