Children's literature as prevention of child sexual abuse

This article addresses the issue of child sexual abuse, providing contextual information about the problem, such as the fact that in 85-95% of cases, the offender is known to and trusted by the victim. because children are greatly influenced by situations depicted in books (and other media), positive and negative influences on general children's literature are discussed. More importantly, the author argues that carefully selected children's literature can help to prevent child sexual abuse. Since statistics reveal that the average sexually abused victim is eight years old, this study focuses on current and suggested literature for children ages four through eight. Content and evaluation criteria are discussed, followed by a survey of thirteen children's books that deal with child sexual abuse. Finally, idea characteristics of prevention are suggested and some literary models are proposed.