Depictions of the strategies used by bullying bystanders in French-language children’s literature

Children’s books are a valuable tool for initiating dialogue on difficult issues, including bullying. Defined as the intentional, regular, and repeated hurting of a person or group, bullying often involves a third “actor” – bystanders – whose behaviour can be decisive in stopping or encouraging bullies. The literature contains eight analyses of English-language children’s books on bullying but no equivalent studies of French-language books. To help address this research gap, we analysed depictions of bullying bystanders in French story books aimed at children aged 3 to 11 years. Most of the books in our corpus portray bystanders as reactive, rather than proactive, and rarely describe them reporting bullying situations. Hence, few French-language authors/publishers have followed Oppliger and Davis’s suggestion that it would be beneficial for children’s books to depict more active and more supportive bystanders.