A review by okiecozyreader
Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

challenging dark emotional fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

So many of my 6th grade girls chose this as their favorite Sequoyah book last year. I kept meaning to read it, but I knew it was about sexual abuse and I just didn’t want to read it. I finally got to it this fall, and I can see why they liked it. There are so many difficult things in the first half - foster care, poverty, abuse, suicide, meth addiction, snow (fairly descriptive of sexual abuse and suicide) - but it is all followed by really great therapy advice - it’s not your fault / and use your words to communicate - not by hitting people or responding in other ways. I can see how this book might really help esp young girls who are in similar situations. At the end, the author mentions it is something she had to overcome in her own life.

I also loved the way the main character compared herself to a wolf and became such a strong version of herself.

“What if I was that bad? … 
Then you’d be someone else.” Ch 33

Author’s note: 

“…Being able to talk about it, is one of the first steps to overcoming the damage it caused.”

“Eventually I found my words; I wrote this book hoping readers find theirs.”
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