Charlie Bone and the effects of bullying
I think the Charlie Bone series (and also Chronicles of the Red King) really shows the effects of bullying on children, especially when the bully is an authority figure. In Leopards’ Gold Petrello is bullied by most people he knows in the Red Castle, including Nurse Ogle, around three of his siblings and also most of the kids in his age group, and it gets to the point where Petrello actually believes what they say about him and thinks that he won’t make anything of himself.
Charlie’s also in a similar situation in the main series. He’s often told by relatives like Grandma Bone that he’s stupid, and it’s affected him, though it’s not as obvious as in Petrello’s case. It’s revealed in Red Knight that no one had ever called Charlie wise, and that they usually said the exact opposite about him, which makes Cook’s words to him even more tearjerking than they already were, and also means that he was being emotionally/verbally abused by Grandma Bone and the Aunts for most of his childhood. The only people who ever showed him unconditional love and support were his mother and Maisie and I find that really sad.
