Review: You Won't Know Her Name - Shanti Hershenson

#VBT - You Won't Know Her Name - Shanti Hershenson - November 2021

I wasn't sure what to expect with this book but as I opened it, it was written in verse format - poetry and it had a lot of trigger warnings as it touched on bullying in various ways from physical and verbal abuse. Reading this book brought back memories of another author who set the bar for writing the edgy taboo topics in poetry format - Ellen Hopkins.  Unlike Ellen's books which are thick and average to be often quite long, You Won't Know Her Name by Shanti Hershenson was a quick read as it only took me 30 mins to read on my lunch break at work today. I also have a major cover crush on this title too. As someone who has bullied me and feels like I never really fit in, I loved this book as also I took to writing and reading like this main character. I also really felt for her as the girl in this book is only eleven going on twelve and that was about the same years as I was bullied as I was a poor girl in a rich school as I was the scholarship student and I had been put up a year so I was also younger. Like this book, the teachers didn't do anything and some even contributed a bit to it. In the dark spot, I did have two amazing teachers and they were both writers/readers and nurtured that part of me just as the girl is encouraged to enter her poetry into the Open Mic night and competitions. In this book as the author mentioned, no names are spoken - we have the main character aka The Girl, we have her sister aka The Girl's sister and then the bully is only known to us as The Person. If you love poetry or are not that keen on it, but want to give it a go - then this is one not to miss.

Amazon: https://amzn.to/33vV4h3