Now that you have completed to the end of Chapter 7, think about the events that have happened so far in the story. You have learned about Max and Kevin and seen a friendship begin to develop between the two boys. You have learned a little about their personalities and their families.

And during Chapter 7, you have seen the boys in a confrontation with a boy named Blade and his gang. There was name calling and rock throwing until Kevin was able to attract the attention of a passing police car. This is when the two boys became "Freak the Mighty."

You know that this kind of behaviour is bullying.

Bullying has been defined as:

• unwanted, aggressive behaviour that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behaviour is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time.
  

In order to be considered bullying, the behaviour must be aggressive and include:

• an imbalance of power: kids who bully use their power — such as physical strength, access to embarrassing information, or popularity — to control or harm others
  

• repetition: bullying behaviours happen more than once or have the potential to happen more than once

Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumours, attacking someone physically or verbally, and excluding someone from a group on purpose.
adapted from http://www.stopbullying.gov/kids/

Here are some statistics about bullying:


To find more information about preventing and stopping bullying behaviour, you can go to these sites:

Teens Against Bullying
  

What Teens Need to Know