I Wrote on All Four Walls: Teens Speak Out on Violence

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

Commencing in 1999, the Toronto Public Library began a new publication
titled Young Voices from the Street in order to provide a forum for
adolescents who are outside the mainstream. An outgrowth of that
initiative is this collection of nine true stories narrated by both the
victims of violence and those who commit such violence. Compiled from
one-on-one interviews, the stories, which are contributed by five
females and four males who range in age from their mid-teens to early
20s, are frequently quite choppy and disjointed, but the range of
painful emotions experienced by the narrators is clearly accessible to
readers.

The book’s title comes from an admission by Kevin (who was first a
target of bullying and then a bully himself) that, using his own blood,
he wrote “I want to die” on his holding-cell walls. As shown by the
unhappy experience of Debbie, who, at 19, entered into a psychologically
and emotionally abusive romantic relationship, violence does not always
manifest itself physically. Each of the stories does offer some hope in
its conclusion, as both the victim and the victimizer have made positive
steps in turning their lives around. The book ends with a “Now What?:
Advice from an Expert” section, written by Dr. Fred Mathews of Central
Toronto Youth Services. In it he explains why some people hurt others,
what to do if you’re being picked on, and what to do to reduce/prevent
violence and aggression. The last page provides Canadian and American
violence-related support websites. Recommended.