Auszug Cyber Nightmare
Klappentext:
Neil Green is an active student at Caribou Middle High School. He likes his school and his school likes him. So he thought. Until he began getting shocking text messages. His best friend Darby tells him to ignore them, but then a nasty website appears, presenting Neil and Darby in a false light, and turning Caribou Middle High into their own personal chamber of horrors. Realizing that they have to defend themselves, they set up their own website to combat the cyber bully.
Auszug:
It was late October, the break for the potato harvest was over and life was back to normal in Northern Maine. School was in full swing again. Almost. Some students were finding it difficult to concentrate on their schoolwork after the long, three-week break. Their minds were on other things, not all of them good. You could see it in their eyes. Sylvia’s eyes were scanning the faces in the crowded cafeteria when the idea came to her. Smiling, she turned to Cora. ‘I know how we can have some fun,’ she said. Cora’s blank face lighted up. ‘How?’
‘We pick a victim and rattle their cage!’ ‘Huh?’ Cora’s face went blank again. Sylvia leaned closer to her friend. ‘We pick someone we don’t like and bully them.’
‘Bully them? What if they’re bigger than us?’ ‘Bigger, smaller, faster, slower – it doesn’t make any difference. We do it electronically. You know, via IM, email or computer.’ ‘Oh, yeah. That’d be fun!’ Cora clapped her hands like a little girl. Suddenly, she stopped, a question written all over her face. ‘But who?’
Sylvia narrowed her eyes and smiled. ‘That shouldn’t be a problem. Think of all the kids we don’t like.’ She started scanning the faces in the cafeteria again. A moment later she stopped
and turned again to her friend. ‘That guy, for example!’ she said in a whisper. ‘Which guy?’ Cora’s voice was full of excitement. ‘The one in the blue sweatshirt, talking to some girls, three tables from here.’ ‘You mean Neil, Neil Green?’ Cora’s eyes opened wider and wider. Sylvia laughed softly. ‘That’s the one. The one and only Neil Green. ’Cora looked puzzled. ‘Why him?’ Before Sylvia could answer, Cora smiled and said, ‘Wait a minute! Last year! You had the hots for him but he never even looked at you. I remember!’
Sylvia gave her friend an angry look. ‘Not because of that. I forgot about that a long time ago,’ she said. ‘It’s because he’s such a conceited bastard. Look at him. Look at that smile. It’s got I’m-the-coolest-guy-here written all over it. Do you see it?’ ‘Yeah.’ Cora nodded quickly to show how strongly she agreed with her friend. ‘Why don’t we begin with an IM? Got any ideas?’ Cora’s face went blank again. She looked at Sylvia and shook her head.
‘Well, I have! Listen!’ Sylvia looked around and then began to whisper to her friend.
Rezension Cyber Nightmare von Sarah Garus (Hildegardisschule Bochum):
Wir haben die Lektüre Cyber Nightmare mit unserer 10. Klasse gelesen. Eine fesselnde Geschichte, die auf ein großes Problem der heutigen Zeit aufmerksam macht. Neil Green (der Protagonist) erfährt wohl eine der gemeinsten Arten des Mobbing: er wird unter anderem als schwul bezeichnet, wobei ich denke, dass dieser Vorwurf, welcher alle in Entsetzen und Spott versetzt, ein wenig auf den konservativen, amerikanischen Denkstrukturen basiert.
Der Autor Paul Davenport hat auch durch die Wahl der Täter, Mädchen, den Nagel auf den Kopf getroffen. Mädchen sind heutzutage teilweise viel verhaltensauffälliger als Jungen und ihre Rachegelüste sprengen so manche Vorstellungskraft. Dem Leser wird vom ersten Kapitel an Sylvias und Coras Absicht vor Augen geführt, was mich persönlich etwas stört, da meiner Meinung nach die Lektüre so etwas an Spannung einbüßt, da man schon weiß, wer Neil in der Hand hält. Was der Lektüre aber einen Pluspunkt einbringt, ist Neils Absicht, sich selbst zu verteidigen. Er schafft es, den ,,Mund zu öffnen ” und setzt dadurch ein öffentliches Zeichen gegen die in der Gesellschaft weit verbreitete Form der Diskriminierung, das Mobbing.
Insgesamt hatte ich viel Spaß an dem kleinen Büchlein, weil sich so die Diskrepanz zwischen dem Schulenglisch und dem umgangssprachlichen Englisch wieder mehr offenbart hat. Ein Buch in einfacher Sprache mit Sätzen, die für Schüler gut zu verstehen sind. Zudem sind auch die „questions & activities” -Übungen eine sehr gute Hilfe zum Verständnis und für eventuelle Klausurvorbereitungen.
