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When They Bully: Rainbow Girl
Becoming an academic overachiever through dedication and hard work has always been within reach for 12th grader, Kendra Williams. However, popularity has never been ...especially in a school fueled by hatred, cliques, and bullying towards not only students, but teachers at Wood Oak High School. Will Kendra and her group of unpopular friends known as the "Rainbows" maintain their friendships during their last difficult year of high school or become outcasts towards each other?
134 pages, Paperback
Published September 21, 2020
About the author
Regina N. Smith
16 books16 followersRegina N. Smith is an African American author from Louisiana whose work tackles difficult and often overlooked topics. Her writing explores bullying, interracial relationships, racial discrimination, colorism, child abuse, women’s issues, and complex friendships. She is unafraid to address situations that may be triggering, presenting them within narratives that encourage awareness and moral reflection. Through both virtuous and flawed characters, Regina crafts stories where every figure serves a greater purpose, guiding readers to think critically and engage in deeper dialogue.
Recently, she wrote “I Hope This Letter Finds Its Way to You,” a heartfelt song inspired by her Love Fumbles series, bringing moments from the stories to life through music.
Recently, she wrote “I Hope This Letter Finds Its Way to You,” a heartfelt song inspired by her Love Fumbles series, bringing moments from the stories to life through music.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 4, 2021
Powerful look at racism, bullying, and they're effect on education from a student's perspective. Kendra's experience is an example of what students go through daily in peer relationships in high school and has the added dimension of a school that is greatly divided by race.
It was a quick read that covers a variety of issues in a short book.
Overall, I think it's a good story and one that needs to be told because it opens up discussion about a variety of issues that high schoolers face. bullying is all throughout high school and racism is everywhere. Bullying because of race is a huge issue in schools whether people realize it or not. This is a discussion that's hard to have but it's one that we need to have.
The story was hard for me to follow because it is not broken into labeled sections or chapters. Instead there's just more space between paragraphs when time passes. It would be easier if there was some sort of marker to indicate a time-lapse such as that chapter title or section break where it's even just a graphic of some sort that's inserted. Lines spacing is difficult in an e-book because we have the same ability to adjust our fonts be seeing and font size which can then impact the spacing that authors put in their own formatting. Specific section breaks also make it easy for the reader to know when it's a good time to take a break.
While reading, it was hard for me to follow how much time was passing between each section. Was it a day, was it a couple of days, or was it a week? I'm still not sure in a section or two if it was only one day that passed or if it was multiple days.
There were a few parts where there was running internal dialogue but it was marked in the same manner that spoken dialogue was marked so I had to read a section an additional time because it wasn't clear that it was internal dialogue at the beginning of the paragraph. That's a simple formatting thing and once I realized that the formatting for the book would have internal dialogue and spoken dialogue mark to the same I was able to read for it that way.
It was a quick read that covers a variety of issues in a short book.
Overall, I think it's a good story and one that needs to be told because it opens up discussion about a variety of issues that high schoolers face. bullying is all throughout high school and racism is everywhere. Bullying because of race is a huge issue in schools whether people realize it or not. This is a discussion that's hard to have but it's one that we need to have.
The story was hard for me to follow because it is not broken into labeled sections or chapters. Instead there's just more space between paragraphs when time passes. It would be easier if there was some sort of marker to indicate a time-lapse such as that chapter title or section break where it's even just a graphic of some sort that's inserted. Lines spacing is difficult in an e-book because we have the same ability to adjust our fonts be seeing and font size which can then impact the spacing that authors put in their own formatting. Specific section breaks also make it easy for the reader to know when it's a good time to take a break.
While reading, it was hard for me to follow how much time was passing between each section. Was it a day, was it a couple of days, or was it a week? I'm still not sure in a section or two if it was only one day that passed or if it was multiple days.
There were a few parts where there was running internal dialogue but it was marked in the same manner that spoken dialogue was marked so I had to read a section an additional time because it wasn't clear that it was internal dialogue at the beginning of the paragraph. That's a simple formatting thing and once I realized that the formatting for the book would have internal dialogue and spoken dialogue mark to the same I was able to read for it that way.
April 16, 2021
Another book club read and let me start off by saying: I STILL HATE JAMES.
Yep ..even more than I did in the first book.
