Fighting Words by Kimblerly Brubaker Bradley

 When Della and Suki's mom goes to prison for running a meth lab, and the girls , ages 5 and 8, just keep living with their mother's boyfriend, even though he is no blood relation.  When he tries to sexually molest Della, and Suki gets a picture of the act, he gets arrested and Della and Suki are moved to foster care.  Their new foster mother is not particularly affectionate, but she is conscienous and takes care of them.  Della soon starts to settle into their new, life, but Suki is unexplainably angry and volitive. Della can't quite understand why her sister is struggling.  After all, it happened to Della, not Suki... or did it?

Wow, this was a tough one to read.  Brubaker-Bradley doesn't pull any punches as she describes what the girls go through dealing with their pasts of neglect and abuse.  The book is written from the point of view of the 10-year-old, Della.  She is hurt, and damaged, and acts up at at school, but she is also nieve, and ignorant of what her sister went through for years. The voice of Della is pitch purfect.  It feels exactly how a 10-year-old would experience the situation.  The reader is cheering both her and her sister on as they face things no child should have to face.  

As I read the book as a librarian I kept asking myself if the book crossed the line of what I could include in a children's section. The author describes both the "boyfriend's" attempt at raping Della, to the point he pulled down her panties and fondled her genitals, and (spoiler alert) Suki's attempt as suicide by slitting her wrist.  All of the times Suki was raped are only refered to in general terms, like "he hurt her."  In the end I decided to leave it in the "intermediate" section, for grades 4-8.  Is it possible some child will pick it up and be really upset by the content?  Yes.  Is it possible that some adult will be irate because their child was upset?  Yes.  Is is possible it might get into the hands of a child who really needs to know that he/she is not the only one this happened to, and that there is a why out?  Yes!  I am willing to risk the first two senarios, to facilitate the third. (259 p. 2020)