Illustrated by Tara Anand
5 stars
Fantastically written.
Shreya loves painting. She feels special when her art teacher praises her work. Mr. Rao even asks Shreya to come to the art room for him to paint her. But then something happens. Shreya feels different. She doesn’t want to be praised anymore. She doesn’t want to talk about it. It isn’t until another student speaks out that Shreya is able to tell her mother what happened.
The story is told from Shreya’s perspective, which gives great insight into how she is feeling and thinking. She struggles with when to speak up and the narration expresses her feelings of fear, shame, and guilt.
The story covers many aspects of sexual abuse including the guilt of not saying “no” during the incident, shame about what happened, not wanting to tell anyone, and avoiding attention and withdrawing from loved activities. Shreya also struggles with questioning whether she should warn Mr. Rao’s new favorite, a responsibility no child should ever have to deal with.
I love how validating the story is. Shreya’s mother believes her and supports her. She makes sure Shreya knows that what happened was not her fault.
The book also touches on important messages and misconceptions including that abusers tend to be adults the child knows, that children should not be shamed for what they did or did not do and whether they reported, and that what children need is to be believed and supported.
The illustrations pair perfectly, the colors mirroring the shifts in Shreya’s emotions.
Includes a list of resources at the end as well as a note to parents from a social worker on how to support children who have experienced sexual abuse.
Difficult subject matter, but done in a fantastic way. An empowering story of recovery and new beginnings.