Selected Book
Beautiful Child
- Mass Market Paperback
- Author: Torey Hayden
- Publisher: Avon
- Release Date: May 2003
- ISBN-10: 0060508876
- ISBN-13: 9780060508876
- List Price: $7.99
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Summaries and Customer Reviews provided by Amazon
SummarySeven-year-old Venus Fox never spoke, never listened, never even acknowledged the presence of another human being in the room with her. Yet an accidental playground "bump" would release a rage frightening to behold. The school year that followed would prove to be one of the most trying, perplexing, and ultimately rewarding of Torey's career, as she struggled to reach a silent child in obvious pain. It would be a strenuous journey beset by seemingly insurmountable obstacles and darkened by truly terrible revelations -- yet encouraged by sometimes small, sometimes dazzling breakthroughs -- asa dedicated teacher remained committed to helping a "hopeless" girl, and patiently and lovingly leading her toward the light of a new day.A stunning and poignant account of an extraordinaryteacher's determination never to abandon a child in need -- from the internationally bestselling author of One Child. |
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
WOW, Funny, Touching, Interesting for Teachers
Rating:
This is about a special ed class and how the teacher struggled throughout the year and turned it around. Some was so funny I laughed out loud and other parts were very sad.
Venus was the most challenging of all the children because she had very serious abuse in the home and was mostly unresponsive except when attacking other kids when they accidentally bumped her. She finally got the help she needed after the hospital treated her for hypothermia, had to amputate her toes, and found 22 broken bones that had healed or were in various stages of healing.
It also dealt with the struggle Torey had with her aide who was totally on a different page philosophically and really undermined what she was trying to do.
Some of the things teacher did that worked were:
* behavior modification with traffic lights;
* singing between activities or to refocus kids when they started fighting;
* closed eye journey;
* special one-on-one time at recess with Venus--held her on her lap.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in special needs kids or who teaches children.
Karen Arlettaz Zemek, author of "My Funny Dad, Harry"
Beautiful Child
Rating:
Awsome book. Torey Hayden is a marvelous teacher and writer. I have all her books and have thoroly enjoyed them. The marvelous patience she has with these children and the love she has for them is wonderful.
great book
Rating:
This was a great book, very easy read. It will tear at your heart strings.
Looking at others through different eyes
Rating:
For those who have already read One Child, it may be more appropriate to rate Beautiful Child as a 4 star book, given that in many ways the two books are very similar. However once again it is a compelling read and very difficult to put down - like One Child, I was through this book in a couple of days. And again, this is the story of the development of a class of children with major behavioural difficulties over a period of one school year (4 boys and 1 girl, with others joining part-time) and the story is particularly focused on one of those children (a 7 year old girl named Venus). Because Venus herself hadn't committed any "crimes", I didn't take as strong a message as I took from One Child, which really brought it home to me that those we call the worst sinners are generally more sinned against than sinners. However the same lessons regarding the unfairness of the hands dealt to so many people, how extremely lucky most of us are without in any way deserving or earning it, and how we should think twice before jumping to conclusions about some of our least "attractive" fellow human beings, came through strongly.
Beautiful Child
Rating: 
Beautiful Child is a true story about Torey Hayden and her experiences with her severely handicapped class of 6 children ranging in age from 6-9. This story deals particularly with her experiences with an elective mute little girl named Venus Fox. Venus never talks, never cries, and never shows any emotion. She however does have dramatic violent outbursts when another student gets too close to her, or touches her either by accident or to provoke her. Venus is deprived of clothes, food, and is being forced to sleep naked in the bath tub in the middle of winter. Her older sister Wanda brings her to school, when she remembers. Eventually Torey starts putting together little pieces of information that both Venus and Wanda begin to share with her. When Venus is admitted to the hospital, it all comes together. This was a good book, but not the best one I have read by Hayden.
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