Disclosure: I received this book to review. The post contains affiliate links.

Bullying is an issue that everyone seems to be talking about these days.  Sadly, I’ve witnessed bullying from adults just as often as bullying between kids.  The Pact by Mitchell S. Karnes addresses these situations but delves much deeper than the typical teenager angst.  I was interested in participating in this book tour since I work with middle school students on a daily basis.  The characters in the story appear to be like any 8th grade boys in any suburb.  Most of them were from middle class families and shared interests in sports, outdoor activities, and even the game of Warriors and Thieves.  The game reminded me a bit of the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game that guys in my high school used to play.  There were some minor bullying issues in the 8th grade hallway, but most of the “hazing” type incidents seemed to go on in the locker room. When I mentioned them to my husband, he snickered and nodded as though he had heard of those events at his own wrestling matches.  For too long, these behaviors were passed off as “boys being boys” but these days children often don’t realize how far they’ve pushed another child.  Only when a terrible tragedy occurs, such as a classmate bringing a gun on campus, do we realize that hindsight could have saved lives.

Unfortunately, some of the bullying also took place with adults.  From church leaders to a dad who pushed too hard for perfection, the boys in the story were unfairly attacked by the adults in their lives.  While there were also some encouraging adult figures, it’s much harder to appreciate those figures when the other adults make the kids feel so badly about themselves.  I really liked the teacher’s character and how she related to the students in her class.  Also, Karnes did a great job of depicting Scott’s relationship with his grandfather.   The bullying events in this story really do go to the extreme and it’s important to gauge children’s reactions to those situations while they’re reading it.  Because of this, if my children wanted to read this book I would be sure to discuss it with them as they read it to find out how they felt about those specific sections.

The Pact had a few outdated slang words and editing oversights.  For example, it’s been a long time since I’ve heard a child use the word “dweeb.”  I felt that the book really packed a lot into a few pages.  If the stories had been expanded a little more, maybe even into two or three separate books, it would have been better for me.  As it stands, The Pact fills up nearly 230 pages with a constant up-and-down rollercoaster of emotions and tragedies.  At first I considered this a good read-aloud story for middle schoolers; however, after finishing the book and finding some of the darker moments somewhat disturbing, I would hesitate to read this with my class.  Overall, I did enjoy the twists in The Pact and look forward to reading the second book (to be released in 2014).