Scrawl

Maybe you have wondered what makes a bully behave the way he/she does. Maybe you would like to know that a bully does get punished for pushing people around. This book satisfies on both of these counts.
Tod is a self-confessed bully. When he and the other boys he hangs with get caught breaking into the school, Tod receives a month of after-school detention monitored by his guidance counselor, Mrs. Woodrow. His droogs (his buddies in crime) receive a more physical punishment--cleaning the school grounds after school.
Each day Tod shows up for his detention. His punishment is to write in a notebook--thus where the title of Scrawl comes from. Mrs. Woodrow makes comments on the entries. As the novel progresses it is easy to understand why Tod does some of the things he does. Lacking money for basic things like food and clothes, he extorts it from what he terms are the "losers" in the school. Tod's droogs start to resent his punishment and begin to have a falling out which results in Tod making friends that change the way in which he behaves.
All around a very good read! I became quite sympathetic to the character of Tod and his situation.