FernFolio » sexual abuse

Sketches by Eric Walters

fernfolio — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 16:00:30 +0000

Fourteen year-old Dana is a runaway, living on the streets of Toronto. Begging for spare change to buy coffee and a doughnut, and protecting her rapidly dwindling possessions from thieves is a far cry from her comfortable life in the suburbs, but she cannot go home.
Fortunately, Dana is adopted into a street family. Sixteen year-old Ashley has been on the streets since she was twelve and, though she puts on a tough act and grumbles about the added pressures of looking out for an underage runaway, proves herself when things get difficult. At seventeen, Brent shows a sometimes alarming tendency toward drug use, and possesses a level of cynicism and pessimism that hints at the struggles he has known, but is steadfast in his care and protection of the two girls. It is Brent who knows all the squats and finds them somewhere safe to sleep each night. It is Brent who figures out each day how they are going to make some money, either by choosing a subway entrance at which to beg for change or by cleaning windshields at stoplights. Both Brent and Ashley are there to calm her down and get her safely away when Dana is propositioned by a man in a business suit who then accuses her of solicitation when Dana starts making a scene.
Dana learns about the realities of life on the street, the constant discomfort of dirty clothes and hair, of hunger and of fatigue. She discovers that street people such as she are invisible, and that most passers-by either become hostile when asked for money or give out of the selfish desire to make the unpleasantness go away.
Dana’s only escape from the tediousness and fear of street life is making art. When she is caught spray painting underneath an overpass by a worker from a local centre for street youth, she is invited to drop in. At Sketches, Dana finds art, industrial arts and computer design studios, and friendship in the form of the centre’s director, Nicki, and a former street youth and now up-and-coming artist, Becca, who volunteers at the centre.
Though Brent and Ashley are initially sceptical about Dana’s increasing involvement in Sketches and its programs, they quickly recognize the potential of making sidewalk chalk pictures, after Nicki and Becca teach Dana and others how to create them. Soon the three young people are earning some decent money through the donations of admiring passers-by, and are thinking that, just possibly, they can make it off the street.
This is a good story about street youth and the hardships of life on the street. It explores some of the compelling reasons that push young men and women to leave home, and as well as the difficulties they face in making it off the street and into homes and jobs. Perhaps our politicians ought to be reading this. Sketches is the Intermediate Book Club’s choice for its second book of the year. I know there will be plenty of discussion about social justice.
FernFolio Editor

Jumping the Scratch by Sarah Weeks

fernfolio — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 17:50:00 +0000

Eleven year-old Jamie is preoccupied with memory and forgetting. He lives with his mother and his amnesic aunt, Sapphy, in Wondrous Acres trailer park, having moved there after his father took off with the cashier at the MicroMart, and his aunt was struck in the head by a big metal pipe in the cherry canning factory where she worked. Sapphy can remember everything about her life before the accident, but cannot form new memories so that each day she must be told again about her accident, and why Jamie and his mother have come to stay. Jamie and his mother work hard to stimulate Sapphy’s memory, offering her sniffs of spices and playing her favourite records in hope of finding that ‘magic trigger’, the one that will help her memory to jump over the scratch.
Jamie wants to learn to forget. He longs to put behind him memories of his life in Battle Creek before his cat, Mister, died, and his dad took off. He longs to forget what happened in the trailer park manager’s office on Christmas Eve. And he longs to stop feeling that he is responsible for all the bad things that have happened to him. During the day, Jamie pushes his memories “down, deep inside, and [tries] as hard as [he can] to forget it. [He keeps his] mouth shut, and [is] careful not to look people in the eye. .” At night, he retreats behind a protective circle of empty cherry cans, a kind of early-warning device he erects around his bed.
Jumping the Scratch is the story of two individuals who must find the ‘magic trigger’ to break out of their past and in the future. For Sapphy, who has taken a blow to the head, it is simply a matter of trying every stimulus until the right key if found. For Jamie, rocked by blows to his personal life, it is rather more complicated. With his father gone, and his mother preoccupied by Sapphy’s illness and her own personal difficulties, Jamie finds himself without an ear that will listen.
Sarah Weeks has written a sensitive and beautiful story about some very difficult issues. Well worth the read for mature readers.
FernFolio Editor

Boy O’Boy by Brian Doyle

fernfolio — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 14:55:49 +0000

It’s the summer of 1945, and all of Ottawa awaits word that the war in Asia is over and that the world can return to happy times. However, young Martin O’Boy’s life is too complicated to be transformed by the end of war. His father is an emotionally abusive drunk and his mother, though well meaning, is drained by the demands of looking after Martin’s mentally handicapped twin brother, Phil, and constant worries about money. With the death of his beloved Granny, Martin feels alone in the world, without love or affection.
Along with his friend, Billy Bateman, Martin is invited by his school music teacher to be a summer choir boy at a local church. There he makes the acquaintance of Mr. George, the organist, who seems to be a kind man, watching out for the boys and playing tag games with them during breaks in choir practice. When Mr. George tells Martin that he’s become very fond of him, and suggests that they spend time together after choir practice, the boy is flattered, but something happens during their outing that Martin could never have anticipated or imagined.
Boy O’Boy is a beautifully told story about some very difficult issues. Doyle’s spare writing style, adept handling of rhythm and cadence, and keen eye for the small, important minutia of life make this a must-read for intermediate students.
FernFolio Editor