Bullyville by Francine Prose Published by HarperTeen September 2007 $16.99US ISBN: 0-0605-7497-6 - A Publishers Weekly Best Book of    the Year

When eighth grader Bart Rangely is granted a "mercy" scholarship to an elite private school after his father is killed in the North Tower, doors should have opened. Instead, he is terrorized and bullied by his own mentor. So begins the worst year of his life.

Reviews

From Publisher's Weekly (Starred Review)....

"In a taut, brilliantly controlled novel, Prose (After) dissects the unspoken dynamics that create bullies and their intended victims. Bart Rangely, the narrator, has begun eighth grade when his father dies in one of the Twin Towers on 9/11, and because his mother would have been at the same office except for Bart's illness that day, he achieves unwanted fame as the Miracle Boy. (Nobody knows that Bart's dad had left his mom for another woman.) The publicity lands Bart a full scholarship to prestigious nearby Bailywell Prep, known to the locals—with good reason—as Bullywell. The scenario Prose then unfolds is all the more chilling because it is not especially outrageous but, rather, recognizable. Bart's mentor, Tyro Bergen, “too handsome to pass for a regular kid,” steadily persecutes Bart, and although he eventually retaliates, Bart feels obligated to protect his mother's illusions about Bailywell. The headmaster accommodates the deep pockets of Tyro's parents, who fund Bart's scholarship and have their own reasons for confusing the manipulation of others with compassion and generosity. Few YA authors tackle issues of class so smoothly: the school, a microcosm of privilege, has no room for a middle-class kid unless he is cast as a lesson for the others, and the Bergens, Bart realizes, will always be allowed to write the lesson plan. The pace is quick, and the characters' motivations on target and revelatory. Connecting grief, rage and violence, Prose's insights are piercing and powerful. Ages 12-up."

About the Author
Francine Prose’s last book for teens was After (Johanna Cotler Books/HarperTempest, 2004), which was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, on the Teens Top Ten on the American Library Association-YALSA site and one of the New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age. Prose is the author of sixteen books, including, most recently, A Changed Man and Blue Angel, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, GQ, and The Paris Review. She is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and Guggenheim and Fulbright fellowships. She was recently made president of the PEN American Center. She lives in New York City.