She can trust no one to help even though she has tried to tell a teacher and her principal. All of the action in this short novel happens in one frantic day which begins when Tish pulls a survival knife on Tonnie at the breakfast table. She later runs away after an incident at school and finally finds herself in the law office of a classmate's father. He believes her, and together they devise a plan to save her life. Tish walks back to Tonnie's house armed with truth, courage, and a belief that she was in control of her life.
Sexual abuse is horrendous.
Because such abuse is an issue that many children face daily and because there are so many other important issues worthy of study and discussion in the novel, I would use it in a high school English classroom. This problem novel could be used in a unit on helping students develop an internal locus of control. Students need to understand that they can assume responsibility for protecting themselves and for taking actions to shape and reshape their lives. His family discourages the relationship because she is not of their class. Skye is a wealthy girl who lives in Beauregard, a lavish estate on the ocean.