Fighting Words

I had no idea what I was getting into when I picked up this book to read, solely because it was an award winner. It took me a while to read this little book because some days I just couldn't. While, after finishing it, I think it was incredibly done and tells such an important story... I do not know when I should be recommended to my daughter. I borrowed it for my eBook reader, but I'd buy it if the right price came along because it is a worthy read. A hard read, but necessary. Overall, there is nothing too revealing in the telling, but more of an if you know, then you understand its essence. But again, I don't know when this will be an appropriate read. I think this is absolutely a book that could be recommended during a time of healing and therapy, however, I think it should also be recommended before anything has the opportunity to happen. But then what innocence is lost by reading it before “you know” of such things. Either way, while I struggle with my own questions of timing, this book is needed and I hope those that need it, find it at exactly the right moment.

Wow, wow, wow. What an important and powerful book.
Seriously. This one is a game-changer.
We need more like it.

Amazing and heartbreaking. Since this is about child sexual assault I knew it would be a hard read but it's also funny and inspiring. Della is such a force to be reckoned with and I'm so glad that she gets to have friends and a sister and a foster mom who cares. Francine, her foster mom, is such a lovely person. Her insistence that other people's stories are their own is such a powerful thing. No one is allowed to tell your story and you get to decide how to tell it. That's an important lesson for all of us, but so powerful for kids/teens.