A friend of mine gave me a book a few months back to read, she said it was a great book, like me she is an avid reader! Once I picked up this book by Torey Hayden called “One Child” I was stuck on it straight away! As a mother of two anything to do with children be it good or bad grabs my attention as this is where I am in my life at the moment!
If you are looking for a quick but gripping read I would highly recommend this book!
Basically without giving too much away the book is about Ms Hayden’s experience as a special needs teacher in the US, this book deals specifically with her relationship with her student Sheila, who is from a poor part of town, who has not had much luck or love has suffered major child abuse on so many levels, as a result her behavior has got her into trouble, to the point that she harms another child and is looking at spending time in an institution. Without giving too much away Sheila ends up in the care of Torey Hayden, (Educational Psychologist), who spends time getting to know this disturbed and fragile child.
If you like true life stories written by the people who were there and have a real life experience then I dare you not to like this read. Generally it is not too gruesome but there are references to awful abuse suffered by Sheila, however it makes for real life reading and I enjoyed every minute, so much that I am onto the second book, the follow up from one Child, called Tiger’s Child.
This is a book by a great Author who is able to translate her feelings and experiences to the reader in a human fashion.
