Principal's bullying book to benefit Iowa City schools

John Bacon is no stranger to school bullies.

An educator and father of four, he encounters the issue regularly -- and remembers when it happened to him.

Drawing on his experiences, Bacon authored a book about bullying. "With Friends Like These" is the story of Johnny Fate, a boy who went from being a member of the popular crowd to the object of their teasing.

"I wanted to give a tool, provide some strategies to kids dealing with this," says Bacon, principal at Lemme Elementary School.

The book was published by the Iowa City Community School District Foundation. Proceeds benefit the foundation's Excellence Fund, which provides annual grants to the schools. The book went on sale in November.

"It was a really great surprise when John decided to do this project and help benefit our foundation," says Jacki Brennan, the foundation's executive director who helped edit the book.

In the story, Johnny's sixth grade year starts great. He's befriended by Justin, the coolest kid in schools, and is part of the "in crowd" adventures. This means doing some things Johnny knows isn't right.

"I think a lot of times kids go along with things they know they shouldn't because they don't want to be the one left out," Bacon says.

Eventually Johnny does become the odd man out, and the target for Justin's teasing, bullying and exclusion.

Bacon loosely based the story on his own childhood, although events were "embellished and exaggerated" for the story. Still, like Johnny, Bacon found a way to deal with his childhood tormentors.

"The interesting thing about it is a lot of it is true and he found a way to get through it," Brennan says. John Bacon is "still friends with those kids today. They figured it out and, as a parent, I think that's comforting."

Bacon hopes his experience, and Johnny's, will help other children cope with bullies. He also hopes the book speaks to those who bully others.

"If they read the book and see themselves in it, maybe they won't want to be that way anymore," he says.

"With Friends Like These" is written for older elementary school students -- grades fourth and sixth -- the time when Bacon says students begin to exclude one another from activities.

And while the book is a story with a message, it's also entertaining, Bacon wrote it in the with the language and humor of an elementary schoolboy, which Brennan says appealed to her sons.

"That's what captured their attention and that's what he was going for," she says. "It's a fun little story."

"With Friends Like These" was illustrated by Mark Jones, Lemme Elementary School's art teacher.

The foundation printed 500 copies of the book, of which more than half have been sold. Publication costs are about $8 per book and they are being sold for $12, netting a $4 profit per book for the foundation's Excellence Fund.

To purchase a copy of "With Friends Like These," visit

www.iccsdfoundation.org