From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up–Written by a psychotherapist, this book sets personal narratives within a generalized discussion of sexual abuse of girls and young women. Feuereisen addresses myths about female sexuality and abuse, considers contributing family dynamics, and offers advice on preventing, reporting, and recovering from abuse. Individual chapters are given to father-daughter incest, other incest, abuse by teachers and clergy, and different types of rape. The writing is clear and frank, including sufficient details without becoming salacious. The personal voices are the strength here, reminding other victims that they are not alone and that healing is possible. Individuals of various races and ethnicities tell their stories within their cultural contexts. Carolyn Lehman's
Strong at the Heart: How It Feels to Heal from Sexual Abuse (Farrar, 2005) is an equally impressive title with greater emphasis on the importance of telling one's story to aid in the recovery process. Linda L. Foltz's
Kids Helping Kids Break the Silence of Sexual Abuse (Lighthouse Point, 2003), for a younger readership, offers similar treatment on the importance of speaking out, with less explicit detail.
–Joyce Adams Burner, Hillcrest Library, Prairie Village, KS Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Product Description
Dr. Patti Feuereisen has been working with teenage girls for twenty-five years and has been a pioneer in helping abused girls find their voices. What she discovered in listening to hundreds of girls was not only that sexual abuse of young girls is in fact epidemic, but if the abuse can be processed when girls are still youngin their teens and early twentiesremarkable healing can take place. Girls and young women who are given an opportunity to speak out will most often go on to thrive as adults; without such an opportunity the traumatic effects of their abuse will often continue to cause them difficulty long into adulthood. Invisible Girls weaves together powerful first-person narratives with gentle guidance and seasoned insights to help girls through the maze of feelings that swirl around the abuse experience. This gives every young woman who struggles with the scars of sexual abuse the courage that comes from knowing that she is not alone, while other girls come out from behind the veil of secrecy to become vibrant, healthy, and whole. "
