Mia’s Secret by Peter Ledwon and Marilyn Mets (Tundra Books, ISBN 0-88776-801-6) is a heart-wrenching book about a little girl and a horrible secret.
In this story, we meet Mia and her stuffed bear, Tikki. Mia has an adult play friend who has asked Mia to play a secret game with him. Mia agrees to play the game and keep it a secret, but Mia doesn’t like the game. It frightens her and she feels uneasy about keeping the secret.
The next time the adult play friend visits Mia, he brings along a new puzzle game for Mia. Mia forgets what happened the last time her adult friend visited and is anxious to play the new game. However, after they play the puzzle game, the adult friend wants to play the secret game with Mia again. He reasons, “I bought you a present. Won’t you do something for me?”
Mia agrees to let the adult play the secret game with her but this time he hurts her and it feels worse than before. Mia wants him to stop and begins to cry, holding her stuffed bear tight in her arms.
Mia knows she should tell her mom what has been happening but she is scared that “something terrible” will happen to her if she breaks her promise. Not knowing what else to do, Mia has her stuffed bear tell Mom what has been happening.
Mia’s story about sexual abuse is painful to read, knowing that a number of children all over the world are and have been sexually abused. However, despite my own difficulty in reading Mia’s Story, I did sit down and read the book to both of my children. It was amazing how my children reacted, expressing compassion and offering ideas on how to avoid sexual abuse as well as what to do if sexually abused.
No matter how difficult it may be, Mia’s Secret needs to be read. The story needs to be heard. Children need to feel safe and understood, and they need to know that there are some secrets that never should be kept.
