Strong At The Heart

Pause. Okay it’s summer AND I’ve been deep into working on an article for School Library Journal about the representation of sexual abuse survivors in fiction for teens.

It’s something I’ve been watching for decades now, how survivors are depicted in film, on the news, and in literature. In the article, I won’t be getting into the history of it. My editor at SLJ has given me 1,700 words–not a conjunction more–to state my case so I am focusing on how to evaluate new books.

But historically, it is interesting. I’ve seen waves of stereotypes: Pitiful Victims, Damaged Goods, and of course the psychological Monsters of murder mysteries and legal defense strategy (Kate Atkins’ Case Histories is a recent example–a child is murdered by–tada!–the kid who was being sexually abused!)

But I am also seeing something totally cool happening which is that, in young adult fiction at least, competent, active survivors are also being portrayed.

Gigi Boudokian in Chris Lynch’s Inexcusable is one. Even though the story is told through her rapist’s eyes, Gigi is so firm in her truth that when she says, “You raped me,” we believe her not the narrator. In The Place Where the Losers Go by Beth Goobie the two main characters are dealing with dissociation and PTSD, yet they are able to help each other figure out their lives. They are heroes, not victims.

And there’s a new book coming out in January, Such a Pretty Girl, by Laura Wiess, with a very strong survivor at its core.

The article is slated for October publication. As soon as it comes out I’ll post a link here.

comments

I’ve learned to live with blog spam. Comment function is turned on again. As always, there’s a delay before your comment goes up. That’s when I okay your words and delete the ads for Xanax and low rate mortgages.

For a book that was published on a mainstream young adult list, Strong at the Heart is having a very interesting trajectory.

A friend just sent me a copy of a long review that was published in the current issue of The Therapist, the bi-monthly journal of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists.

Since the book came out I’ve been hearing from therapists who have given it to clients–both young and old. So I am especially pleased about this review. One therapist told me that the photographs have a huge impact because they counter the fear and shame that keep so many people from being able to talk about their own experiences of sexual abuse. Another told me that she suggested a young client read Tammy’s story, but the girl chose to read Sheena’s instead because she thought Sheena was cool. The result was still what the therapist had hoped for, her client was able to talk first about Sheena’s experiences, then about her own.

When I first conceived the book, I saw it as a way for survivors to speak directly to other survivors–and I imagined this encounter happening anonymously in school and public libraries. That Strong is becoming a tool in therapists’ toolbox is a great bonus. It means that the stories reach even more readers.

Here’s the last paragraph of the review in The Therapist, by Carly Perlman, M.A., MFT:

“Strong at the Heart is a wonderful and empowering collection of survival experiences of sexual abuse. It should be included in the resources for young adults and adolescents who have struggled in recovery from sexual abuse. Any reader will likely see a part of their own experience reflected in one of the stories. It demonstrates the reality for survivors of sexual abuse: It isn’t an easy path of healing, but it is attainable.”

in person

One of many sweet encounters on my trip back east was breakfast with a reader who has been corresponding with me since shortly after the book came out. He and his wife took me out to breakfast the morning after I arrived in Burlington. Yes, his wife. He’s a grown man and a grandfather! We ended up in a rich three-hour-long conversation that spanned our many experiences and expanded my understanding of how profoundly the stories of Akaya, Jonathan, Tino, and the others affect the lives of people I never imagined when the project began.

The other day a woman I know handed me her copy of Strong at the Heart. I thought she was going to ask me to sign it, but instead she said, “I’ve read your book, and I’m glad I have, but I was hoping you’d know how to pass this on so it will reach young people.”

Yes, I know plenty of libraries that are short on funds and looking for quality book donations.

Her copy sits on my desk while I take off for summer camp (see below) but she got me to thinking.

When I was a kid there were no books on abuse in my library—let alone books on healing from it. I wrote Strong at the Heart for teens so that young people could find these true stories in school and public libraries. (I’m also very gratified that adults are reading it, too, and finding it relevant.)

apple seeds

More than 5000 new books for young readers are published each year and far more for adults. How do librarians on limited budgets decide which books to buy? Reviews are important, so is word of mouth. Patron requests and recommendations are also taken very seriously, after all the library is there to serve the reader.

If you are a survivor or have read up on the subject, you probably know several books that are especially good. There may be others you want to read but can’t afford

What would happen if we went to our public and school libraries and asked for the books we want to read by name? Would they be available? Will your the library order the ones you recommend? What if we donated copies to shelters, juvenile facilities, school or public libraries?

Every time a books is added to a library, hundreds of people gain access to it who wouldn’t have otherwise.

With this book donation to make, I’m feeling a little like that guy with the kettle on his head. Who knows what hands will open my friend’s book next? Whose life it might change?

summer camp

As I write this I’m on a plane flying east. I’ll end up in Burlington, Vermont, at the 20th and last Children’s Literature New England conference. It’s put on by my professors from grad school. This year’s topic is The Hero Revisited.

For this conference there’s a reading list of 40 books–all with wonderful heroes.

I’ve especially enjoyed Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer, about an apprentice bard from England at the time of the Norse invasions. And I just read the last pages of Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo, about two brothers during WWI, as heart wrenching a book on a soldier’s experience as you’ll find anywhere.

And for a superb and disturbing survivor story there is, Meg Rosoff’s How I Live Now, which takes place the day after tomorrow when war breaks out in England.