The Tiger's Child [Mass Market Paperback]

Torey Hayden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1996

What ever became of Sheila?

When special-education teacher Torey Haydenwrote her first book One Child almost twodecades ago, she created an internationalbestseller. Her intensely moving true story ofSheila, a silent, profoundly disturbed littlesix-year-old girl touched millions. From everycorner of the world came letters from readerswanting to know more about the troubled childwho had come into Torey Hayden's class as a"hopeless case," and emerged as the very symbolof eternal hope within the human spirit.

Now, for all those who have never forgotten thisendearing child and her remarkable relationshipwith her teacher, here is the surprising story ofSheila, the young woman.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Abandoned by her mother on a highway at age four, abused by her drug-addict father between his prison stints, autistic, electively mute Sheila Renstad at age six broke through her silent rage to communicate, aided by her five-month relationship with special-education teacher Hayden. That experience, recorded in Hayden's One Child, which became a TV movie, is updated in this deeply moving sequel. It picks up with Sheila as a sullen 13-year-old bouncing between juvenile facilities and her father's "care." As Hayden renews her ties to Sheila?first at a clinic, then through informal contacts?the girl's outbursts and foul-mouthed sexual preoccupations betray a desperate craving for a sense of belonging. An inspirational testament to the healing power of love, this authentic tearjerker resonates with drama. There is no storybook ending: Sheila, with an IQ over 180, forgoes college to work for McDonald's; an epilogue finds her 10 years later as a branch manager at McDonald's and an articulate, stable woman. Paperback rights to Avon; Literary Guild alternate; Readers Digest Condensed Book selection.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This is Hayden's sequel to her best-selling One Child (1981), the story of an abandoned autistic child. Here, Hayden describes in detail what happened to Sheila from the age of six to 16, a decade filled with tension, a search for understanding, and profound moments of love. During the course of this fast-paced narrative, Hayden's career develops from classroom teacher to practicing psychologist in a private clinic. Throughout this time, she keeps track of Sheila, torn between her professional knowledge of what constitutes appropriate treatment for the young woman and her instinct to be the good mother. This book is not only interesting as a biography of a seriously disturbed child but as a portrayal of a working psychologist. Anyone involved with children will find it enlightening.
Nancy E. Zuwiyya, Binghamton City Sch. Dist., N.Y.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Avon; ZZZ edition (May 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380725444
• ISBN-13: 978-0380725441
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #282,173 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #14 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Health, Mind & Body > Psychology & Counseling > Child Psychology > Psychology
  • #16 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Health, Mind & Body > Psychology & Counseling > Adolescent Psychology

More About the Author

Torey Hayden is an educational psychologist and special education teacher who, since 1979, has chronicled her struggles in the classroom in a succession of best-selling books. She lives in North Wales with her daughter.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Satisfyingly realistic, November 19, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Tiger's Child (Mass Market Paperback)

I first read One Child when I was thirteen, and it was a powerful force in my life, impacting me more deeply than any other story I have ever read. I related somewhat at thirteen to her life at six, and have read the book millions of times since, always wondering what became of Sheila and what her life might be like now. So when I discovered this sequal yesterday, it was like a goldmine. My biggest emotional reaction was deep sorrow, because One Child WAS like a fairy tale that had led us to believe that Sheila would probably be all right now that Torey had given her the wings to fly. But reality tended to beat Sheila up one side and down the other like a spiked club, and she no longer had anyone to help her through it. I look at Sheila as having lived her life very much alone with the exception of the five months in Torey's classroom in Marysville. Is five months really enough to build a sturdy enough platform for this kid? All kids need constant care and attention; kids in healthy households living comparatively idyllic lives still clamor for more and more attention, love and care. Six is not really big enough to take on the world and conquer it and all its horrors alone, it is barely big enough to tie one's own shoes and remember where your mittens are! I can completely see Sheila's point when she accused Torey of offering her a world full of color and warmth and then sweeping it all away. Sheila was abused before Torey came, while Torey was there, and after she left. Torey's subsequent disappointment at finding this relatively human teenager, including dyed hair and common teenish speech patterns, is naive on her part. What did she expect? She hadn't been there; when Sheila was being abused and shifting around in foster homes, where was Torey, and what right did she have to judge Sheila now, at a still-tender thirteen? What right did she have to expect ANYTHING? Sure, it appears as if Torey is this wonderful goddess-type teacher that goes the 800 extra miles for Sheila, but Torey had never had to deal with Sheila's life on a day-to-day basis, could have no idea. The real hero is Sheila, who IS a survivor, who did remarkably well with herself considering she's sprung from horrors most of us can hardly imagine experiencing ourselves. She shouldn't have to feel grateful for what Torey's done for her; as a child, it was the least she could expect from somebody. It is Sheila who created herself, and what an extraordinary person.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sobering & Honest, October 17, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Tiger's Child (Mass Market Paperback)

Having read One Child over and over and over again starting at the age of ten, I was euphoric to come upon The Tiger's Child in a bookstore 15 years later. I had wondered about Sheila my whole life, worked for several years in a preschool in great part due to that astonishing tale. I believe all the magic that was in the first book, because that is the truth about the reality of children. The Tiger's Child was somehow more sad, even if in much subtler & less horrifying ways than the first book. Sheila had left her childhood, and Torey L. Hayden (who was just 24 in the first book!) was not in a position to help her to quite the extent that she had been able to in the earlier years. Torey L. Hayden writes very honestly and does not attempt to soften any of the difficulties in this later period. Her work as a teacher is remarkable & awe-inspiring... I just wish that somehow the world had continued to provide for Sheila as much as Torey had been able to in One Child. I ache that the extraordinary, brilliant light that was Sheila was not left with as purely a happpy ending as the first book leads us to believe is possible...but I strongly recommend reading both stories.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Bought This One In Hardcover..., July 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Tiger's Child (Mass Market Paperback)

Normally, I do not buy hardcover books. I wait until they are released in paperback or become available at the library. But when I saw the sequel to one of my all time favorite books, "One Child", at the bookstore right after its' release, I snatched it up immediately and ran to the cash register! That night I read the whole book from start to finish without stopping. For years I had wondered what became of Sheila after Torey's last glimpse of her through the school bus window, and now that I had the answer in my hands I could not put it down. It was heartbreaking to learn that the happiness and love that Sheila discovered in Torey's classroom did not last after she left. However, the story of she survived despite her many hardships, even finding some of that happiness again when she and Torey were reunited, was fascinating and often tearjerking. I have read and loved all of Torey Hayden's books. This is one of the best. I would love to see Sheila write her own book from her point of view some day!