The most recommended books about child abuse

Like my own book, Abused To Death, is very hard-hitting and often harrowing, as Jessica writes about the most chilling cases of child abuse like Baby P and Sylvia Likens, in a bid to raise awareness for a subject that is very personal to me. 

Jessica’s delicate approach to giving these children a voice, even in death, is incredible. She writes from a fictional child's perspective and somehow manages to tackle some very difficult stories, with the respect that is deserved. The stories she writes about are brought to life in a very interesting and gripping way.

Just by reading this book, you can tell an incredible amount of research has gone into this book and is well worth a read.

Not A Happy Family is a Domestic Suspense novel. The Mertons have everything, money, a beautiful home, and plenty of vacations. So why, after Easter dinner with their three children are they found dead? The kids are distraught. Or are they? What childhood secrets do each of them carry and is one of them murderously vindictive? I come from a big family and always enjoy reading about dysfunctional families. Luckily, my own family was only semi-dysfunctional for the most part. Nothing I needed to kill my parents over.

Once I read two books in this genre I was hooked, hooked on finding out more, hooked on realising there were people in the world like me that had been through the worst within their childhood. It was my little secret way of facing my own demons knowing I wasn’t alone. I lived in fear of my truth, yet Constance tells her truth of physical and emotional abuse as well as living through a loveless childhood flawlessly. I couldn’t put it down and read it in three days.

You know a book is really good when you reread it. I read this one twice. When 16-year-old Ruby is sent to live with her married older sister Cora after their mother vanishes, she doesn’t know what to expect. She’s neither seen nor heard from Cora since Cora went away to college years earlier. As they fumble their way toward becoming reacquainted, the two sisters discover they’re more alike than they realized. While Ruby is falling for the boy next door, she’s learning to love and depend on the sister she didn’t know. This is a book you’ll want to recommend to your sister or sisters if you have one or more. I did, and my sister Karen loved it too.    

There will be 500,000 babies born in the US this year that will be sexually abused before they turn 18 if we do not prevent it. Child abuse is 90% preventable. 90% of children are harmed by a loved one or family member. This book is for older children ages 8 to 13 years. It has wonderful illustrations and a very important message for children to understand and internalizse.

Sally Donovan’s book is a memoir by an adoptive mother of two children who were removed from their birth family due to abuse and neglect. It’s an eye-opening, and at times eye-watering, read, educating the reader about the complexities of mothering children who have experienced trauma. It is also a deeply moving book about ‘hope, love and healing.’

Anyone considering adopting would benefit from reading this book.

My Life Now is a pivotal book that should be in everyone's library who is working to combat sex trafficking.

I am dumbfounded by the rampant sexual abuse quietly and deviously going on all around us. Mary's book sheds light on all aspects of child sexual abuse - how it can happen, why it happens, and why children are in "survival mode" and don't remember the abuse sometimes until decades later.

Mary Knight also produced a documentary I recommend called Mothers and Molestation: A Film about Child Abuse.

I have read a few of Dave’s books and the one thing that I absolutely love about his stories is the ability he has to pull me in right from the beginning. When I read his first book, it was like I could see it as if it were a movie playing out in my head. His scene-setting, descriptives, etc. are wonderful.

For children, secrets can be a fun part of life. However, some secrets can be disturbing and even dangerous for a child to keep. Do You Have a Secret helps young children make the distinction between good secrets and bad secrets. Read together with a parent, a child can learn which secrets should not be kept inside, as well as how talking about them can actually help them feel better. This well-written book should be considered essential to a parent’s library of books that increase communication between parents and children. In today’s world, some secrets can be devasting to a child’s emotional health and well-being. Setting the stage for children to talk about them is one of the best things we can do in a world where there are simply too many secrets for children to cope with.

Fear of the Collar is Patrick Touher’s personal account of his experience in the Artane Industrial School. Artane was the largest Industrial School in Ireland and operated from 1870 – 1969.

At times Artane housed nearly 1,000 boys and was known to be self-sufficient – with the “inmates” making their own clothes, shoes, and the boys produced and grew their own food.

Touher takes the reader through the daily military-like regiment and discipline imposed upon young boys being cared for by the Christian Brothers. His story will evoke an array of feelings. It is important to read the epilogue as you will be in awe of the man Patrick Touher has become despite the harshness of his childhood.