Don’t Call me Ishmael is a book written by the amazing author Michael Gerard Bauer. It is about a boy who is starting his first year of high school and does not even have one mate in his class.

On his very first high school day, a mean boy called Barry Bagsley, the bully in his grade, bullied Ishmael. At the end of Grade Eight Ishmael was more known as Le Sewer. When Grade Eight finished, Ishmael was thankful to not have any more school because he wouldn’t get bullied or picked on any more. The next year of school, Ishmael again continued getting his daily bullying and he struggled with school.

The book is set in a normal, average area. Ishmael does not like his name. He has his two parents and a sister who is thirteen years old. Ishmael is a shy fourteen-year-old boy. Ishmael doesn’t like his parents’ decision to name him after a name in a book. He loathes the novel that his parents frequently bring up and talk about. This book is about him trying to fit in with other people. The novel is quite long and it makes you think in more depth about bullying and how it affects people that we know and even people we don’t.

This book is best suited to boys and girls because it helps them think about the consequences of bullying and how big an impact it can make on people. The book also makes us think about what we can do to make these people’s lives better.

Sam T., Year 9