The Phenomenon of Bullying in Children’s Literature: An Analytical Study

Bullying is one of the common themes in children's literature, as it reflects an experience that children frequently encounter in their everyday lives. This paper examined children's books from the perspective of bullying. The study adopted a qualitative research method. The sample consisted of ten children’s books that directly address the theme of bullying. Data were collected through document analysis. Content analysis was used to interpret the data. During analysis, the data were coded and grouped under themes. The findings were then described with supporting frequencies. According to the findings, verbal bullying (f: 81) is the most frequently depicted type of bullying, followed by psychological bullying (f: 64), indirect bullying (f: 41), physical bullying (f: 35), cyberbullying (f: 19), and behavioral bullying (f: 17). Sexual bullying is not included. The gender distribution of bullies is balanced between female (n = 8) and male (n = 8) characters, while victims are predominantly male (n = 19). The age and parental attitude of bullies (n = 18) and victims (n = 27) are largely not specified. The most prominent characteristic of the bullies is low empathy (n = 25), while the victims are predominantly characterized by their empathetic traits (n = 48). In conclusion, the children’s books highlight the various dimensions of bullying and have the potential to raise awareness among young readers.