Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker BradleyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I'll just get the big stuff out of the way: this book addresses drug addiction, parental incarceration, foster care, sexual abuse, suicide, nonconsensual touching, and mental health. Right now, many parents and school librarians may be running away screaming (and I've seen some pearl-clutching on librarian social media pages about the appropriateness of such issues for kids), but I encourage everyone to pick up this book because it is engaging, sensitive, funny, and quite possibly exactly what a reader needs. Real kids deal with real issues, and this book handles some really tough topics in a way that is 100% appropriate to the needs of the middle grades reader.
Della is a heroine to root for, and while her sister Suki is a key character, this is Della's story. While she's been through a lot, she's damaged but not broken. She has a strong bond with her older sister and protector Suki as well as a lot of good-intentioned people on her side. I like that the supporting characters - the teacher who doesn't quite get it, the foster mother who's tough but caring, Della's basketball coach at the Y who is also Suki's boss at the grocery store, Maybelline at the deli counter, Della and Suki's friends, even Della's nemesis Trevor - while not completely fleshed out, feel like real people with back stories and not mere props in Della's tale.
Bradley's very personal message that all of us have the right to be safe, the right to bodily autonomy, the right to speak our truths is balanced with a very clear message that some of us have harder paths to trod to achieve those goals and that's ok. Bradley's message is ultimately one of empowerment and one that any child can benefit from.
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