Brenda Poage, author of the anti-bullying children’s book Ima Nobody Becomes Somebody (published by AuthorHouse), along with a child psychologist and a youth counselor, has developed a new program to battle the problem. Tattle Talk (TM) teaches kids the difference between tattling for revenge and seeking help for safety reasons. It also teaches adults to listen—to not disregard a child’s feelings if he or she seeks them out for help.

This will be airing on June 29, 2010 , 6 am Central Time.

The Unthinkable First Day of School

Ima is a first grader who is not quite like everyone else. Ima has red, tatty hair all in a knot atop her head. Her two front teeth stick straight out, and she has a huge gap between them. Every time she talks she lets out little whistles. She has orange freckles across the bridge of her nose. Her long legs look rather awkward with her knobby knees that knock together every time she walks. As if that wasn’t bad enough, her last name is Nobody.

Poor little Ima Nobody. Every day she had to tell someone her name, and every day she had to say, “Ima Nobody.” Can you imagine how she must have felt? She didn’t feel like a Nobody. Ima had big dreams of being the best at everything. Ima decided she was going to be the best Nobody she could be. As she walked to school she couldn’t help but hear her neighbor, that bratty little Billy Do-good, shouting out to her, “Ima, I never knew a Nobody that was somebody! All you Nobodys will never amount to anything, just like your name.” This made Ima feel sad. It was then and there that Ima decided that she was going to prove to that Billy Do-good that she would in fact amount to something and be somebody.

When Ima got to school that morning she began to walk down the long hall to look for her classroom, room 13. As Ima walked she could not help but look around at all the children. Ima was very excited and looking forward to meeting new kids and making new friends. As Ima approached her classroom she heard a loud, deep voice asking her, “What is your name, little one?”

Ima smiled and answered, “Ima Nobody.”

The man smiled. “Well, everybody is somebody. My name is Mr. Walker. I’m the school principal. Now it’s your turn. Do you care to tell me your name?” he asked

“Yes, sir, that is my name. My name is I-m-a, Ima Nobody. It doesn’t sound like much, but that’s me, Ima Nobody.”

Mr. Walker smiled and said to Ima, “I believe that you are a very special and unique little girl. Ima, I want you to know that no one is defined by their name. Ima, I hope that you have a great first day at school.”

“Yes sir,” Ima replied with a little whistle. Mr. Walker gave Ima a wink of the eye and then went on his way.

Ima finally found her classroom and went on inside. She began to anxiously look for her desk, and boy did she find it. Ima Nobody was written in great big letters across the top of her desk! Ima felt a great big lump in her throat and butterflies in her stomach. Ima thought that this day could not get any worse. Then the unthinkable happened. Ima looked up, and there he was. The one person she disliked most in the world, Billy Do-good! He was standing right in front of her with a vengeful smile. Ima’s eyes began to squint, her mouth puckered tight, and her nose curled. “What are you doing in my classroom?”

Billy squinted his eyes right back at her. “I’m looking for my desk.” Ima felt her palms get sweaty, and her heart began to pound very fast. She began to frantically look to see if she could find Billy’s desk. Billy walked to the desk behind her. “Oh, look I found my desk, but don’t worry because nobody is sitting in front of me.”

She wanted to scream! “How could this be happening to me? My number one worst enemy in the world is now sitting behind me!” Ima was so frustrated that she didn’t even notice when the other kids entered into the classroom.