Rating: 
Summary: My first Torey Hayden Book
Review: I have never been so touched by a book in my life. I am due to graduate in December and become a special education teacher. Torey, you are definately someone to look up to. PLEASE READ THIS BOOK! no amount of words can describe how wonderful it is!
Rating: 
Summary: Torey, you still have heart...
Review: I just finished this book. It was very good. I have read every one of Torey L. Hayden's books and they are all excellent. Torey has got the heart and patience of a saint, with the honesty of a child. I will say that while this was definately not my favorite, it was still good reading. It did start out a little slow. About halfway through the book it began to speed up and I couldn't put it down from then on. I would defiantely reccomend this book to anyone though.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely wonderful book
Review: I read this book about a year ago after finding it in a department store. It was awesome then and hard to put down. It was awesome again last week as it took me 2 days to read (while working full time). I would love to know what ever happened to young Venus Fox and Wanda (her biological mother whom she thought of as her sister). Torey Hayden is a great writer and captures the events perfectly. I highly recommend this book along with the others from Torey.
Rating:
Summary: --I couldn't read it fast enough--
Review: I was so delighted to discover that Torey Hayden had written a new book! I've been a fan since she wrote ONE CHILD and can't say enough good things about her stories. The important thing to know is that her books are about her true experiences as a teacher. BEAUTIFUL CHILD is the story of one school year in a classroom of children, aged six through nine, who have special educational needs. Torey Hayden is the teacher and her students include Shane and Zane, twin boys who are borderline retarded as the result of fetal alcoholic syndrome. There's a girl named Alice, who has a highly unusual way of speaking to others and often talks to her hand as if it were a person. Jesse suffers from Tourette's syndrome, which causes him to have several tics and obsessive behavior patterns. Billy's, a hyperactive boy who can't be still or quiet, and Venus, is a small girl who is mute, but can, at times, explode into violent rages. Each day of class is full of surprises and the way in which the teacher handles the individual problems is truly inspiring. I highly recommend BEAUTIFUL CHILD and all of Torey Hayden's books.
Rating:
Summary: Hayden does it agian!
Review: It made my week as I walked into the bookstore and ask the customer help desk if Torey Hayden had any new releases out. The answer was yes and I have read Beautiful Child 3 times in one week. I love it, there is not enough good things to say. The eloquence it which it is written, the ablity to draw the reader into the story and literally feel as if you are there is amazing. I can not wait to read it agian.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Child
Review: It was great how she handled her class room. She was a really great teacher
Rating: 
Summary: It drags
Review: Ms. Hayden writes about things that really happened, so she doesn't have the luxury of rearranging events to provide happy endings. However, she is in full control of the rate of development. "One Child" was a page-turner, but the books that followed have become more and more ponderous. Enamored of her own thoughts, Hayden gushes verbiage like a broken water main in sharing them with readers. The result is that as the end of the book approaches, it's depressing how little story has emerged from how much rumination. Most of her books have had this problem to varying degrees, from minimal to moderate, but "Beautiful Child" is choked by it.
Rating:
Summary: It drags
Review: Ms. Hayden writes about things that really happened, so she doesn't have the luxury of rearranging events to provide happy endings. However, she is in full control of the rate of development. "One Child" was a page-turner, but the books that followed have become more and more ponderous. Enamored of her own thoughts, Hayden gushes verbiage like a broken water main in sharing them with readers. The result is that as the end of the book approaches, it's depressing how little story has emerged from how much rumination. Most of her books have had this problem to varying degrees, from minimal to moderate, but "Beautiful Child" is choked by it.
Rating:
Summary: moving chronicle
Review: Not as powerful as the books starring "Sheila" ("One Child, "Tiger's Child") this one nevertheless is remarkable. It is atypical among the books that claim to chronicle the triumph of the human spirit, for the changes the teacher protagonist makes in the main student's life are small, and not as easily labeled miraclulous. In some ways, it lacks the satisfying conclusion of "One's Child." Venus, like many of the teacher's students is electively mute. The teacher's work with her is impeded by Venus' family's poverty, and lack of administrative support. Her attempts to find out even basic facts about Venus' background are hindered at every turn. Yet, she does find ways to connect with the child, although one of the most powerful tools comes under fire for being politically incorrect. This book shows how even small steps of progress can be exciting. I admire the writer's refusal to sugarcoat herself and her relationships with her students, the administration, and her classroom aide. Nothing is given an undeserving glossy finish here. And I suggest that the "coldness" some reviewers mention may be due to Venus, not her teacher, as she is much less verbal and emotionally expressive than say, Sheila of "One Child."
Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful Book
Review: Once again a wonderful book by Tory Hayden. I could not put it down and read till 3 am. You get involved with the story and feel you are right there and getting your heart pulled out at times. I work with troubled teens and find Hayden charaters wounderfull to share with my students. I have bought at least 5 copies of One Child as my syudents keep taking them. This will be another one that I know I will need extra copies of. You feel blessed that your life is not as hard as her students but at the same time you feel blessed to know these wonderful children with such hard lives.
| 
