Starred review from January 7, 2008
In this engrossing memoir, college senior Rhodes-Courter chronicles her hardscrabble childhood in foster care, detailing glitches in the system and infringements of laws that led to a string of unsuitable—and sometimes nightmarish—placements for her and her younger half-brother, Luke. Using a matter-of-fact tone at times laced with bitterness, the author recounts how she was wrenched away from her teenage mother at age three and was later removed from her unstable grandfather’s home to live in cramped quarters with strangers. She acknowledges that there may have been legitimate reasons for her and Luke’s placement in foster care but pointedly criticizes the manner in which she was repeatedly uprooted. She also blames the ineptitude of social workers who, more often than not, acted as advocates for foster parents rather than the children they were assigned to protect. The girl’s frequent moves and sporadic mental and physical abuse left emotional scars that affected her even after she was adopted by a loving family (the “three little words” that change her life are her guarded consent to legal adoption, “I guess so”). The author’s ability to form intelligent, open-minded conclusions about her traumatic childhood demonstrates her remarkable control and insight, and although there are plenty of wrenching moments, she succeeds not in attracting pity but in her stated intention, of drawing attention to the children who currently share the plight that she herself overcame. Ages 14-up.
January 1, 2008
I felt as worthless as the junk in my trash bag . . .once again, I was the one being tossed out and thrown away. Taken from her mother when she was scarcely four years old, Rhodes-Courter spent the next nine years in foster care with more than a dozen so-called mothers. Some were kind, she acknowledges, a few were quirky and one . . . was as wicked as a fairy-tale witch. She names names in this memoir, which is also a searing indictment of an often sadly deficient system of child care. Given her experiences, one can understand why she is angry and often bitter, but the unrelieved stridency of her tone makes for sometimes difficult reading. Nevertheless, she gives a voice to countless thousands of children who continue to be abused, abandoned, and ignored, and one hopes her bookwill make a positive difference in their lives.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)
January 1, 2008
Gr 8 Up-Rhodes-Courter was three years old when she and her younger brother, Luke, were removed from their mother. She spent the next 9 years in 14 different foster placements. Some caregivers were nurturing, others indifferent or negligent. Marjorie and Charles Moss were terribly abusive. The author, who was intermittently placed with Luke, continuously dreamt of a happy ending with her mother until the state permanently terminated all parental rights. Eventually, she found a loving home, and her adoptive parents supported her involvement in legal action against the Mosses. Rhodes-Courter tells her story in understated prose, and she is honest about her mistakes. For example, she unflinchingly recounts how she tried to drug the Courters so she could sneak out with a friend. She also struggled to balance her desire to protect Luke with her life in a separate adoptive family. Quiet scenes cut deepest: the author's description of her only after-school visit to a friend's home lingers heartbreakingly in one's mind. This gifted young writer's moving and eye-opening story will especially appeal to fans of Jeannette Walls's "The Glass Castle" (S & S, 2005) and David Pelzer's autobiographical books. Like those books, "Words" contains some troubling scenes, particularly one in which the author watches a violent pornographic video left in a VCR by a foster parent. This memoir lends a powerful voice to thousands of "boomerang kids" who repeatedly wind up back in foster care."Amy Pickett, Ridley High School, Folsom, PA"
Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
July 1, 2008
As a young child, Rhodes-Courter was endlessly shuttled among state facilities and foster homes (some horrifyingly abusive) before finally being adopted by a loving family. Now in her early twenties, Ashley reflects on the experience in this heartfelt memoir. Her writing is unpolished, but one gets the sense that the words are fiercely, authentically her own.
(Copyright 2008 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)