AN EDUCATION FOR ME
Customer Rating: 
"I myself think of Gerda often, particularly when I am at home in Montana. Particularly when the chokecherries are in bloom."
Twilight Children was an education for me. Torey Hayden's true story was a page-turner, though I took longer to read it, unfamiliar with the kind of illness though quite different in all three of the patients.
Let's call Casandra, patient #1; whom Ms.Hayden experienced the most challenging time with. Casandra speaks when she wants to. She is a confused and disoriented child whose erratic behavioral patterns transcend upon her after being kidnapped by her father.
#2 patient is Drake, a very adorable and loving child who never speaks to anyone with the exception of his mother. He plays with the other children and is wiling to be around them cooperating and having a joyous time, but he never speaks. What could be wrong there, and is his obnoxious grandfather at the source of the handicap?
The patient #3 is Gerda who is of a different age group. Gerda is eighty and has suffered a stroke. Since then she has not spoken. We imagine that her speechlessness is not because of the stroke, but rather because of the latter part of her life in Philadelphia, where she bottles up her emotions and is left alone, her only companions being her beloved cats. It was very educational for me and I highly recommend this book. Ms. Hayden has also written more books about children struggling with
psychological matters.
Reviewed by Heather Marshall Negahdar (SUGAR-CANE 18/08/06)
