Book: Just A Child
Author: Sammy Woodhouse
Publish Date: April 19th 2018
Start Reading Date: December 29th 2020
End Reading Date: January 1st 2021
My Goodreads Rating: 5*
It’s 100% a book that like Girl A, needed to be written and needs to be read, but a book and story that shouldn’t have be be made, because what happened to Sammy should never have happened in the first place. She was clearly taken advantage off as a child and that is absolutely awful. I don’t think it should happen to anybody at any age, from any background, by anyone. But it really does.
It’s hard to comprehend that this was happening, and that the police, social services, people in government and in the area and surrounding areas knew what was going on but did very little to nothing about it. But it happened.
I won’t lie and say it’s an easy book to read because it’s not. It’s hard, and you’ll see just how let down Sammy and her family were because of the abuse she went through as a child by a man a decade older than her. It’s easy to see that Sammy along with all the others were let down by people.
There is an age of consent in pretty much most contraries yet how is a child under the age of consent (in England it’s 16) giving their consent to be abused, to commit crimes with their abusers. It makes no sense. Teenagers at any age don’t want to listen to their parents but there should be something in place to protect children of any age especially when it comes to grooming.
I have to give it to Sammy though. When she realized what happened to her she got justice in a small way by having her abuser put into jail. But it also shows just how strong she is, and thinking of her child, wanting him to have contact with his father even though it didn’t last, her child came first.