Kendra is the strongest person I've read about in such a long time. My heart ached for her while reading, so much so that I wished I could just hug her and tell her that everything was gonna be okay. Her parents though; are the real MVPs for listening to and sticking up for her when she needed help.
Finally; this book felt so real, especially with everything that's going on in the world right now. It makes you ask yourself the question: "Is my child/relative safe at school?" And "How would I deal with the situation if it were my child?"
Back in my school days, I've seen weaker kids being bullied to the point that they had to switch schools. And honestly; it made me thank God that I was strong enough to put a stop to it before it begun with me.
Yep ..even more than I did in the first book.
Kendra is the strongest person I've read about in such a long time. My heart ached for her while reading, so much so that I wished I could just hug her and tell her that everything was gonna be okay. Her parents though; are the real MVPs for listening to and sticking up for her when she needed help.
Finally; this book felt so real, especially with everything that's going on in the world right now. It makes you ask yourself the question: "Is my child/relative safe at school?" And "How would I deal with the situation if it were my child?"
Back in my school days, I've seen weaker kids being bullied to the point that they had to switch schools. And honestly; it made me thank God that I was strong enough to put a stop to it before it begun with me.
June 1, 2022
Rainbow Girl a sobering reminder of what it’s like to be a teenager, or a reminder to those who are still teens (1) it’s difficult navigating the social battle grounds of middle/school and (2) words and actions matter.
This is an excellent book to read with your teens and have real discussion about what’s going on in THEIR lives.
This is an excellent book to read with your teens and have real discussion about what’s going on in THEIR lives.
April 5, 2021
Deep. So sad how people treat each other. You see similar events in schools and workplaces. Schools should definantly use this book as a read to show how bullying affects victims.
April 16, 2021
Another book club read and let me start off by saying: I STILL HATE JAMES.
Yep ..even more than I did in the first book.
Kendra is the strongest person I've read about in such a long time. My heart ached for her while reading, so much so that I wished I could just hug her and tell her that everything was gonna be okay. Her parents though; are the real MVPs for listening to and sticking up for her when she needed help.
Finally; this book felt so real, especially with everything that's going on in the world right now. It makes you ask yourself the question: "Is my child/relative safe at school?" And "How would I deal with the situation if it were my child?"
Back in my school days, I've seen weaker kids being bullied to the point that they had to switch schools. And honestly; it made me thank God that I was strong enough to put a stop to it before it begun with me.
Yep ..even more than I did in the first book.
Kendra is the strongest person I've read about in such a long time. My heart ached for her while reading, so much so that I wished I could just hug her and tell her that everything was gonna be okay. Her parents though; are the real MVPs for listening to and sticking up for her when she needed help.
Finally; this book felt so real, especially with everything that's going on in the world right now. It makes you ask yourself the question: "Is my child/relative safe at school?" And "How would I deal with the situation if it were my child?"
Back in my school days, I've seen weaker kids being bullied to the point that they had to switch schools. And honestly; it made me thank God that I was strong enough to put a stop to it before it begun with me.
June 16, 2022
I know many folks are looking at this book for teens, but it's a powerful glimpse inside what teens face today. Adults benefit from this book as well, maybe more.
It can be difficult to relate to a teenager's experience, but this book does it beautifully. It takes you back to your own teenage days and hits home.
It's a great starting point towards understanding and discussion, but it's also simply a good book. It gets you in the "feels" with Kendra being so relatable and likable.
It's a quick read and appropriate for any teen or pre-teen (and us adults, of course!).
It can be difficult to relate to a teenager's experience, but this book does it beautifully. It takes you back to your own teenage days and hits home.
It's a great starting point towards understanding and discussion, but it's also simply a good book. It gets you in the "feels" with Kendra being so relatable and likable.
It's a quick read and appropriate for any teen or pre-teen (and us adults, of course!).
April 4, 2021
When They Bully: Rainbow Girl is Book 4 of an 8 book series. It can also be read as a standalone. As part of the series, the reader sees the Bordeaux family causing another dramatic shift in the Williams family. As a standalone, it is very real example of what bullying does psychologically to a teen. This was an easy read. I would recommend it to any teen or parent of a teen that has been impacted by bullying.
October 26, 2020
This book will make you introspective of the issues that you faced as a teen growing up and challenges kids are facing today when it comes to bullying. This was a sobering reminder and a much needed read.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews