International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

Women's activists have marked November 25th as a day against violence since 1981. This date came from the brutal assassination in 1960, of the three Mirabal sisters, political activists in the Dominican Republic. Governments, international organizations and NGOs are invited to organize activities designed to raise public awareness of the problem on this day.

 Violence against women continues to be a global pandemic and impacts on, and impedes, progress in many areas, including poverty eradication, combating HIV/AIDS, and peace and security. Violence against women is a consequence of discrimination against women, in law and also in practice, and of persisting inequalities between men and women.

 Physical. Sexual. Psychological. Economic. Violence against women takes many forms and affects women from childhood to old age. The roots of violence against women lie in persistent discrimination against women. Women who experience violence suffer a range of health problems and their ability to participate in society is diminished. This violence does not observe distinctions of culture, religion, race or age. It harms families, communities across generations and reinforces other violence prevalent

So how do we address this in the library?  There are several books available that can help approach these sensitive subjects with our young patrons on both an individual level and as a global issue.

I like that these books use animals as characters rather than people.  I think that it allows young readers to distance themselves from frightening situations without taking away any of the impact and validity of the situations described.

A Terrible Thing Happened by Margaret M. Holmes
Sherman Smith saw the most terrible thing happen. At first he tried to forget about it, but something inside him started to bother him. He felt nervous and had bad dreams. Then he met someone who helped him talk about the terrible thing, and made him feel better.

Holmes has written a book that doesn't pretend that thing will go back to the way they were, but instead lets the reader know that many emotions can result from a tragedy such as anger, sadness, fear and that acting out can result when these emotions are hidden or ignored. Finding someone to talk to can help. There is also some information for caregivers at the end. We never learn what the terrible thing that happened to Sherman is, making this book relatable for all kinds of situations: bullying, divorce, abuse, death, accident, crime, and so on.

On a Dark, Dark Night by Sara B. Pierce
A bear cub sees his father strike his mother. He runs away, and is comforted by his friend Moose, who brings in another friend, Eagle. Eagle, taking on the role of the police officer, goes to the father bear and talks to him. Eagle brings him before the animal council, which Pierce calls “the animals’ version of our judicial system.” The council decides that the father bear can no longer stay in the village. Several seasons pass, the father returns, and he and the mother bear begin to talk about whether he can return home or whether he needs more time alone. The story leaves what happens next unsaid making the book suitable for a variety of situations.

Testify by Valerie Sherrard

Shana Tremain is a good kid. She knows right from wrong and shes never been in any serious trouble. But when her best friend, Carrie, comes to her for help, Shana agrees to break the law to save Carrie from a molester. She even feels good about it for a while.

Then trouble starts. Someone in their group of friends is stealing from the others. As she searches for the truth, Shana uncovers evidence that raises a terrifying question: Has she made a horrible mistake?

Faced with the reality of what shes done, Shana finds herself trapped in a web of her own lies and deceit. Can she convince the right people that shes telling the truth now? Either way its clear someone is going to pay a terrible price for her crime

A Red Maple 2013 Nominee

For a short novel, the impact of the relationship between the girls is powerful and quick to reach out to the reader.   You don't have to identify with the specific circumstances of the group of girls to recognize the dynamics almost instantly- intense loyalty, the devastation of betrayal, the drop of your stomach when a mistake is realized, the desperation for a wrong to be corrected, the shame and fear of being outcast.  These are all emotions that can be experienced several times a day in the life of a teenage girl.  The rules of social survival can be brutal and binding.  Defying those rules can change how you see yourself and how those you think you know treat you.  

This is a powerful story that examines how motives and truth can change in an instant, altering who we think we are and who we will become.

Book #4: Circle 9 by Anne Heltzel

When your whole life has vanished and only one person knows who you are . . . don’t you have to believe him?

Abby doesn’t remember what happened the night she woke up in soot-stained clothes, lying next to a burning building with an unfamiliar boy at her side. But her connection with Sam is immediate and intense. And she has no one else: no family, no home, not even a last name.

She and Sam start a new life, just the two of them, and Abby’s deliriously happy. Until memories from her past begin to haunt her—and suddenly everything she’s learned to love turns sinister. It’s only a matter of time before her reality cracks apart.

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I liked the style of writing at the opening, being right there with Abby as she discovers her circumstance and struggles to learn why her life is the way it is. I had the same questions as her and was willing to believe her answers, to believe Sam. Soon, I started to distance myself from her thoughts and explanations as I suspect was intended. A few steps ahead of our fragile heroine, the reader begins to look with suspicion at the same life Abby looks at with the innocence of a trusting child. Is Sam lying? What is the real cause of him being sick? Is the world outside really so horrid? At times I felt as though I were twinned with Abby, seeing what she saw, feeling her emotions and unable to make her hear my questioning and warnings. I felt excitement every time she started to see beyond the veil and worry when she slipped back to her own world.

I went into this book blind, not having read any synopsis, review or even the book jacket. I am glad that I did as it enhanced the experience of what Abby was going through. I did not know what to expect nor what others may have thought. Knowing now that the description spoke of sexual abuse and drug use, I was glad to discover these plot lines along with Abby and Sam rather than having a checklist to follow.

I think what has stuck with me most after closing the cover, what niggles in the back of my mind, is Abby’s perception of who and what is safe in the world and how dangerous it can be to not see the other reality that surrounds her. The idea that what you see and what makes you feel safe is an illusion is a fitting one for this time of the year where every horror movie has a sliver of that idea in the plot. The ability of the mind to weave, twist and block what the senses show is wondrous and terrifying. The question is left: Is the world around you the same as the one you see?

I am at a bit of a crossroads when deciding if I liked this book or not. The fact that I have to make the decision suggests that I did not. I believe that it is a book that was well written and compelling and challenging enough to the reader to be a good book and a worthy read. But I am still not convinced that I actually liked it. I feel as though I am looking at a piece of art. I can appreciate it technically, and can understand the depth of it, the creativeness and the beauty in it. But I do not want it on my walls. I don’t really like it. I am glad to have seen it and would be slightly less for not having seen it, or in this case, read it. I read it, closed the cover and went on with my day. That all night and first thing the next morning and intermittently throughout the day I was still going over parts of the story tells me that Circle 9 had meaning to me as a reader, and in my book, that makes it a success.