I had a very difficult time in school and when I bought this book, I wondered why I was putting myself through going back there, even in my head. But I wanted to see if the book was one I would buy for children I knew who were having trouble fitting in, so I took a deep breath and read it through.

I was afraid that there might be moralizing, preaching, explaining, or some kind of little lecture on how 'this doesn't have to happen to you, if you just...' like there usually is in educational material on reducing the damage done by children and teachers to, often, the weakest and most vulnerable of those trapped in the educational system. But there aren't.

Some stories end where they end, some stories have endings that show what happened 20 years later, some stories have sad endings, others have happy endings. They are what they are, offered to the reader to make what they will of them. Perhaps the most important lesson in all of them is that the writers all survived and grew up to have something to say, and a place to say it.

For all that the stories are about difficult times that children have, I found them strangely comforting as well as rather well-written. I would have found them more so as a child. I never needed an 'I know how you feel' or a 'Here's how to make them like you!' so much as I needed an 'It's not just you, it's not your fault, it just is... and it ends.'

For any adult who wants to be allied with a child (and even normal kids get the blues), this kind of book may be just the thing to open up discussion of what's happening to that child. It may comfort just because of its honesty and its assurance that other children have felt and survived these things, or it could be used to foster problem-solving to help a child cope with the pitfalls and hazards of even the most normal school experience. It could also help kids who don't have problems (or who are the problems) to see the situation from the point of view of those who are struggling, and open up the way for conversations about compassion and the different experiences of other people.

The cost is extremely reasonable and the stories are invaluable. The potential uses of the book are such that any personal or school library could benefit from the addition of this book.



-- M.A.C.