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4.68 AVERAGE
4.68 AVERAGE
I was a little worried about how this book on sexual assault would be presented for young readers, but I shouldn’t have worried. It is a wonderful story with sisters who have gone through hell and back. The older one ends up not being able to deal with the horrible things that happened to her. This story is told by the younger sister, who can cuss like a sailor. However for her story she has turned the cuss words into “snow” words, so there is no inappropriate language.
I was floored by the statement that 2/3 of women have been sexually assaulted in some way, shape or form, including the author of this book. This book would be a great read for a fifth grade through 8th grade reading groups. Girls would see how to respond appropriately to someone touching them without permission and boys would see that what might have started out as fun, has real consequences on those involved.
I was floored by the statement that 2/3 of women have been sexually assaulted in some way, shape or form, including the author of this book. This book would be a great read for a fifth grade through 8th grade reading groups. Girls would see how to respond appropriately to someone touching them without permission and boys would see that what might have started out as fun, has real consequences on those involved.
challenging
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I am in awe of how Kimberly Brubaker Bradley's craft improves with each book she writes, and it's hard to top the perfection that was The War That Saved My Life, but she has done it here with Fighting Words, the best book I've read in 2020 and one that should be in EVERY elementary and middle school library.
This one should win all the awards. All of them.
It's a book I wish I had when I was 10. The book I wish I had when I was 12. The book I didn't realize how much I needed at age 49, as a survivor of family addiction, economic insecurity, and childhood sexual abuse. For the author's note alone, it should win awards.
What is perhaps most brilliant about this book is that it features children living through sexual abuse, parental neglect, parental addiction, suicidal depression, foster care, and various traumas including their mother's arrest for blowing up the hotel room where they were staying while she was cooking meth...and it is appropriate for elementary school students.
This is important because, while there are (a few) YA books that feature survivors of sexual abuse and offer hope and allyship for those who have suffered abuse, many victims cannot reach those books until they years after the abuse has started and sometimes even after the abuse has ended. For a 4th or 5th grader to read this and hear, You are not alone. You are not a freak. You did nothing wrong. You didn't cause this. You can tell someone. You can fight. There are people who will help you. Even this amazing lady who wrote this book survived what you are going through. Keep hoping, keep fighting, and tell someone. This is going to save lives.
On top of its value in helping children who may be living through abuse, though, it is simply a beautifully, brilliantly written novel. 10 year old Della is one of the most compelling, delightful characters I've ever enjoyed getting to know. I could not believe that a novel that touches on such dark subjects could make me laugh out loud so often and be filled with hope and light.
Kimberly Brubaker Bradley so perfectly depicts Della's porcupine-like self defenses, her yearning for love, and her inability to trust. When I read Ada in The War That Saved My Life, I thought, Wow. This author knows how to write childhood trauma and PTSD. And this is even more apparent in Fighting Words in the delicacy and care with which she depicts Della and Suki, especially Suki's decompensating reaction to adapting to relative safety.
Perhaps most clever is how Kimberly Brubaker Bradley walks the tightrope of writing profanity in a way that allows the book to be marketed to an elementary school audience without sounding fake or saccharine. A middle finger to all the snowy snowmen out there who might try to censor such an empowering book with the argument that language is "offensive".
You'll have to read it to understand it, but I loved this book so much that I am seriously thinking of getting an ampersand tattoo, and getting a tattoo was about as unlikely for me a month ago as going to Mars. It's that good.
Get this in the hands of your upper elementary and middle school readers. Every elementary library. Every middle school library. Get it.
This one should win all the awards. All of them.
It's a book I wish I had when I was 10. The book I wish I had when I was 12. The book I didn't realize how much I needed at age 49, as a survivor of family addiction, economic insecurity, and childhood sexual abuse. For the author's note alone, it should win awards.
What is perhaps most brilliant about this book is that it features children living through sexual abuse, parental neglect, parental addiction, suicidal depression, foster care, and various traumas including their mother's arrest for blowing up the hotel room where they were staying while she was cooking meth...and it is appropriate for elementary school students.
This is important because, while there are (a few) YA books that feature survivors of sexual abuse and offer hope and allyship for those who have suffered abuse, many victims cannot reach those books until they years after the abuse has started and sometimes even after the abuse has ended. For a 4th or 5th grader to read this and hear, You are not alone. You are not a freak. You did nothing wrong. You didn't cause this. You can tell someone. You can fight. There are people who will help you. Even this amazing lady who wrote this book survived what you are going through. Keep hoping, keep fighting, and tell someone. This is going to save lives.
On top of its value in helping children who may be living through abuse, though, it is simply a beautifully, brilliantly written novel. 10 year old Della is one of the most compelling, delightful characters I've ever enjoyed getting to know. I could not believe that a novel that touches on such dark subjects could make me laugh out loud so often and be filled with hope and light.
Kimberly Brubaker Bradley so perfectly depicts Della's porcupine-like self defenses, her yearning for love, and her inability to trust. When I read Ada in The War That Saved My Life, I thought, Wow. This author knows how to write childhood trauma and PTSD. And this is even more apparent in Fighting Words in the delicacy and care with which she depicts Della and Suki, especially Suki's decompensating reaction to adapting to relative safety.
Perhaps most clever is how Kimberly Brubaker Bradley walks the tightrope of writing profanity in a way that allows the book to be marketed to an elementary school audience without sounding fake or saccharine. A middle finger to all the snowy snowmen out there who might try to censor such an empowering book with the argument that language is "offensive".
You'll have to read it to understand it, but I loved this book so much that I am seriously thinking of getting an ampersand tattoo, and getting a tattoo was about as unlikely for me a month ago as going to Mars. It's that good.
Get this in the hands of your upper elementary and middle school readers. Every elementary library. Every middle school library. Get it.
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I’m pretty sure I just finished one of the best books I’ve ever read. It’s a MUST for middle grades. An absolute MUST! Add it to your collection, share it with your teachers, do everything you can to make sure it gets read, and shared, and talked about.
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This was a really wonderful MG novel about sexual assault, healing, and empowerment.
•
| Gut Instinct Rating: | 9
| Characters: | 10
| Believability: | 10
| Uniqueness: | 8
| Writing Style: | 10
| Excitement Factor: | 10
| Story Line: | 10
| Title Relevance: | 8
| Artwork Relevance: | 8
| Audiobook Narration: | 0
| Overall: | 8.30
| Out of 5: | 4.61
| %/100: | 92%
One of the most important books I have ever read. I’m not going to explain the story but the writing, the message, end the characters are amazing. I cried- not only for the intensity of the story but for the strength and ability to write it. It’s not going to be easy but I’ll be book-talking this with students and teachers as much as I can.
A powerful story that will stay with me for a long time. YA, but adults need this book as much as kids/teens do.
Fierce is an excellent way to describe this book. So compelling that when I started reading excerpts I had to order it immediately. This is the third book I’ve read of the author’s and while it’s quite different from the other two, I’ve appreciated them all.