SuitabookFighting Words
Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
- Reading
- Consider reading alongside regular check-ins rather than rushing. Beforehand, agree how to pause; afterwards, invite discussion of consent, support and feelings without asking the reader to disclose personal experiences.
- Themes
- Speaking out and seeking help: Della learns about consent and the importance of speaking up; the sisters’ experiences are connected with finding help and beginning recovery. The book presents disclosure, support and help-seeking as routes towards healing, while acknowledging that recovery is difficult.
- Abuse and responsibility: Della and Suki deal with sexual abuse and assault connected with an adult in their family circumstances. The book treats this strongly critically.
- Foster care and fairness: The sisters live in foster care, and the novel addresses difficulties within the foster-care system, including limited specialist support and questions of fairness. The book takes a critical view of this.
- Worth knowing
- Some scenes and topics are especially intense: child sexual abuse and assault, a suicide attempt with blood, drug addiction, a fire linked to methamphetamine production, bullying, incarceration and smoking.