Strong at the Heart: How It Feels to Heal from Sexual Abuse
Grade 9 Up–Primarily about the experience of healing and recovery,Heartgathers 11 personal stories by young men and women who experienced rape, molestation, or incest and found healing through speaking out about their abuse. Lehman, a child-sexual-abuse survivor herself, emphasizes the importance of consciously choosing to tell what happened and meeting with others who have had similar experiences, and shows the wide variety of ways to express feelings and find community. Clearly and candidly written, the narratives recounted here include sufficient details of abuse to be authentic, but never titillating. The clear message to other victims is that they are not alone and that recovery is possible. An attractive, accessible format and black-and-white portraits throughout personalize the presentation. Extensive appendixes list organizations and annotated resources for further reading that offer help. Patti Feuereisen and Caroline Pincus'sInvisible Girls: The Truth about Sexual Abuse(Seal, 2005) also includes powerful personal stories within a larger context of more generalized discussion of child/teen sexual abuse.–Joyce Adams Burner, Hillcrest Library, Prairie Village, KSCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.