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ENOUGH ABUSE

Marilyn E Hawes and Jo Evans,

ISBN 0954952901, £2 (www.enoughabuse.co.uk)

STAR RATING 2/5

It is clear that Hawes and Evans are well intentioned and want to prevent children being abused. It is not so much what they say that's a problem - it's the way they say it, writes Kathryn Stone.

Enough Abuse has some useful facts and information for parents and children but it is set out in such a jumbled and contradictory way. For example, the suggestion to "USE AND RESPOND TO YOUR NATURAL INSTINCT!" is at odds with information on the previous page: "The abuser uses a game of power and control. It is a mind game as well as a sexual act. The family is under a similar control or spell based on their trust."

The booklet makes full use of RANDOM CAPITALS and seems to have no logical progression. It has a beginning, a muddle and an end (to borrow from Philip Larkin). It would have been better to be clearer at the start who this is for, why they are writing (and editing) it and what they wanted to achieve.

I shared the booklet with other parent governors and they thought that, although some parts were useful, its credibility was undermined by the back page voucher for Steve Gubbins portrait studios (with the authors as models) and a 10 per cent discount with Debbie (Steve's make-up artist) for body bronzing and massage.

Stay out of the portrait studio and go back to the drawing board.

Kathryn Stone is a parent governor and a former child protection social worker