Some Secrets Should Never Be Kept: Protect children from unsafe touch by teaching them to always speak up Paperback – Illustrated, January 11, 2011

This book is magnificent and lays a very realistic and accurate foundation for the practices of child predators. Grooming behavior and threats are portrayed in this book in a way that is very child-friendly and understandable. The way that the author ends the story and offers support and validation for the main character is wonderful. It shows a child that no secret needs to be kept, and that parents can help and will not suffer from the predator's threats. I highly recommend this book, I think this is a very valuable tool for any parent, teacher, etc. who is interested in adding another layer of body safety to their child's life.

We used this book to help introduce our kindergartner to the concept of bad touches before letting her go on drop off play dates. The little boy in the story is getting inappropriate tickles from a trusted adult and is told to keep it a secret.Some points on this book:1) The best thing about this book is that it did not freak my daughter out at all.2) It isn't the least bit graphic, parents can choose how much detail to go into.3) It doesn't approach the abuse as a stranger, but as a *trusted* adult, which is so important.4) The little boy is told scary things about how his telling the secret will affect his family, and it is resolved. That is a very realistic scenario.5) The big focus of this book is not on how to avoid abuse, or how to defend against it, but simply to REPORT IT.6) In the end everything works out for the family and the Mom in the book tells the little boy how happy she is that he told her and how none of it is his fault.7) It is written into a kid friendly story with kid friendly writing.8) This book is a great conversation starter, but if a kid gets their hands on this by themself they will still get the moral just from the story. They may still have questions, but at least it wouldn't be detrimental.I have no regrets.

This book is fabulous. If you find yourself in the position of needing this book; I am sincerely sorry. I know your heartache.The first time we read it, the story brought tears to our child who went through a very similar experience. For us, reading the book was healing, as the child found comfort in the idea he wasn't alone in what happened. It is a frequently requested book in our house on days when memories are overwhelming. I appreciate the comfort this book with it's relatable story and happily-ever-after ending brings my child.If you are concerned and want to start a discussion with your child about keeping secrets but are having difficulty knowing where to start, I think this book would be a great starting point. If the unthinkable has already happened, I hope your child finds the happily-ever-after type ending as comforting as ours did.My only issue with this story is that it starts out with the idea of the mother being divorced. CSA happens to children from all backgrounds including traditional two parent households like ours. It irked me to have the story add to the stigma of being a single parent. Maybe it's a little nit-picky of me, but still, I think single parents have it hard enough without adding to the stigma. I don't know though, perhaps a single mother would find it easier to relate to and therefore more helpful and not at all insulting.We also very highly recommend the book A Terrible Thing Happened by Margaret M. Holmes. The book was very helpful in preparing our child for therapy. He knew what to expect and wasn't at all afraid to go talk to his new therapist. I especially appreciate the book never mentions what the terrible thing was and leaves it completely up to the child's interpretation.

My 4 yo son has disclosed he was sexually abused. I'm sorry if you are goimg through something similar. This book was listed from an advocacy center so we took a chance on it. My son loves this book because he relates to it.The villan in the story is well respected in the community and has fun with the child and plays with him before the abuse happens and I think this helped my son sort out his confusion with his own abuser.My son has asked for this book on "acting out" days and will turn to the page where (Lord Henry) is threatening (Sir Alfred) and my son will "beat up" Lord Henry by hitting him on that page and start talking about his own perpetrator. This is a healthy way for him to get out the anger and agression the abuse has caused.I give this book 5 stars, because my son can relate to it, it helps him talk about what happened and shows him it wasn't his fault. The book is well written and I like the fact that the abuser is protrayed as someone known and trusted by the family and community and initially the child. I also like that the author included threats in this story as it is very realistic to real abuse situations, but ads enough of an element of fantasy (castle etc.) to help it not be too scary.

Overall my kiddos listened when I read this book, unfortunately at times it was just a bit too wordy and dry to hold their attention. So I’d lose them for a bit, then they’d come back. With this kind of subject that doesn’t work well though, because they miss some important parts of the concept. Wish it was a bit more in the language of “kid”.