Since I began to read to my kids, children’s books have been one of my best teachers. When my kids were small, I learned about early automobiles, planes and sailing ships. Recently, I have learned the biographies, unknown to me, of influential minority heroes. This weekend, I read Kimberly Brubaker Bradley’s Fighting Words. It is warm, funny and heroic. I would never have thought anyone could write a book for kids as young as 10 that addressed issues as serious as sexual abuse of children. But Bradley has. It should be in libraries. (Studies by David Finkelhor, Director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center, show that: 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 20 boys is a victim of child sexual abuse.)
In Fighting Words (2020), Della (10) and her sister, Suki (16), have just landed in a foster home. Della enters into her new 4rth grade class with an ampersand tattoo on her wrist and new purple, velvet, high-top sneakers. She is about to meet Mrs. Davonte, her teacher- who does not listen, Trevor who is a bully and Nevaeh, who will be her best friend. The narration waves compassion and humor with pain and uncertainty. It is a courageous book.
