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Title: Learning to Swim: A Memoir by Ann Warren Turner ISBN: 0439153093 Publisher: Scholastic Pub. Date: 2000 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.75
Rating: 5
Summary: Learning to Swim
Comment: This is a unique book about the experience of sexual abuse creatively written in poetic form, from the voice of a young child. Ann Turner eloquently shows what it is like for a child facing this kind of abuse. The book is so short you can read it in one sitting. The best thing about Ann's book is that it is written for a younger audience and in such a way that it encourages children to tell, even though it means facing painful feelings. Thanks Ann Turner for turning your painful experience into a work of art and a way for other children to receive help.
Rating: 4
Summary: Breif Summary and Review
Comment: This book of narrative poems deals with the author's emotional damage she encountered as a child after being sexually abused by a vacation friend. The emotions Ann feels and describes are paralleled to her learning to swim. The book is divided into three sections: sailing, sinking, and swimming. She begins the book as a happy exuberant child looking forward to a vacation in the summerhouse she loves. She is so looking forward to swimming on her own, without the swimming ring or her daddy's hands. She is confident and feels like she is sailing on top of the world. Her tone soon changes when Kevin, a friend down the road, takes her upstairs to read to her. Instead of reading he sexually abuses her and threatens her to never tell. At this point she feels like she is sinking. The secret she cannot tell anyone makes her feel physically sick. The hate and contempt for what Kevin keeps doing to her continue to builds up inside of her. When she tries to swim on her own she thrashes her arms and legs around until she almost sinks. Her daddy says maybe she will have better luck next time. Finally the time comes when Ann tells her mother the horrible secret she had been keeping to herself. Her father, mother, and grandfather try to instill the security and innocence in her that had been lost. Ann slowly starts to let go of the pain. She begins to return to a sense of normalcy in her life. This time when she gets in the water she forgets to be afraid. She starts swimming. This is a wonderful book dealing with the issue of sexual abuse. If something is wrong or someone is hurting you it is always better to tell someone. Then you can start the healing process. This book would be interesting to sixth graders and up due to the content and form of the text. Parents and teachers could use this book to enhance the study of english, art, social relationships, and health.
Rating: 4
Summary: Swimming or Sinking
Comment: ...Teaching K-8 magazine...suggested that it be used in middle school classes to discuss the presence of sexual abuse by a family member or family friend. While this is obviously not a happy topic, this book explores it in a responsible and appropriate manner.
Culled from the real-life experiences of poet Ann Turner, "Learning to Swim" tells the story of a young girl on a family vacation who is molested by an older boy. Each page has a separate poem that explores her feelings at a particular time. The actual events are not related. The only questionable language is a mention to "private parts". This is what makes the poetry all that much powerful. The images created are wonderful and the reader is able to get a glimpse into the mind that this child must have felt.
The reader will feel the same emotions as the girl and it sends a powerful message about how awful the exploitation of children is. The reading ability is definitely Young Adult and Turner is able to relate this difficult subject matter to a level that is appropriate for this age group - boys and girls alike.
Why 4 stars?: Really my only objection is that she did not write more. While we see the events from the child's mind, I would have appreciated even more depth into her emotions, as well as to the other people involved - her parents, brothers, and even the perpetrator. However, I did enjoy the poems, and could not put it down - I read it the first time in a single sitting, and then had to go back and read them again so the full levity could hit me. Turner does a masterful job of exploring this tragic subject in a manner that is appropriate for adolescents.
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Title: When She Hollers by Cynthia Voigt ISBN: 0590467158 Publisher: Scholastic Pub. Date: 2003 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, S. November ISBN: 014131088X Publisher: Puffin Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 2001 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You (Associated Writing Programs Award for Creative Nonfiction) by Sue William Silverman ISBN: 0820321753 Publisher: University of Georgia Press Pub. Date: 1999 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: I Never Promised You a Rose Garden by Joanne Greenberg ISBN: 0451160312 Publisher: New American Library Pub. Date: 1989 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen ISBN: 038080560X Publisher: HarperTrophy Pub. Date: 30 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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