I Am Not a Juvenile Delinquent: How Poetry Changed a Group of At-Risk Young Women (Poetry, Woman Authors, Writing Therapy, and Rehabilitation)

The author volunteered as a poetry teacher at a residential treatment facility for "delinquent" girls after the death of her child. The book explores the healing power of poetry therapy and the transformative relationships formed between the girls and the author. It also includes poems written by the girls and excerpts from their writing, as well as Sharon's sons' writing and her own.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 268 pages
Publication date: 02 July 2020
Publisher: Mango Media

Letting It Go: A Bereaving Mother, Delinquent Girls, and the Power of Rehabilitative Poetry Therapy

Anyone who has suffered and cares about our world, which probably includes everyone, will be moved and changed by this book. - Elizabeth Lesser, author of the New York Times bestseller Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow

Experience the poignant real-life story of how author Sharon Charde was saved by her relationship with incarcerated young women at Touchstone, a residential all-female treatment center in Litchfield, Connecticut. And, learn how these young women, confined for crimes such as using drugs, truancy, assault, prostitution, and running away, were rehabilitated by their poetry teacher.

Letting go of grief and loss by writing poetry as therapy.

"I Am Not a Juvenile Delinquent" is a book for fans of the acclaimed movie "Stand and Deliver." After the death of her child, a grief-stricken psychotherapist, teacher, and writer volunteers as a poetry teacher at a residential treatment facility for "delinquent" girls. Here, their mutual support nourishes and enriches each other, though not without large quantities of drama and recalcitrance. As Sharon and the girls share their losses through weekly writing, they come to realize their unlimited potential and poetic talents.

Healing from trauma.

Healing can come in surprising ways across age and social class, as it did for both the girls and Sharon. But what happens when Sharon finally grasps that the most challenging experiences are the best teachers? Narrated in five parts, the book also contains poems written by the girls, as well as excerpts from their writing, Sharon's sons writing, and her own.

If you have read books such as "Why are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?", "For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood," and "The Story of American Freedom," you will appreciate the power of this book.

Weight: 336g
Dimension: 140 x 215 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781642502138