Pain and Wastings

Author: Carrie Mac

Page Length: 122

Reading Level: 3.6

Genre: Fiction

PLOT SUMMARY: Ethan grew up on the bad side of town near Main and Hastings known to others as Pain and Wastings. Ethan’s mother was involved in prostitution and drugs – a life that eventually led to her murder. Ethan has been forced to grow up in foster homes. His anger and indifference to the world has landed him in legal trouble for which he is assigned to spend time with an emergency response crew. The events that happen on the nights out working the neighborhood remind Ethan of the pain he’s tried to avoid but just can’t escape anymore.

REVIEW: For an Orca book, this one was pretty good. I really liked the pacing and the way the author slowly reveals the tragedy that Ethan has so carefully disguised and tried to ignore responding to all these years. This book does deal with sex in the form of prostitution by both his mother and Kelly. In the story, drug use issues are prevalent and murder takes place. This is an intense read that the kids would probably stay hooked on—beware of all the “inappropriate” content.

AREAS FOR TEACHING: sequence of events, internal conflict, external conflict, character traits, dialogue, cause and effect, point of view, flashback technique

TOUCHY AREAS-PAGES: p. 104 “the man had finished, zipped up his pants…” and “her head bloody,” p. 96 “long enough to squeeze me through my jeans and give me a French kiss”

RELATED BOOKS: The Beckoners, Crush, Charmed, Retribution, Storm

RELATED MOVIES: “Forrest Gump”

RELATED WEBSITES:

http://www.orcabook.com/contributorinfo.cfm?ContribID=148

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/360816.Carrie_Mac

http://www.teendrugabuse.us/teendrugstatistics.html

http://www.teen-drug-abuse.org/

REVIEWED BY: Dayna Taylor

Ex-foster mom’s parenting skills focus at trial in tot’s fatal beating
June 4, 2007

By RUBY L. BAILEY

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070604/NEWS01/70604032

A Wayne County Circuit Court jury today heard conflicting portrayals of the former Detroit foster mother charged in connection with the fatal beating and burning of 2-year-old Isaac Lethbridge, who was killed in her home on Aug. 16, 2006.

Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Lisa Lindsey said Charlsie Adams-Rogers, 60, failed to protect the boy and his 4-year-old sister, who was with him in foster care, from being abused in her home.

“Being a parent is more than a matter of simple biology,” Lindsey said. “If you do it right, the child will survive and thrive. If you do it wrong, the consequences could be fatal. Defendant Rogers did it wrong.”
But defense attorney Warren Harris said Adams-Rogers, who retired from Chrysler after 30 years, had been a model foster parent who cared for dozens of children who came into her home from sometimes-abusive circumstances since the mid-1990s.

“There’s a lot of love being passed around in that house,” Harris said.

Police still have not charged anyone with directly causing the boy’s death. Adams-Rogers is charged with involuntary manslaughter, accused of failing to protect the child while he was in her care. She also is charged with two child abuse counts involving the boy and his sister. If convicted, she could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison on the manslaughter charge and up to 4 years on the most serious child abuse count.

Adams-Rogers has blamed her then-12-year-old adopted daughter with causing the boy’s death, and Harris reiterated that claim today in court. No one else has been charged in the case.

Isaac and his sister were removed from their parents’ home in Westland on neglect charges in September 2005. According to a Free Press investigation published in January, the two children were placed in three troubled foster homes by the Lula Belle Stewart Center of Detroit. The state suspended the center’s foster care license after Isaac’s death.

Fourteen jurors, four men and 10 women, were seated from a pool of 48. Judge Vera Massey Jones is hearing the case.

Isaac’s parents, Matt and Jennifer Lethbridge, sat quietly in the courtroom today. All 10 of their children have been placed in foster care, including a baby born this spring.

Contact RUBY L. BAILEY at 313-222-6651 or rbailey@….

San Francisco Indymedia had this story on Dr. Arthur Becker-Weidman and the Center for Family Development.

I was delighted to meet Adrian and his adoption worker just outside the Fairmont Library on Wednesday after he was done with school. This 7-year-old was shy at first, but didn’t hesitate in front of the camera. He’s learning a lot in 1st grade, and loves dinosaurs. He even showed me how big Sue was – the dinosaur he saw recently at Chicago’s Field Museum. At age 7, he’s living with a foster family now and working with Iowa KidsNet to find a permanent family. 

For more information on Adrian, contact Judy Keith at jkeith@dhs.state.ia.us.

Life in foster care was very challenging for me, here I was 16 years old and put in the middle of a new high school and put with a family of sorts. I was introduced to the rest of my new family the same day, I won’t mention the name of the other kids for privacy reasons, but there was two other boys and one girl in the house. We all ranged in the age group of 14-16.

