Torey Hayden's books are all extraordinary tales of inspiration and this is no exception. Just Another Kid follows the stories of six children, each with very different problems. All of them in need of serious help, care and understanding to overcome their severe issues. This book focuses a lot on the mother of one of the children who becomes Torey's classroom assistant despite her personal battle with alcohol, providing an interesting angle to the story.
Torey Hayden faced six emotionally troubled kids no other teacher could handle three recent arrivals from battle-torn Northern Ireland, badly traumatised by the horrors of war; an eleven-year-old boy, who only knew life inside an institution; an excitable girl, aggressive and sexually precocious at the age of eight; and seven-year-old Leslie, perhaps the most hopeless of all, unresponsive and unable to speak. But Torey's most daunting challenge turns out to be Leslie's mother, a stunning young doctor who soon discovers that she needs Torey's love and help just as much as the children.
Just Another Kid is a beautiful illustration of nurturing concern, not only for a few emotionally disturbed children, but for one woman facing a personal battle.
'An enchanting, inspiring book Impossible to put down.' Washington Post Book World
'Torey Hayden's book "Just Another Kid" is not just another book. Though each page turns on the mysteries of emotional disturbance, sex, alcoholism, violence and crime of all dimensions, the reader emerges from the experience convinced the world can be loving, caring, warm and orderly.' New York Times Book Review
Author
About Torey Hayden
Torey Hayden is an educational psychologist and a special education teacher who, since 1979, has chronicled her struggles in the classroom in a succession of bestselling books. One Child is her first book with Thorsons, with Twilight Children to follow. She currently lives and writes in North Wales with her daughter.
