Due to families being in states of toxic stress more than ever, COVID-19 is tipping the scales toward increased vulnerable situations where children are more likely to be left unsupervised with other children or unsafe adults and abused.
Learning to Breathe
published in 2018, after 15 years of rewrites and edit is a good read that can provide readers ages 14 and up along with parents a close look at the resilience and sense of empowerment needed to recover from abuse. Written by Vancouver-based Bahamian writer
Janice Lynn Mather's,
Learning to Breathe
is a coming-of-age story about a 16-year-old girl named Indira who is sent from her tiny island home in the Bahamas to finish high school in Nassau. In this debut novel, Indy has to room with her aunt and uncle. Troubles emerge immediately, including an unwanted pregnancy that she must hide from her aunt.
Trapped between self-blame and a sense of futility as a result of being pregnant, Indy stumbles on a yoga retreat center and discovers both allies and kindred souls who accept her and empower her to make choices about her body and find her voice. Mather skillfully balances emotionally wrenching scenes and surprisingly humorous ones; well-drawn supporting characters, including a fiery, self-educated grandmother and an endearingly gallant friend, enrich this debut novel. Ages 14 and up.
https://globalnews.ca/news/6730142/coronavirus-covid-19-child-sexual-abuse-increase/
https://www.cbc.ca/books/janice-lynn-mather-s-novel-was-15-years-in-the-making-now-it-s-a-governor-general-s-literary-award-finalist-1.4737008
A 2019 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Selection
Amelia Bloomer List’s 2019 Top Ten Recommended Feminist Books for Young Readers
A Governor General’s Literary Award Finalist
A Junior Library Guild Selection
A Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize Semifinalist
A BC Book Prize Finalist