Roslyn children’s author tackles bullying with new book

Bill San Antonio

While it’s pretty easy to spot a bully in pop culture as the biggest, strongest, meanest kids on the playground, they can sometimes be difficult to identify in everyday life beyond those who demand your lunch money and push you into the dirt.

That’s the topic of children’s author Stephanie Sorkin’s forthcoming book, “Frenemy Jane: The Sometimes Friend” (out May 5 through Mascot Books), the depiction of an ambiguous, often one-sided friendship between two young girls.

“On TV and in movies, you see a bully looks mean and they’re big, but I felt like a more realistic situation that kids face is that a friend turns on you,” said Sorkin, a Roslyn Estates resident. “I thought that would be a great thing to address that in a book, because bullying is a hot topic, but I don’t think it’s covered so often, to be bullied by someone you considered a friend.” 

Like Sorkin’s previous books, 2013’s “Nutley, the Nut-Free Squirrel” and 2014’s “Chocolate Shoes With Licorice Laces,” “Frenemy Jane” draws inspiration from the author’s personal life, she said, as one of her daughters once had a classmate who was sometimes friendly and sometimes mean.

“Frenemy Jane” is actually the first book Sorkin wrote, but it was shelved for nearly four years while other projects took priority.

“I wrote this because kids are often afraid to tell somebody when they’ve been bullied. Nobody wants to be labeled a tattle-tale,” she said. “But it’s an up-and-down roller coaster a lot of the time. I say in the book, Monday she was nice, Tuesday she wasn’t, and then the cycle started all over again.”

At the story’s end, Sorkin presents a question-and-answer page meant to inspire conversation and provide strategies for dealing with bullying, as well as a special cupcake recipe.

“It leaves the reader open-ended, asking do you know someone like this,” Sorkin said. “It gives the reader the power to see what they’d do in a similar situation.”

“Frenemy Jane” is available through Amazon and Sorkin’s website, and will soon be available at local bookstores. 

Proceeds from book sales will benefit Pacer, a national anti-bullying campaign. 

“Bullies come in all shapes and sizes, but it was important for us to not label the child as a bully,” Sorkin said. “We wanted to express the idea that those that bully can be rehabilitated.” 

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