Rating: 
Summary: Read this book!
Review: I purchased this book based on the other favorable Amazon reviews and LOVED it! It is beautifully written, heart wrenching and very cleverly told from the perspective of the author as a young girl. I am recommending this book to all of my friends, and am halfway through Lauck's "Still Waters" now.
Rating:
Summary: A Tragic, but Compelling Autobiography
Review: A must read for parents. Hard to put down, you just wonder how a small child can endure such hardships through her formative years. I can't wait to read her follow-up book to see how she matured into such a wonderful writer.
Rating:
Summary: This is a must read.
Review: In Blackbird, the child is the narrator of her life of abuse and neglect. From the age of five this child had such responsibility placed on her -- such as cleaning up her incontinent mother. She tells the story like most of the things happening are an everyday occurrence. I haven't read a childhood described so succesfully since I read Bastard out of Carolina years ago.
Rating:
Summary: ALERT ALERT ALERT
Review: go out, right this minute, right now and buy BLACKBIRD by Jennifer Lauck. This one is a MUST READ. I cant stress it enough.I am an avid reader and this is one of the best books I have read in the past 20 years, hands down. Do not miss this one......
Rating:
Summary: I Wish I Could Have Been There
Review: This dear, precious little girl. I simply could not believe what this child went through and how she coped.....how she stayed sane......When she was moving her furniture through the streets of Los Angeles I was un-done! Children are such cherished people in our family and it is heart-breaking to think that "Juniper" was so harshly treated by her step-family! I have pre-ordered the sequel.....I want to know more.... and I wish I could have been there to love that little girl.
Rating:
Summary: incredible story!!!
Review: This was a great book!!! Jennifer is a very strong woman to be able to retell her life as a child. The way she wrote the book having the "young Jennifer" narrate the book was incrediable. The fact that Jennifer has lived through the horrible things in her life and was able to tell her story is unreal!! I am very much lookiing forward to reading the part of her life!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Blackbird
Review: It is undeniable that what Jennifer Lauck endured as a child is more than any child should have to suffer. While her story is compelling in some ways, the book's power is limited. Obviously trying to convey what she felt as a child, Lauck writes in a style that becomes annoying (e.g., "the new house is white walls, lots of rooms, small windows" or "Los Angeles is smog, tall buildings, freeways"). More importantly, the lack of explanation from Lauck the adult is very problematic. Readers will wonder if she knows what happened to her brother and whether they have any relationship today; how she now feels about her step-mother, aunts, grandparents, etc.; how she overcame or dealt with the extreme isolation and feelings of being unwanted that she had as a child to become a functioning adult and writer; whether missing so much schooling was a problem for her; etc. While worth reading, the book is ultimately unsatisfying precisely because Lauck has unflinchingly explained the horrors she suffered, making readers extremely sympathetic with this innocent child who was so badly mistreated but leaving us wondering how on earth she came through it to adulthood. Surely it wasn't happily-ever-after when she reunited with her grandparents?
Rating: 
Summary: A great Oprah book!
Review: I bought this as a gift for my friend (she's an avid reader) and she really liked the story. She said it made her cry, but the ending is very inspiring. I guess it's a true story; the author was even featured on Oprah.
Rating:
Summary: A Lost and Found Child Black Bird
Review: When I reviewed Mrs. Lauck for the first time on Ophrah Winfrey I went to the closest bookstore to purchase this book due to being so inspired by what the contents of the book instilled. I read this book in less than 4 hours. I was so touched and in awe that this women had a life as I that she described her emotions in such explicit detail that my 7 year old daughter could relate to the book as well.I was inspired and lifted by my spirits that I re-read the book a day later. She is an awesome women of great tragedy yet she overcame it with a inner peace and self worth with in herself that can only come from her mother that is now looking down on her great achievements in writing this book and other's that I hope still follow. I hope that some day I can come in contact with Mrs. Lauck just to shake her hand and get her autograph on the sequel of BlackBird. Much respect and admiration from one of the many fans you have...
Rating:
Summary: COUNTING THE STEPS TO WHEREVER
Review: If the picture of the author was not on the back of the book jacket, I would swear a 12 year old wrote this because the many details are of how a 9,10, 12 yr. old would act and react and talk. Uncanny really. This is still an adult book for sure, but filled with circumstances, thoughts, and memories of a typical 10 yr. old. Your interest is sealed in every minute as you want to know what is going to happen next. Jenny is most resourceful and how she carted furniture, a bed, and other items for about 12 city blocks all by herself is a wonder. If a hole exists in this story, it would be "why didn't her brother help her?" A fine reading experience is guaranteed for all. I am overjoyed when I read the author is now writing a sequel to Blackbird. BRAVO! Why did I title my review "Counting Steps...?" You will have to read the book to find out; 'tis most appropriate.
| 
