AM I THE ONLY ONE?: A YOUNG PEOPLE'S BOOK ABOUT SEX ABUSE Dennis Foon and Brenda Knight. Vancouver, BC: Douglas & McIntyre, 1985. 68pp., paper, $9.95. ISBN 0-88894-486-1. CIP. Subject Headings: Child sexual abuse-Juvenile literature. Sexually abused children-Juvenile literature. Grades 3 and up / Ages 8 and up Reviewed by Patricia Fry. Volume 14 Number 4 1986 July The topic is not a pretty one, the sexual abuse of children, but it is a prevalent and persistent problem and therefore one that needs to be tackled with an eye to prevention. That is just what Am I the Only One? does. This book, which is aimed at the young reader, contains about twenty stories by boys and girls of different ages who have been sexually abused. Eventually, each storyteller told someone about what was happening to him or her and received help. After the children's stories, there is a page where a police officer reassures all readers that he has never heard of an abuser carrying out a common threat; returning to hurt the child who has informed. The editors then have the final say by urging abused children to get help. On the last page, they list some sources of help that children have used. The stories are illustrated by pictures drawn by abused children and I found some of them more poignant than the stories themselves. They evoke such a sense of innocence betrayed. The stories are filled with anger and hate, mingled with a terrible confusion about the abuser, who was once a trusted adult. This book would reassure an abused child and might help him or her to seek help if the abuse was ongoing. On the other hand, I do not think it would warp a young reader who was not sexually abused, because the descriptions of the abuse are general and not graphic, It would certainly put all children on the alert. Recommended for ages seven to fifteen. Patricia Fry, Toronto, ON.