First of all, I love that title. That had a lot to do with choosing to read this book. That being said, I did not have high expectations for it. How wrong I was.


Piddy's story broke my heart. On her first day at her new school, an unknown girl approaches Piddy and warns her that Yaqui wants to beat her up. From this moment, starts a daily terror for Piddy. She does not know who Yaqui is or why she would want to beat her up. All she is told is that Yaqui does not like the way Piddy "shakes it" whe

First of all, I love that title. That had a lot to do with choosing to read this book. That being said, I did not have high expectations for it. How wrong I was.


Piddy's story broke my heart. On her first day at her new school, an unknown girl approaches Piddy and warns her that Yaqui wants to beat her up. From this moment, starts a daily terror for Piddy. She does not know who Yaqui is or why she would want to beat her up. All she is told is that Yaqui does not like the way Piddy "shakes it" when she walks. There's also an implication that Yaqui thinks Piddy is trying to steal Yaqui's boyfriend. None of this is substantiated, yet Yaqui turns this into very real thing for Piddy who starts to become unsure of herself. What is she doing wrong? How can she change her walk? How can someone who doesn't even know her hate her so much? How can she plan ways to avoid Yaqui and her crew? The reader never gets much insight into Yaqui or crew but they are so very real, the fear is real, and probably even more so because the terror just builds and builds. When is the monster going to pop out of the bushes and beat Piddy up?


I really felt so bad for Piddy. There's bullies who inflict physical damage and there's bullies who inflict internal damage. Yaqui does beat up Piddy, but for me the real terror was that constant fear of not knowing what the day would bring. Would she run into Yaqui? Would today be the day Yaqui beats her up? It all is more compounded by the fact that Piddy can't reach out to anyone. She doesn't want to tell her mom, or her mom's best friend Lila. Her best friend from her old school seems to have no time for Piddy anymore. The one friend she has in school only serves to make Piddy feel worse with each new delivery of a message from Yaqui. Poor Piddy is all alone with this overwhelming problem. The problem becomes so huge that Piddy starts to suffer in school. She becomes angry at her mom, saying hurtful things to her.


The book won the Pura Belpre award and deservedly so. We have got to teach our children not to be bullies or haters (which is just one step down from being a bully in my opinion). And we have got to teach our kids to not glorify someone getting attacked. When Piddy does get beat up, it gets filmed on someone's phone and posted on the internet for all to see. Writing this review I can still feel the anger in me. No one should have to go to school and feel ostracized or hated.


My bows to the author for handling this topic in such a realistic way and for capturing what it feels like to be bullied without going over the top.