Judith A. Yates

This is a fact based account of the life and death of Sherokee Harriman, a 14 year old girl who lost her life far too soon. The question mark in the title would seem to be because nobody was charged in her death, it was not ruled that her death was a result of the bullying though it does seem to have been a factor. Much of the book was about her family life and did not really focus that much on bullying. Sherokee had a hard time at school and was picked on by her peers, but she also had a difficult home life, a dysfunctional family, had been molested, was diagnosed bi-polar and had threatened to kill herself on numerous occasions when she did not get her way. Nobody but Sherokee can ever really know for certain whether she meant to die that day, or whether this act was a cry for help that just never came. There is some mention of her having YouTube and other social media accounts, which made me want to check to see if any were still online. I did find some of her videos which are still there, though I wish I had not watched them because they left me feeling very sad for her. I'm just not sure what the author was going for here. 2 and a half stars rounded up to 3

I received a complimentary copy for review.… (plus d'informations)

On September 5, 2015, in a public park in LaVergne, Tennessee, fourteen-year-old Sherokee Harriman drove a kitchen knife into her stomach as other teens watched in horror. She succumbed to her injury later, in a hospital. Despite her family and friends pointing out her death happened under somewhat suspicious circumstances, the official ruling is still a case of suicide.

In Bullied To Death, Judith Yates sets out to examine the factors that led up to that particular moment. In doing so, she paints a vivid image of Sherokee. While completing the book may not give you any clear answers, it does leave you knowing Sherokee a lot better. It leaves you realizing that 14 year old Sherokee was a complicated mix of sweet, loving, angry and hurt.

That might be the biggest achievement of this book- of preserving memories of Sherokee in all of their complexity. I doubt any news article that covered her death and the subsequent legal tussle was able to do that.

Bullied To Death is part memoir, part true crime. It does not stick to the parameters of investigative writing per se- parts of it felt speculative. But it does blend seamlessly into what the author is trying to do - flesh out all the factors that made Sherokee's life hard. There's bullying, a family that has gone through hardships themselves, mental illness, abuse and trauma. There's of course the underfunded and overstressed educational system.

All her life Sherokee tried so hard to be heard by others. Bullied to Death does that, albeit too late for Sherokee herself. But it could leave readers with a key lesson or two.


My gratitude to the author, the publishers and Netgalley for a free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

… (plus d'informations)

Ultimately, this book poses more questions than it concretely answers. What — or who — actually caused the death of Sherokee Harriman? Was she “Bullied to Death?” Or was it one of many factors that were cumulatively too much for this damaged young person to bear? Reading this story was difficult and painful, but worth thinking about by caring adults who want to combat bullying or want to foster resiliency in children. Complete review at rel="nofollow" target="_top">http://cynthiaparkhill.blogspot.com/2018/07/bullied-to-death-by-judith-yates.htm...… (plus d'informations)

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Wow. That is the first thing I will say about this book is wow. This is one of those books that is going to stick with me for awhile. This is a story of mental illness, abuse, neglect, bullying, family, and a whole lot more. This book is dark and unfortunately it is a very real depiction of how life is for many children. I have two teenagers myself and I can tell you that the bullying aspect of this book is no exaggeration. It happens every day and seems to be especially worse with social media as this book shows. As dark as this book is, I love how real it is. I like that in the end it talks about the fact that bullying isn't the only thing generally that leads to suicide - it is a factor but generally there are a lot of other factors at play. I also liked the wrap up at the end that told where all of the people are today. This is a sad story but it really opened my eyes to a lot of things.… (plus d'informations)