Rating: 
Summary: A Wonderful Book
Review: I love all of Torey Hayden's books, but in some ways this one has the best characterizations and interplay between the characters. Shamie and Shemona are such special people, with a rare gift of the human soul. Mariana was a brat. Geraldine's inner self had been shattered, but she showed occasional glimpses of hope. I found Leslie and Dirkie oddly likable. Leslie was a tyrant, but this is understandable, as her "father" Tom had tyrannized her into it. (It worries me that she was allowed to stay with him, because he has problems.) Dirkie was impossible, in an understandable way. And Ladbrooke was a terrific example of the resiliency of the human spirit, just like the kids. They were all lucky to have known a great teacher.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT JOB!
Review: I loved this book. I believe that adults also have appeal and that is not a property solely owned by children. Ladbrooke was a delightful woman who overcame big hurdles and rose like a winner. I loved her! Ladbrooke's bond with Shemona was a classic in the healing powers of love. As for Ladbrooke, You Go, Girl! We're rooting for you!
Rating:
Summary: im just another kid
Review: im an adult now but i act like a kid because of my mental illness. i can relate to ladbrooke (not acohal mind u but the illness in my brain. torey helps the children and ladbrooke. she had an inicent about her. i disagree about leslie. I think she was really austic and couldnt help the way she acted. because people cant see the disability they wonder why we act the way we do. its not leslie and geraldines faught. geraldine grew up in a war torn country for gods sake so what can u expect?! she was only a child. so dont put them down. the book was good i want to know what happened to these children, especally geraldene. chin up girl!!
Rating:
Summary: A Child Called it
Review: imagine you self wakeing one morning and getting beaten to death by you mother. well i am shure that this has never happened to you before but it happened to dave pelzer in the book a child called it. in this book the only way that dave could ecape all the pain from the beating was by going to school. his mother had starved him badly and so when he went to school he stole food out of peoples lunch boxes. then the nurse started to figure out what was going in his house hold and started counting all of the marks that he had on his body. then they had put dave in a new home. i will leave the rest for you to find out.
Rating: 
Summary: It's Great!
Review: It's about a special classroom of only a few children. They have all kinds of different problems and together they make progress. It is not always success stories, but that's good. It's real. It's mostly about Ladbrooke, a volunteer who has a child in the class and Ladbrooke is the one who gets the most out of the class. It is an interesting book.
Rating:
Summary: Does a great service!
Review: Ms. Hayden does a fabulous job of discussing the needs of emotionally disturbed and disadvantaged youth. Ken Grant of Massachusetts and New Hampshire also wrote a book of his own life as an abandoned,abused,negelected youngster in state care and how some individuals, many teachers, showed him kindness along the way when others wouldnt.Another story lesser known is Ken Grant, a man who has been driven into homelessness and joblessness perhaps by the government itself where he worked at a defense contractor and had a story published about his search for his father.After the story appeared in the newspaper he became chronically unemployable, was denied a decent job with decent health insurance for over 10 years.Grant found state and state subcontractor records santized and perhaps his own book manuscript viewed as a political weapon. Grant wrote an autobiography detailing his own experiences both positive and negative and with a spiritual, not a political, bent. Grant discusses among other things how God led him through his own tribulations as a handicapped,abandoned and abused and neglected youngster in New England. Grant has never been able to get decent work since his own story came out and it has been a question whether political forces have been at work to "teach him a lesson" for 'daring' to offer objective commentary on life in state child care. Grant wrote of triumphs in finding private individuals who cared and his work is a testimony to their caring as much as his own narrative. Grant and Pelzer have much in common.Grant wrote his book first but Pelzer succeeded in getting it published where Grant has been the ongoing target of harassment and such.
Rating:
Summary: A beautifully detailed account in the feild of special ed.
Review: Once again Ms. Hayden has captived me. Her books touch my soul and my heart morns for what some of these children have endured. It gives me a glimpse into what my future job might. A beautiful effort made by Ms. Hayden.
Rating:
Summary: A book to read again and again!
Review: This book was given to me by a friend in 10th grade. Today I have completed my fourth year of teaching everyone else's "Just Another Kid" This book has pushed me to be the best teacher I am able to be. It reminds be as my well worn copy sits on my bookshelf by my desk to teach all kids! Thank you Torey. I wait to be able to read yet another book by you! ~Tara
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful, touching book
Review: This is one of my favorite books. It's good to know that Ladbrooke was able to sort out her problems. I liked how Torey got Shemona to talk and not be afraid of her sister. What happened to Geraldine absolutely broke my heart, though I thought what she did to Shamie was disgusting. It's awful that a child deteriorates emotionally like that due to a tragedy that she can't understand. I hope to read more Torey Hayden books.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Read
Review: This is to me a perfect book! I have read all of Hayden's other books and this is my favorite. This book tells the usual story of a classfull of behaviorally challenged kids, and adds to it the story of one of the children's mothers Ladbrooke Taylor. The children and their various troubles and mishaps are easy to picture in your mind. While reading this and all of her other books I always feel as though I am there witnessing these events in person!
Torey manages to incorporate the heart wrenching story of mother Ladbrooke into the book without taking away from the story of the children. The most beautiful parts of this book occur when Ladbrooke reaches out to Torey for help, in particular a moment that occurs inside a women's bathroom stall after something happens to one of the children.
This book has some gut wrenching moments in it but not the nauseatingly horrific images and stories contained in Murphey's Boy and Ghost Girl. This makes it a more easy read than the above mentioned. I would recommend to first time Torey readers that they start with this book or Somebody Else's Kids.
| 
