Very important book - Best of 2008?

When asked recently by Sonja Cole of Scholastic, Inc. to reflect on the Best Books of 2008, one title stands out in the way it poignantly raised social awareness in addressing a very real and serious issue, with great style and voice.  For me, this book is a very important one for all teachers, parents, and students to read and share.  It's LETTERS TO A BULLIED GIRL: Messages of Healing and Hope by Olivia Gardner, with Emily and Sarah Buder. 

LETTERS TO A BULLIED GIRL: Messages of Healing and Hope is a high interest read that provides an honest, heart-wrenching look at the very serious issues of bullying, cyber bullying, and other forms of harrassment from all sides.  Originally designed as a campaign of support for teens who suffered from bullying (like that of author/contributor Olivia Gardner, an epileptic teen who was brutally harrassedfor two years in Novato, California), the project to help Gardener and others like her taken on by the Buder sisters became an outlet for everyone from adolescents, teens, and adults who wrote letters to the Buders expressing their own horrific experiences in being bullied, or even more poignantly, as the tormentors. 

The book is the collection of letters written into Gardner and although the letters were originally solicited to "lift Olivia's spirits" as the back cover explains, I found myself at times angry as a reader; for instance, I wanted those who wrote in repentance for their hateful behavior as teens to give back more- it seemed to me, at least, that the letter was just not enough.  Yet, at the very same time, I felt strong compassion for the same writer in believing that if he/she knew then what they know and feel now, their actions would have differed drastically.  Very powerful stuff- I guess I can not describe it with due justice. You just have to get it, read it, and SHARE it.