Author Carolyn Lehman (Strong at the Heart) reviews books and discusses writing and speaking to and about survivors of abuse at her blog, Strong at the Heart. The Cybils are thrilled she’s agreed to serve as a judge for the Non-fiction (MG/YA) category.
This week Carolyn reviewed Patricia McCormick’s Sold, a novel nominated for the Young Adult fiction Cybil. Here is her review:
I just finished reading Sold, a free verse novel by Patricia McCormick, published by Hyperion for young adults. It’s the first book of fiction–or nonfiction–that I’ve seen for teens that deals with child sex trafficking.
The author has done a fantastic job. She really gets the accommodation that sexually exploited kids must go through and the role of hope in keeping a sense of self alive, even when that hope is misplaced.
A lot of fiction that treats sexual abuse is from an “outsider” perspective. Even when it is written in the voice of a young survivor, the characters and action can seem to fulfill outsider needs to feel pity and to rescue. And I have to say there is a powerful outsider thread in Sold.