Tag: difficult topics

How to Be a Difficult Bitch: Empowering YA Readers

Warning: the following post contains strong language.

Being a powerhouse is a choice, a lifestyle, a code of ethics. It takes work, a thick skin, and perseverance. In How to Be a Difficult Bitch: Claim Your Power, Ditch the Haters, and Feel Good Doing It young adults learn the basics of being a Difficult Bitch, from school to friends to body to life.

Halley Bondy, Mary C. Fernandez, Sharon Lynn Pruitt-Young, and Zara Hanawalt collaborated to encourage readers to be themselves no matter what. Read on to discover the Commandments of the Difficult Bitch and to hear from Mary C. Fernandez on what empowers her everyday.

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Picture Books about Trauma and Recovery

by Carol Hinz, Associate Publisher of Millbrook Press and Carolrhoda Books

How do we prepare our children for hard times? And how do we help them recover from trauma? As a parent, I don’t like to think about my children–or any children–experiencing bad things. Many of the picture books in our home prompt smiles, spark curiosity, and inspire empathy. Yet children also need books that gently, respectfully tell them the truth about difficult experiences and offer them tools that might help as they navigate their own difficult times. And honestly, these books do not speak only to children. The following books have something to offer us all.

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Can I Touch Your Hair? and the N-Bomb: What is appropriate for children?

By Carol Hinz, Editorial Director of Millbrook Press and Carolrhoda Books

A customer on Amazon recently expressed concerns that the book Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship is not appropriate for elementary students because it includes a poem called “The N-Bomb” that references the existence of the N-word (though doesn’t spell it out). Coauthors Charles Waters and Irene Latham and editor Carol Hinz wanted to share their thoughts about the poem, the word, and tackling difficult topics with children. Read More