As a school guidance counselor, Viviane Goertz-Bushong deals with bullying on a daily basis.
She used those experiences, as well as some inspiration from two great-nieces and help from her own mother, to write Bibimbop, a children’s book about a young fish in Korea’s Han River being bullied by a blowfish named Billy.
“This story is saying you can change your ways – even if you’re going down the wrong path, you can change,” Goertz-Bushong said.
“I see a lot of it going on with kids,” she said. “People say mean things even in our everyday life. I see things going on in the workplace. I think that’s just a big concern on everybody’s mind.”
In the story, Bibimbop is bullied by Billy but one day finds Billy in trouble and has to decide whether to help him. The story ends with Bibimbop making the right choice, forgiving Billy and helping him.
Because her mother, Marysville resident Janine Goertz, loves to draw, “I asked her if she would like to draw some pictures for my book and she said, ‘Yes, I’d love to.’ ”
When Janine Goertz celebrated her 90th birthday Sept. 7, Goertz-Bushong presented her with a copy of the book.
Her great-nieces inspired the book, Goertz-Bushong said, because when they visited her, one always played with a plastic red fish. Goertz-Bushong started calling the fish Bibimbop, which is actually the name of a Korean culinary dish.
Goertz-Bushong works in the Delaware City School system and lives in Dublin.