Canada Reads is the most exciting “book holiday” of my year!! I love the focus on CanLit, the competition, the strategy and the game show antics. I have enjoyed reading the books (well, most of them) and am so excited to be attending the finale on Thursday which some equally enthusiastic book friends.
Today, I am thrilled with the result. Of all the books, I had the most difficulty finishing The Woo Woo. I could not see the “black humour” that others have commented on. If her life was truly so bad, why did teachers not see the abuse and the neglect and follow their duty to report? How could no-one identify and help to rescue this little girl? Did they not notice that she infrequently bathed, had her feet burned and was verbally and psychologically abused?
I appreciate the importance of reducing the stigma of mental health challenges but this book does not resonate and I am pleased with the results of today’s voting.
Looking forward to day 2…
A Year of Books 
I agree, no part of the abuse was funny. I think the jury gave the book short shrift though when they said the characters were stereotypical. I thought the characters had quite a lot of depth. The mother in particular was often struggling to care for her daughter and went to her when it mattered. I had also never heard of « the Pot-eau ». That introduced me to a whole new world.
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always good to read different books but i would have been ok taking a pass on this one. i still want to ask the teachers why they did not call the CAS? or understand if there was a great deal of embellishment.
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