Using Literature to Help Troubled Teenagers Cope with Abuse Issues (The Greenwood Press ''Using Literature to Help Troubled Teenagers'' Series)

275 Pages·2004·0.68 MB·English

by  Joan F. Kaywell

Using Literature to Help
Troubled Teenagers
Cope with Abuse Issues
Joan Kaywell
Editor
GREENWOOD PRESS
Using Literature to Help
Troubled Teenagers
Cope with Abuse Issues
Recent Titles in
The Greenwood Press “Using Literature to Help Troubled Teenagers”Series
Using Literature to Help Troubled Teenagers Cope with Family Issues
Joan F. Kaywell, editor and series editor
Using Literature to Help Troubled Teenagers Cope with Societal Issues
Pamela S. Carroll, editor
Using Literature to Help Troubled Teenagers Cope with Identity Issues
Jeffrey S. Kaplan, editor
Using Literature to Help Troubled Teenagers Cope with Health Issues
Cynthia Ann Bowman, editor
Using Literature to Help Troubled Teenagers Cope with End-of-Life Issues
Janet Allen, editor
Using Literature to Help
Troubled Teenagers
Cope with Abuse Issues
Edited by Joan Kaywell
The Greenwood Press “Using Literature
to Help Troubled Teenagers” Series
Greenwood Press
Westport, Connecticut • London
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Using literature to help troubled teenagers cope with abuse issues / edited by Joan Kaywell.
p. cm. –– (The Greenwood press “Using literature to help troubled teenagers” series)
Includes index.
ISBN 0–313–30715–6
1. Teenagers––Substance use––Prevention––Bibliography. 2. Teenagers––Drug use––
Prevention––Bibliography. 3. Substance abuse––Prevention––Bibliography. 4. Drug abuse––
Bibliography. I. Kaywell, Joan F. II. Series.
RJ506.D78U86 2004
618.92´858223––dc22 2004005919
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Copyright ©2004 by Joan Kaywell
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced, by any process or technique, without the
express written consent of the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2004005919
ISBN: 0–313–30715–6
First published in 2004
Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT06881
An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
www.greenwood.com
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this book complies with the
Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National
Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Copyright Acknowledgments
The author and publisher gratefully acknowledge permission to reprint the following:
“What Is Love” by Beverly J. Wilson. Reprinted with the permission of the author.
“The Summer of Fifth Grade” by Joey Baughman. Reprinted with the permission of the author.
“The Last Closet” by Kayla Rigney as published in Diana Ressler’s The cauldron: Untitled: No
boundaries,Vol. 32, p. 59. Copyright ©2001 by Kayla Rigney. Reprinted with the permission of the
author.
Excerpts of journal entries written by Dunedin High School students Jessica Kuligowski, Jenna
Fitzgerald, Scott Sorset, Eryn Needy, Tracy Owens, and Takeisha Forley. Reprinted with the permis-
sion of the authors.
Excerpts of journal entries written by Pasco-Hernando Community College students Karla Kruzell,
Leslie Moruia, Michael Kumicich, Anesta Boia, and Mark Nugent. Reprinted with the permission of
the authors.
The comments of Leslie Hibbs and Vicki, which have been printed with their permission.
“ABruised Butterfly” by April Templeton. Reprinted with the permission of the author.
The poem “Chinese Handcuffs” by Casey Smith. Reprinted with the permission of the author.
This book is dedicated to my son Stephen Matthew Kaywell,
my greatest gift from God,
and to all the courageous survivors who are determined
to break the cycle of abuse and create a new and
healthier generation.
Contents
Series Foreword Joan F. Kaywell ix
Acknowledgments xvii
Introduction xix
PARTI Neglect 1
CHAPTER1 Understanding the Parentified Child by
Reading Margaret Haddix’s Don’t You Dare
Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey 13
Sue Street and Joan F. Kaywell
CHAPTER2 AReader’s and Counselor’s Response to Heather
Quarles’s A Door Near Here 29
Jessica Pawelkop-Muroff and Leah Armstrong
PARTII Emotional Abuse 43
CHAPTER3 Escaping the Emotional Hold Using Chris
Crutcher’s Ironman as a Springboard for
Discussion 49
Joan F. Kaywell and Sue Street
CHAPTER4 Han Nolan’s Born Blue:Using Self-Expression
to Heal the Wounds of Emotional Abuse
and Neglect 69
Danielle Lyons and Candace Odierna
viii Contents
CHAPTER5 Without Witches and Wizards: Surviving
Emotional Abuse and Neglect through
Journaling on James Deem’s 3 NBs of
Julian Drew 79
Nicole Schaefer-Farrell and Eileen Kennedy
PARTIII Physical Abuse 91
CHAPTER6 Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes: ACounselor
Picks Up Where Crutcher Leaves Off 111
Sue Street and Joan F. Kaywell
CHAPTER7 Precocious Teacher Encounters Professional
Social Worker: Conversations toward
Understanding Physical Abuse through
Chris Crutcher’s Whale Talk 127
Shannon D. Dosh and Carolyn T. Royalty
PARTIV Sexual Abuse 145
CHAPTER 8 Winning the Battle for Self after the Big Lie
in Chris Crutcher’s Chinese Handcuffs 165
Joan F. Kaywell and Sue Street
CHAPTER9 Voices of Healing: How Creative Expression
Therapies Help Us Heal, Using Laurie Halse
Anderson’s Novel Speakas a Springboard
for Discussion 185
Diane Ressler and Dr. Stan Giannet
CHAPTER 10 Finding Strength in Friendship in Jacqueline
Woodson’s I Hadn’t Meant to Tell You This 207
Leslie Hibbs and Tom McDevitt
CHAPTER11 ATherapeutic Teacher’s Reader Response to
Beatrice Sparks’s Treacherous Love 215
Terry Burkard Plaia and Judith M. Bailey
Index 231
About the Editor and Contributors 251
Series Foreword
The idea for this six-volume series—addressing family issues, identity
issues, social issues, abuse issues, health issues, and death and dying
issues—came while I, myself, was going to a therapist to help me deal
with the loss of a loved one. My therapy revealed that I was a “severe
trauma survivor” and I had to process the emotions of a bad period of time
during my childhood. I was amazed that a trauma of my youth could be
triggered by an emotional upset in my adult life. After an amazing break-
through that occurred after extensive reading, writing, and talking, I
looked at my therapist and said, “My God! I’m like the gifted child with
the best teacher. What about all of those children who survive situations
worse than mine and do not choose education as their escape of choice?” I
began to wonder about the huge number of troubled teenagers who were
not getting the professional treatment they needed. I pondered about those
adolescents who were fortunate enough to get psychological treatment but
were illiterate. Finally, I began to question if there were ways to help them
while also improving their literacy development.
My thinking generated two theories on which this series is based: (1)
Being literate increases a person’s chances of emotional health, and (2)
Twenty-five percent of today’s students are “unteachable.” The first theory
was generated by my pondering these two statistics: 80% of our prisoners
are illiterate (Hodgkinson, 1991), and 80% of our prisoners have been sex-
ually abused (Child Abuse Council, 1993). If a correlation actually exists
between these two statistics, then it suggests a strong need for literacy skills