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Youth advocate publishes book about bullying
By Deborah Sayer
News Assistant
When it comes to bullying, Saco author Deb Landry doesn’t play possum. Her new children’s book “Sticks, Stones and Stumped!” features one of the
curious marsupials as its main character in a story about taking a stand against bullying.
Landry is a youth advocate and founder of the Crossroads Youth Center of Saco, a nonprofit agency designed to give youth
a voice via performing arts. As artistic director to the center, she oversees the details of mostly youth driven productions. And for the past few years, Landry’s been creating grant funded social awareness projects
for area schools, such as last year’s production “Ty”, a movie detailing drug abuse and its consequences.
Advocating for children took a personal turn for Landry several years ago, when her son Drew, then a sixth grader, became the target of a bully at school while attempting to help another student who was being
picked on.
That incident, which “began as a mother’s rage”, has since turned into a positive force to educate and empower others to take a stand against bullying. Landry connected with educators to help create LD
564 An Act to Amend the Laws Governing the Student Code of Conduct. It requires that Maine schools adopt rules identifying what bullying is and providing follow up training and policies to address the issue for all
individuals who work with children.
The incident also led to the creation of the stage version of “Sticks, Stones and Stumped!” last year, with Landry and company presenting the play to kindergarten through
grade 5 students in the Saco school system. In addition to dealing with issues of bullying and diversity, the play purposely features a wide variety of characters. Landry hopes that students will understand the
symbolism that we’re all different.
Landry will visit schools throughout March to read her book and talk with students about the subject matter. She’s also hoping to create a corresponding workbook to accompany
the story, saying that merely talking about bullying one time isn’t going to change anything.
“I know that awareness for anything is important”, said Landry. “Bullying is not a rite of passage.”
Landry is now
developing curriculum for next year’s social awareness topic “Understanding Disabilities”. She’s working with Linda Verville, author of the book “For Pete’s Sake”, the true story of the life of a blind dog. Landry
will turn the story into a play, adding characters that also will be detailed in Verville’s upcoming book.
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