Poison Ivy by Amy Koss

Once again, Amy Koss has written another book about bullies. This book doesn't exactly invite you to stand up to them. A silly teacher has a civil trial in her middle school Government classroom where Ivy sues three mean girls for bullying her. Lawyers are appointed, a jury is selected, and the trial is quite the travesty. Honestly, all I noticed while I read this book was that the teacher was crazy. She didn't educate the kids about how a trial works. She didn't select competent lawyers. The girl selected to represent the bullied student was so shy she didn't even present a case. The teacher finds out that a student is running a gambling pool, presents a lecture about its evils, but does nothing else to stop it. Ugh...it was such a hard book for this curriculum director to read. And, again, it was a book for middle schoolers--I won't be buying it for my high school.