Caverly Place Publishing

COMING SOON

After the death of his mother, Carlton, a quiet 15-year-old computer gamer, moves in with his uncle. But this is no ordinary uncle—this is Ricky McNeil, the recently retired hockey megastar, who lives for his stardom and meeting his endless fans. 

When Carlton starts at the prestigious Delis School, he becomes the next victim of the class bullies. Carlton is a loner who likes to handle his problems by himself. But when the bullying gets bloody, like it or not, Ricky gets involved.

Ricky becomes fed up. Fed up with the bullies. Fed up with the school’s unwillingness to do anything about it. He’s ready to transfer Carlton to a different school.

Carlton refuses to leave. He has fallen for Emily, a free-spirited Goth student, and believes being with her is more important than anything those bullies can dish out.

AN ANTI-BULLYING NOVEL

This young adult novel unpacks and educates the reader about peer bullying. Because of their unpopularity and being different, the protagonist, Carlton, and his girlfriend, Emily, are the far too common bullied teens in school. But On Your Side takes the reader even one step further.

When Carlton’s megastar uncle, Ricky, takes a sports commentator job, the others on the panel gang up on him and shoot down all his opinions to make him look like a fool on live TV. Then a YouTube video comes out of Ricky getting beat up in a mall and he becomes a media laughing stock. The reason behind these instances is to show the reader that anyone, regardless of appearance, athletic ability, or even their popularity is susceptible to bullying.

Another important message the novel shows is Carlton’s refusal to fight back with matched violence or use any of the methods the bullies use to suppress him. It shows the reader that there are ways to handle bullies without adopting their tactics.

“We read to discover that we are not alone,” William Nicholson’s Shadowlands. Knowing we are not alone in what we are going through is an enormous part of reading. On Your Side lets bullied teens know that what they are facing is not unique to them and that there are way out from what they are enduring.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

DENNIS WISE is a writer and a film and TV actor. He is also the founder of the in-school presentation The Theft of Dignity, which brings further awareness to teens about peer bullying. He holds a BA from Harvard University, where his passions were creative writing and social justice.

You can visit him online at: www.dennis-wise.com