A straightforward account of horrific child abuse...

books:


	• Ghost Girl: The True Story of a Child in Peril and the Teacher Who Saved Her Torey Hayden Avon, 1992 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 70 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Amazing Author!

Another great book that I couldn't put down. She has such amazing stories to share about her years teaching and she writes in a way that keeps the reader hooked until the very end.

A straightforward account of horrific child abuse...

As in her other books, special ed teacher Torey Hayden charts a year in the life of her students...this time focusing upon Jadie Ekdahl, an electively mute little girl.

Being warned about all the past teachers who have tried to get Jadie to speak but failed, Hayden is surprised when she succeeds in getting the child to answer her questions within hours of her arrival.

Once Jadie does begin to speak, she hints of horrible abuse she and her younger sisters have suffered, abuse which is either pornographic or Satanic in nature. Although Hayden does help Jadie significantly, she never does learn the full story behind the abuse, as the child cannot understand everything she's been through, her parents vehemently deny it...and the community as a whole refuses to believe anything at all's happened. It's a bit of a letdown for readers, getting into the details of an abused child's life, yet never learning what really happened in the end.

Although this book -- like all of Hayden's others -- crosses into the realm of potential sap, preachiness or self-admiration, it never goes there. While Heyden's quest to help the children -- and resulting success with them -- puts her well ahead of other educators, she never takes on the air of patting herself on the back for it. Rather, she is a mere human; one who often becomes frustrated, as anyone else might be; and far from perfect. Often, as she becomes fixated on the children, Heyden forgets to balance the other areas of her life, which become problematic as a result.

This is a fascinating look at the life of a child suffering incredibly bizarre abuse, and how one caring individual tried to help.

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Real life Horror Story

I love Torey Hayden's books and own all of the non-fiction ones. Ghost Girl was by far the most troubling, frightening and haunting book of them all. The things Jadie and her sister went through, and the things she confessed to Torey were just...almost indescribably awful. There is a part of the book where Torey reads a book about similar sadistic things being done and she says she wants to "throw the book into the fire" for putting such evil, disgusting thoughts in her mind by making her aware of their existence. Despite the fact I love Torey Hayden and all her books and thought this was good as well, that is how I felt while I was reading Ghost Girl. So be forewarned!

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Spellbinding

After just finishing Ghost Girl..I thought it was spellbinding all the way through...Little Jadie..just crawled inside my heart..and forever will stay..donna from Indiana

An Unforgettable Read

This was a fascinating story that I stayed up late to finish in one night.

When a Special Education teacher begins to see clues that Jadie, one of her students, might be the victim of possible ritualistic sexual abuse, she digs deeper and ultimately must come forward with her suspicions.

This is a haunting, riveting read!

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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.

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