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Van Draanen, Wendelin.
SECRET IDENTITY
New York : Knopf, 2004.
IL 3-6, RL 3.1
ISBN 0375923514

(4 booktalks)

Booktalk #1

There he is again.  Bubba.  He's the biggest, baddest bully you ever met.  He's been a bully forever.  And it's not just Nolan who is the target.  It is just about anybody Bubba comes in contact with.  Nolan wishes he could somehow stop Bubba. He and his parents have talked to the teachers.  They've talked to the principal.  But nothing seems to work.  Until Nolan gets an idea. A marvelous idea.  Taking on a secret identity, he sets up a web page and exposes Bubba for what he is.  Do you think this will work?

Booktalk #2

Fifth grader Nolan, dubbed “Nerd” by the school bully Bubba Bixby, decides to put Bubba in his place with the birth of Shredderman.com.  Nolan becomes a sleuth detective as he secretly photographs Bubba’s cruel and destructive antics with his digital camera.  Nolan downloads the crime in action onto his website. Bubba’s tormenting ways are exposed for all to see. As Nolan grows more daring, so does his fear of being discovered by Bubba. What will happen next? Will his secret identity be revealed?  (New Hampshire Great Stone Face committee, 2005-2006)

Booktalk #3

Isn’t it bad enough that Nolan Byrd’s last name rhymes with “Nerd”? This fifth grade math whiz can’t seem to avoid Bubba Bixby, the school bully and the bane of all his classmates. Bubba lies, cheats, steals, bullies, and cuts in line, all behind the teachers’ backs. Even Mr. Green, Nolan’s usually supportive teacher, doesn’t realize Bubba’s true impact on the rest of the students. Mr. Green frequently exclaims to Nolan (as Nolan answers yet another math question with ease and speed), “You shred, man!” and tells his students to speak up about injustices. For Nolan to speak up about Bubba and not get pounded, he would have to be a superhero! Hey, THAT’S IT! He will become a superhero! Using all his computer and digital know how, he takes pictures of Bubba in action and posts them on his new, anonymous website: Shredderman.com. Join the fun and see how this meek student succeeds (or not), in this, the first of a new series by the author of the Sammy Keyes mysteries.  (Jean B. Bellavance for Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Awards, 2005-2006)

Booktalk #4

An entertaining, laugh-out-loud story of meek and brainy Nolan Byrd, who is being terrorized by the larger than life bully Alvin "Bubba" Bixby. Nolan decides to fight back by using his intelligence and technology. He creates an alter ego named "Shredderman" who cuts Bubba down to size by using a clever web site exposing the bully's cruel tricks.  Black-eyed Susan Award nominee 2005-2006

SUBJECTS:     Heroes -- Fiction.
                        Teasing -- Fiction.
                        Bullies -- Fiction.
                        Schools -- Fiction.

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