Customer Reviews

Jamaica and Me: The Story of an Unusual Friendship

5 star:		(7)
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Linda Atkins' account of her friendship with a young, deserted girl, abandoned by her mother and lost in the 'system', clearly illustrates the harsh realities thousands of children in this country face every day, the inadequacies of the child welfare system and the seemingly hopeless struggle to find a solution to these problems. Yet, it is also a story about hope, friendship, endurance, spirit and growth.
This book will hopefully inspire others to take action and contribute to "undoing what has been done" to these children.
One organization through which you can effectively speak up for abused and neglected children is CASA

An excellent book - I could LITERALY not put it down. A wonderful story of the relationship between a woman and a lost child. I want to read more and there's no more pages!

Once I started this book i could not put it down... it is a real and honest account of the relationship between the author and Jamaica... if you love children and are especially interested in the lives of less fortunate children or children with emotional disorders this book is a must!

I am 12 years old, and in most of those 12 years, I have read A LOT of books! But this one was the best! You are probably thinking: "Why should we listen to an adolescent reviewing an adult book?" Well, thats just descrimination, so listen up! This book was sad (I cried at some parts) and confusing at some parts, even amusing at some parts, and your heart really goes out for the characters. When I first saw it in the book store, it looked very intreging. After I read a chapter, I could not put it down; therefore, I bought the book. When I was reading it in english class, my teacher asked me to go downstairs and ask another english teacher about it. The english teacher downstairs said that she had read about it in the New York Times and said that it was supposed to be fabulous...I said it was. Anybody who likes novels about children with horrable childhoods, loyalty, learning to start over, learning to overcome what has happened in the past, and learning to love, then this is definatly a book for you! And if you decide to read it, I'm sure you will enjoy it!

Hats off to the author, who befriended this very troubled and traumatized child! I read this book in a day. I appreciated the author's honest portrayal of her relationship with Jamaica. the book offers a true-to-life description of what can happen to a homeless child in the American foster care system.

From the ad on the home page of Amazon, I found and read the first chapter of this book and then bought it in order to finish it. The book is the best it could be - it is the true story of a small portion of the author's life as it connects with that of a young deprived child. It is a slice of life we are all too aware of but it is written here from a somewhat differnt angle and very personally. It takes little time to read and is as satisfying as possible considering that the story remains unfinshed in real life and is too commonly true for too many of our children. I would very much appreciate the author updating her readers when she does hear more of Jamaica in the future which the publication of this book may help to do.

I first picked up "Jamaica and me" in Barnes and Noble, while searching for a book to possibly convert into a screenplay. As I read the first chapter, I was captivated by Linda's (the author) discriptive and insightful writing. "Jamaica and me" is a riveting memoir filled with hope, sorrow, and brutal realities. Currently I'm working on the screenplay and would greatly appreciate any information on how to get in contact with Linda Atkins.