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42 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
IN THE INTEREST OF FAIRNESS, August 24, 2002
This review is from: Somebody Else's Kids (Paperback)
This book is yet another outstanding account of Ms. Hayden's work with children. The children assigned to her resource room featured in this book are a 12-year-old girl who is pregnant; an 11-year-old boy who witnessed the murder of his father; a 7-year-old girl whose father battered her during her infancy causing severe brain damage and a 7-year-old boy whose behavior is described as autistic.
In the interest of fairness, there is really no way for readers to "know" or declare how "pretty" any of the pupils are; this is not the place to proclaim "favorite pupils." Responding to the individual gifts each pupil had to offer is the underlying theme of this book. "Somebody Else's Kids" chronicles the lives of real people that most readers don't even know. In the interest of fairness, without personally knowing the teacher assigned to Lori, the 7-year-old, it is very easy to make a strong case against her based on her response to this child's academic needs. Early in the book, Lori's teacher, identified as "Edna Thorsen," is described as being an excellent teacher with a long standing in conventional teaching methods. Although her treatment and response to Lori is indeed shocking, again, in the interest of fairness, it is simply the way the events are portrayed in this book. This is not to overlook her long established career.
Tomaso, the boy who witnessed his father's death and Lori form a strong bond in that class that is indeed heartwarming. They appear to be mutually good influences and accounts of the progress they make are truly inspiring. Claudia, the 12-year-old girl and Boo, the youngest child make incredible strides as well. Indeed this group is proof positive of human resilience and the sterling examples of kindness that were extended to them. Their story is one about fairness.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
somebody else's kids, November 8, 2005
This review is from: Somebody Else's Kids (Paperback)
Torey Hayden, author of "One Child," charts a year in the life of a special education classroom with some unusual and unforgettable students. They include Claudia, an academically gifted, pregnant twelve-year-old; Tomaso, who witnessed the death of his father; Lori, a girl whose abuse left her unable to read and write; and Boo, an autistic boy with a fondness for giving weather reports. How they bond, become a class, and deal with the largely unsympathetic outside world makes for a remarkable story. Even more gratifying is the epilogue, in which we learn that all four made gains after they graduated from Hayden's class, all quite remarkably.
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28 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Unforgettable, January 19, 2003
This review is from: Somebody Else's Kids (Paperback)
Somebody Else's Kids was the first book I read of Torey Hayden's. Since then, I have read her statement that this is the one book of hers that she cannot bear to reread as it was penned quickly and she doesn't like the writing. Maybe it was this perceived lack of "attention" to the writing dynamics that makes this book a little different than her others, and to me, a little more memorable. When looking into Ms. Hayden's works, the one most often cited is One Child. I have read this, as well as others such as The Tiger's Child and Ghost Girl, but Somebody Else's Kids just has a different feel to me - less forced, less heroic, just her work with very different children put together in the same classroom. The cases she refers to in this book are also quite different from the others she writes about (ie. elective mutism, autism), this time dealing with pre-teen pregnancy and illiteracy brought on by brain damage. It's a refreshing change from her other works and just as powerful, in its own way, as her other novels. I have enjoyed everything Ms. Hayden has written, but this one just stands out to me as an understated account. A worthwhile read.
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