WHEN SHE HOLLERS by Cynthia Voigt

Tish is hiding a secret, a secret that is running her life and making her ashamed. Tish is being raped by her stepfather (sometimes called her father). Tish's stepfather taunts her and her mother just blocks it out. Tish finally gets fed up and gets a survival knife, the only thing that makes her feel safe. She threatens her stepfather with the knife but he just laughs it off. Finally after battling with her stepfather she heads off to school where all the talk is about the girl named Miranda (they call her Randy) who committed suicide. Miranda was 6 months pregnant. After Tish and her friends talk about this she heads off to gym, with the survival knife still in her Docs. Her coach tells her she'll have to take off her Docs and she refuses, this means she'll have to give up her protection. She refuses which leads into the coach trying to take off Tish's shoes causing Tish to scream and freak out scaring her entire gym class. Also it sends her to the nurse & eventually to the office. This is where she gets told her stepfather is on his way to get her, she can't have this. She asks to go the the bathroom and runs, fighting off Chrissie & Kipper, and ending up in Chrissie's fathers office (he is a lawyer). She ends up telling him what he did to her and he tells her he'll testify and he'll protect her. Tish now goes home and must face her stepfather Tonnie, but she still has her protection, her knife.

There is always help & you don't need to face these types of things alone, all Tish needed was Chrissie's Dad's help.

I wouldn't really recommend this book. Tish had me really confused all throughout the book. I wasn't sure what was going on most of the time. Half the time it had me thinking that Tish was pregnant herself, plus the ending didn't really explain much, it had you wanting more.

Recommended for all teens.


KH in Greenville

SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson

Melinda Sordino begins her freshman year at high school ostracized by her fellow classmates and literally alone. She is tormented by memories of her rape that took place over the summer, cannot talk about it, and rather expresses herself by creating trees in art class. With the help of her art teacher and Maya Angelo, Melinda must learn to speak out.

A requirement in most ninth grade English classes, this novel is helpful in understanding the mind of a sexually abused teenage girl.

I have many friends who have enjoyed Speak, but I personally did not find Melinda's head an enjoyable place to be, mainly due to the writing style.

Recommended for Grades 9 - 12


RVK in Esopus

SAFE by Susan Shaw

Tracy tells her story about being raped. It is hard for her to recover, and come to terms with her tragedy. She turns inward and to the piano, to stop herself from going crazy. She also is still hurting from the death of her mother many years before. It's a story of abuse, recovery, and finding acceptance.

Some valuable knowledge from the book is to confide in adults. This wasn't a good rape book at all, I didn't feel that it was real. But it was enjoyable to read.

Good.
Erica in Esopus

SAFE by Susan Shaw

A girl got raped on June 15, and it changed her life. She didn't want to leave the house and was scared to be alone if her father wasn't with her. Ultimately, music saved her life.

Sometimes the road to recovery is done using your own creativity. I would recommend this book to a friend who plays or writes music.

Marginal.
Joe G. in Esopus