by Rose Doiron

My Name is Rose is about a girl who was abused by her father. The girl was only six years old when her father was doing this to her. Her Mom tried to stop him, but he was beating her up too. One day her Aunt came over and saw him hit her. She then called her to the bedroom, and looked at her back and saw bruises on her body. So she called a social worker and took her to a home. The poor girl couldn't stay with her Mom because the landlady didn't want kids in her building. The girl's mother was sick too and really I couldn't look after her.

She made friends with some street kids. They were caught sniffing glue, so she was sent back to live with her Dad. He told the social worker he would look after her, and the social worker believed him. He used Rose for her cheque and bought some beer with it. The father took Rose to a doctor and told him to tie her tubes. She went to look for work with her friend and met this guy named Paul. They went to a party. She didn't want to go home because her Dad would beat her up for coming home late at night. So, she just stayed with Paul for the night and the next day Paul gave her a key to his house. She went home and her Dad beat her up again. She came back to Paul with a bloody face. She didn't want to go back to her Dad so she asked Paul to help go pick up her stuff. She left her Dad for good. She lived with Paul for two years and then they got married.

This book has photographs on every page and is easy to read. The photographs may be offensive to some people because they are violent. Teachers need to be ready with information about local safe houses. It was sad and happy. It's useful for women who are going through this to read about it happening to other women and to know they're not alone.

A review by June Louie, Sandra Enston and Balla Bhandar, Duncan, B.C.