SHOUT
by Laurie Halse Anderson (Author)
Booktalk: When she was thirteen years old, Laurie Halse Anderson was a shy, bookish girl who was raped by a boy she trusted. In this free verse memoir (and call to action), she tells the story she’s never shared publicly before — her life from then to now.
Snippet:
But that boy who raped me
on the rocks by the creek
got drunk and lay down
on a dark night to play
chicken with the devil
and he lost.
I begged my father
to take me to the funeral. I lied
and said that boy was my friend.
He looked at me sharply,
my ice-eyed father
my gentle-hearted father, he heard
something in my voice
but after one searing glance, he shut
down the inquiry
wrote the note
got me out
of school and walked with me
to the graveside on
a gray September day cut by winter’s
promise in the wind.
My father kept his arm
around my shoulders, while I cried
so hard I turned myself inside
out, so grateful IT was gone
and it was over.
I did not know
that the haunting
had just begun.
It’s Nonfiction Monday!
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