What else could you ever need?
I've read quite a few books lately that deal with rather difficult issues for teens, and this week's book is no exception. I read Such a Pretty Girl by Laura Wiess, which deals with a fifteen-year-old girl named Meredith who was sexually abused by her father. She testified against him and he was sent to prison, but he is being released early for "good behavior," and her mother wants him home. This is where the book begins.
The book certainly confronts the horror of incest and pedophilia head on. Weiss does a good job of detailing the terror and helplessness victims feel when confronted by their attacker. She has two characters who have suffered at the hands of the same man, and each one deals with the trauma in different ways. It is entirely possible that this book might appeal to a student either affected by such a traumatic event or interested in studying the effects of trauma on adolescents. However, I can't say that I would use it for my classroom or recommend that anyone else use it either. In some ways, this reminded me of the book Scars which I talked about a few weeks ago, but between the two, I believe that Scars would be the better option. Honestly, Wiess' book is not very well-written, and I feel very strongly that if we are going to introduce Young Adult literature to our classrooms, we should only use books of at least fairly high quality. We want students to be immersed in what they're reading and see it as a model of how they should write. If we show them stories that are not up to a certain standard, we're not doing much to expand their minds. There is so much YA lit that deals with difficult issues well and is also well-written, and we should be directing our students toward these types of books rather than showing them ones that don't meet a certain standard.
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This week's topic is more serious than many of the other things I've discussed. Today, I want to share a book that has opened my eyes to the realities of self-harm, especially among teenagers and survivors of abuse. This week, I want to introduce Scars, by Cheryl Rainfield. Rainfield's book focuses on a sixteen-year-old girl named Kendra. The cover of the book as well as its title make it clear that Kendra cuts herself, and within the first few pages, this book makes the reader aware that Kendra is a survivor of sexual abuse. Kendra has suppressed her memory of her abuser's identity, but the trauma of the abuse and her continued terror that her abuser will come back and kill her if she tells continually haunt her. She tries to get rid of this fear and anguish through her artwork, but at times art isn't enough. In moments of extreme panic or anger, Kendra's only source of relief is the weight of the utility blade in her hand, the sharp pain as it slices through her skin, and the trickles of warm blood that immediately appear on her arm. This has been her coping mechanism for months, and it genuinely helps her let out emotion before she explodes. She needs it to survive. When Kendra finally tells her therapist, Carolyn, even Carolyn understands that for the time being, Kendra needs to be able to cut herself in order to bear her agony. Carolyn helps her (again, for the time being) cut herself in a safer way: using disinfectant on both her arm and the blade, carefully bandaging her up, and making it clear that she doesn't want Kendra to hurt herself and intends to help Kendra move to safer, healthier ways of expressing her emotion. She also informs Kendra's parents (as she is legally and morally bound to do). Eventually this strategy works, and Kendra's self-harm is drastically reduced through her therapist's careful work and patience. There's much more to the story than this, particularly in the way of Kendra's struggle to identify and face her abuser. However, I wanted to focus on the self-abuse aspect because I felt that this perspective might speak to middle and high schoolers that I would teach in the future. Even if they have not been abused, they might hurt themselves or be tempted to do so, so I thought it would be important to introduce a work those students could identify with and feel comforted by. I also think that the way Kendra's therapist handled her self-abuse added to my own understanding of the subject, and it could certainly be useful for students with friends who cut to see how the issue can be dealt with and how much love and support those who cut themselves need. There are several reasons to introduce Rainfield's Scars to a classroom, but the ones above are, I feel, the most pertinent. It offers teachers a chance to educate their class on resources and alternatives available to them if they need someone. At this point, I want to provide some of those resources in this blog so that anyone who wants to read this book or is struggling with any of the issues I mentioned knows what help is out there. One of the biggest organizations dedicated to helping those who self-harm is To Write Love On Her Arms (TWLOHA). I have provided the link to their blog below so that anyone interested in what they do can easily access it and learn as much as I have. Below that link are a few links to other websites dedicated to helping those in need. I encourage you to visit all these sites and know what they have to offer in case (heaven forbid) you or someone you know ever needs to see it. Help is out there, and those who feel cutting themselves provides the only relief they can get need this help more than anyone else. Please visit these links and pass them along. http://twloha.com/ http://selfinjury.com/ http://hopeline.com/ http://www.selfinjuryfoundation.org/ http://www.sioutreach.org/ |
AngelicaLaughter and literature are two of my favorite things, and I consider them to be crucial parts of my life. This blog is designed to spread life, laughter, and literature to anyone and everyone who needs them most. Photo by Tim Geers
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April 2015
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