New Releases by Torey Hayden

In the tradition of David Pelzer''s A Child Called ''It'' comes the unsettling story of a mute, almost catatonic seven–year–old and the special education teacher who tries to save her from the silence and abuse of her world. Hayden has chronicled experiences from her long career as a special education teacher in several books, including One Child and The Tiger''s Child. Successes in this difficult and often frustrating field can be few and hard won, a fact which Hayden deftly illustrates while simultaneously offering hope and joy in small victories. This time she brings to life the story of a scruffy seven–year–old, Venus, who is so unresponsive that Hayden searches for signs of deafness, brain damage or mental retardation. The author is relentless in her attempt to diagnose the cause of Venus''s ''almost catatonic'' state, which is punctuated by occasional violent outbursts. In this first–person narrative, Hayden also shares her own thoughts, worries and reflections on the strained relationship with a mismatched classroom aide, creating a rich tapestry of the dynamics of a group of special needs youngsters and the adults who try to help them.

Psychologue et thérapeute, Torey Hayden est professeur-éducatrice dans une classe d''enfants souffrant de troubles du comportement. Un lien très fort l''unit à Jade, une petite fille de huit ans qui se tient courbée et ne parle pas. Chaque soir, Jade rejoint Torey dans une salle de cours, et, après avoir fermé la porte à clé pour que personne d''autre ne l''entende, elle se met à parler. Ce qu''elle raconte est effrayant, incroyable. Des choses horribles ayant trait au sexe, à la violence, à la mort. La psychologue s''interroge. Réalité ? Mensonges ? Délires d''enfant perturbé ? A force de patience, elle finit par découvrir la vérité. Une vérité qui dépasse l''entendement...

Jadie never spoke. She never laughed, or cried, or uttered any sound. Despite efforts to reach her, Jadie remained locked in her own troubled world—until one remarkable teacher persuaded her to break her self-imposed silence. Nothing in all of Torey Hayden''s experience could have prepared her for the shock of what Jadie told her—a story too horrendous for Torey''s professional colleagues to acknowledge. Yet a little girl was living in a nightmare, and Torey Hayden responded in the only way she knew how—with courage, compassion, and dedication—demonstrating once again the tremendous power of love and the relilience of the human spirit.

Torey Hayden faced six emotionally troubled kids no other teacher could handle-three recent arrivals from battletorn Northern Ireland, badly traumatized by the horrors of war; eleven-year-old Dirkie, who only knew of life inside an institution; excitable Mariana, 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. With compassion, rare insight, and masterful storytelling, teacher Torey L. Hayden once again touches our hearts with her account of the miracles that can happen in her class of "special" children.

"Were all just somebody else''s kids . . . " A small seven-year-old boy who couldn''t speak except to repeat weather forecasts and other people''s words . . . A beautiful little girl of seven who had been brain damaged by terrible parental beatings and was so ashamed because she couldn''t learn to read . . . A violently angry ten-year-old who had seen his stepmother murder his father and had been sent from one foster home to another . . . A shy twelve-year-old from a Catholic school which put her out when she became pregnant . . . "What do we matter?" "Why do you care?" They were four problem children-put in Torey Hayden''s class because no one else knew what to do with them. Together, with the help of a remarkable teacher who cared too much to ever give up, they became almost a family, able to give each other the love and understanding they had found nowhere else.

Finally, a beginning . . . The time had finally come. The time I had been waiting for through all these long months that I knew sooner or later had to occur. Now it was here. She had surprised me so much by actually crying that for a moment I did nothing but look at her. Then I gathered her into my arms, hugging her tightly. She clutched onto my shirt so that I could feel the dull pain of her fingers digging into my skin. She cried and cried and cried. I held her and rocked the chair back and on its rear legs, feeling my arms and chest get damp from the tears and her hot breath and the smallness of the room.