On Your Side

Bold, insightful, and often hilarious, On Your Side takes you on a wild journey of survival, first love, and self-realization.

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.

HOW ON YOUR SIDE SPEAKS TO TEENS FACING PEER BULLYING:

• BULLYING CAN HAPPEN TO ANYONE: Like many students who are loners at school, the protagonist, Carlton, and his girlfriend, Emily, are brutally bullied by other students. However, On Your Side goes even further. When Carlton’s uncle Ricky, a former megastar hockey player, takes a sports commentator job, he is repeatedly humiliated on live TV by his colleagues. The take-home message is unmistakable: if even someone like Ricky isn’t immune to being bullied, then truly anyone can fall victim.
• SPEAK UP: After the incompetence of one school official, Carlton believes that the school as a whole wouldn’t do anything to prevent the abuse he is undergoing. This belief almost cost him his life. However, when the dean discovers what is happening in his school, he takes the appropriate steps to handle the problem. It is of the utmost importance that teens learn that being bullied is serious and they should never be silent about it.
• YOU’RE NOT A COWARD: At the end of the book, Carlton has an epiphany, where he finally realizes that he’s not the coward he had convinced himself he was—he’s simply a non-violent person seeking a non-violent solution. The book is demonstrating that matching violence or stooping to any of the other tactics their oppressors use against them is unnecessary and counterproductive.

“We read to discover that we are not alone,” - William Nicholson, Shadowlands. Knowing we are not alone in our struggles is an enormous part of reading. The aim of On Your Side is to let bullied teens know they’re not alone and that there are ways to overcome the challenges they face.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

DENNIS WISE (he/him/his) 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 by exploring examples in popular culture. He holds a BA from Harvard University, where his passions were creative writing and social justice.