Below you will find print and digital titles about abuse in our SHS Learning Commons collection and the Libby collection from the Scott County Library.
Exit, Pursued by a Bear by
Hermione Winters plans to make her senior year of high school, and final season as the captain of her small town's popular cheerleading team, legendary. But things change when she is drugged and raped at cheerleading camp. Now the school's star cheerleader is also the pregnant girl, but Hermione refuses to let the assault or the resulting pregnancy define her.
Every Body Looking by
Growing up with a Nigerian father and a drug-addicted mother leaves seventeen-year-old Ada with emotional scares she only begins to unpack when she leaves home for college in Washington D.C. Told in flashback scenes of her childhood, Ada comes to grip with the trauma inflicted by her absent mother, the pressures put on her by her strict father, and the sexual abuse suffered at the hands of male relatives. Through dance, Ada explores life outside of her family, learns who she is, and defines who she wants to be.
Rani Patel in Full Effect by
Seventeen-year-old Rani Patel's outer appearance is that of a rocking Indian girl breaking cultural norms in her hip-hop performances. On the inside she feels like a nobody, separated from her school peers by her Indian culture where "husband is God," made all the worse by her father's incestuous advances toward her. Meeting Mark, a hot older man who frequents her parents' store, Rani discovers an underground hip-hop crew that fuels her imagination, but she ignores the red flags of Mark's intentions toward her and is led down a dark path.
The Rules of Survival by
Though Matt tries to protect both Callie and their younger stepsister, Emmy, from their manic mother's uncontrollable fits of rage and abuse, he desperately seeks the help of an adult. With his distant but loving father and his Aunt Bobbie turning a blind eye to the situation, Matt realizes there is only one person that can help stop the cycle of violence.
Ordinary Hazards by
Told in verse, African American author and poet Nikki Grimes chronicles her childhood as the daughter of a schizophrenic mother and absent father, as well as the abuse she suffered at the hands of babysitters and foster families. She also discusses how magical and cathartic writing is in her life and how it got her through tough times throughout her young life.
A Girl Like That by
In Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, sixteen-year-old half-Hindu/half-Parsi Zarin Wadia is the class troublemaker and top subject for the school rumor blogs, regularly leaving class to smoke cigarettes in cars with boys, but she also desperately wants to grow up and move out of her aunt and uncle's house, perhaps realizing too late that Porus, another non-Muslim Indian who risks deportation but remains devoted to Zarin, could help her escape. When the two end up dead in a car on a highway in Jeddah, it becomes clear she was far more than a "girl like that."
Shout by
Presents a memoir in poems from the author about her horrible experience as a thirteen-year-old when she was raped by a boy she trusted, offering poetic narration of what happened and how she found a path to recovery and now works and writes and advocates for other sufferers and survivors of sexual assault of any kind.
Punching Bag by
Growing up in the 1990s, young Rex Ogle lived with the trauma, dread, and heartache of an abusive stepfather and a violent mother with a mental illness. In this heartbreaking-turned-hopeful memoir, Rex describes the extent of the abuse he suffered, how his mother blamed him for the death of his stillborn sister, and how the spirit of his sister Marisa followed him throughout his life, imparting an unseen presence that helped him turn away from darkness and towards survival.
Irreversible by
Keir Sarafian must finally confront his past when tragedy strikes during his first year of what has been an eye-opening first year of college.
We Are the Ashes, We Are the Fire by
Furious at her sister's rape by a frat boy, biracial Em Morales takes matters into her own hands, becoming her sister's advocate on social media. When the trial ends in a conviction, but with no jail sentence, Em's activism turns to thoughts of revenge. Knowing she needs to move on, Em channels her rage into writing a fictionalized novel-in-verse about fifteenth century noblewoman Marguerite de Bressieux, who fought as a knight to avenge rape victims.