When I arrived at the foster home, I met my foster dad, Homer Ware. Homer was quite an interesting individual to say the least, he was 72 at the time I entered the home. I had a hard time with someone that was old enough to be my grandfather trying to raise me as his own.

Evelyn & Homer tried all they could to make me feel like I was part of their little family, even with all the effort I never felt a part of that family and I didn’t want to be part of that family. As soon as I entered that home I started to rebel. I hated everything that that home stood for, to me it was a way to make money for the foster parents.

I never ever felt like they truly loved us or cared, it was all about the money that they got each month for us. I am not sure of the sum but I know they made a significant amount each month for every foster kid they had there.

Sure they always told us they loved us, but I knew it was bullshit. As I mentioned I started to rebel right away, one of my tactics was to clam up and not talk to anyone about anything, and if I did talk about something it was made up. I didn’t want them to know anything about other than what they already knew.

I also started vandalizing properties around the foster home, one of my foster brothers and I broke into a few of the cabins in the area and stole money out of them or just broke things. We did this for a few months, but soon gave up on it. Our next idea was to run away, which we did, we made all the way to Kalamazoo.

Soon we were caught. ** More to come **

Welcome to Parent And Child Togetherness Incorporated!  We are a private agency based out of Yelm, Washington, that exists to help Foster Children establish healthy connections.  As you browse around, please consider what role you could have in helping our Foster Kids.

A little while ago I joined a group on Facebook  called  Anthea Pieters Safe House and Foster Home.  I am always amazed by real people who take on the role of making a difference especially when it is against seemingly HUGE obstacles. Anthea Pieters appears to be one of those people!

Today I received the following inspiring message from the group:

“We are pleased to share our success with you, dear friends, with gratitude for your interest and support.

MIKE LUPPNOW
Executive Committee Chairperson
Tel: +27 86 1000 977
Cell: +27 82 487 0355
Email: mike.luppnow@vodamail.co.za “
If you would like to support this project, please join their Facebook Group

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=99796702832

IF YOU ARE READING THIS ON FACEBOOK PLEASE CHECK OUT MY BLOG FOR OTHER POSTS – www.adin5.wordpress.com

Much love

Adin

Wallie came to the shelter on May 6th. Because he has been with us so long he became a part of the shelter family. A few weeks ago he had some complications to a surgery he received and was going to need antibiotics and a week or so to get better. We are in puppy/ kitten season right now, so space to hold animals for a long period of time is not a option for us.

Working at the shelter I try to resist the temptation to take everything home. My husband and I are dog people, and so far we have adopted

almost every dog I have ever fostered. So my rule is NOT to foster dogs, only cats. Needless to say, Wallie’s personality and charm won me over and I agreed to foster him.  Being a pug and boxer owner, “Wallie” did not fit the short hair, short face dog characteristic’s that I love so much.So I am hoping I will not cave on him.

He is doing really well, and has been a wonderful dog in my home. He gets along with my dogs, and has a very respectful fear of my 19 year old

cat, plus our other cat.So far, we have had no problems with housebreaking.

What impresses me the most is his quiet nature and he has been so quick to learn the routine of our house. He will give you a look that is hard to resist when you sit down for dinner.

On Friday I will be returning Wallie to the shelter to be adopted and if you miss him Friday, he will be visiting everyone at PetSmart on Saturday from 12:00-5:00.

Come see my new wonderful friend.

-Melissa

Gus Gervais

I never thought I would end up with a little dog, let alone 5 months into my employment with the Brazos Animal Shelter. I took in Gus as a foster pup. He had no momma, no siblings, he had nobody. So I thought what a great opportunity for my husband and I to foster. We had a dog and a cat and together we could give the puppy the attention he needed. Gus required more work than we expected. He cried in his crate all night long and I swear he played for 23 hours out of the day, but every moment of it was worth it. I guess I may not be the best example of our foster program, because after the month of foster care — I was attached. After a pros and cons list, I had my husband convinced. Gus is our little problem child, but we love him so much. He will graduate from his obedience classes this week and has made us so happy with his improvements. I could not imagine our family without him.

- Krystle Gervais

The Gervais Family (Snickers, Lee, Gus, Krystle, Salem)

Breakout

Author: Paul Fleischman

Page Length: 137

Reading Level: 6

Genre: Realistic Fiction

PLOT SUMMARY & REVIEW: Breakout, on the surface, is a story about a young girl stuck in a major traffic jam on the freeway of Los Angeles. The traffic jam is symbolic of Del’s search for identity and purpose. As a 17 year old girl, Del has faked her death and has run away from her latest foster home. Stuck on the highway, she meets a number of individuals whom she has conversations with. Over the course of several hours, Del changes her name, her voice, her background, and the facts about her life as she speaks with the others stranded on the freeway. Del has no clear sense of identity, hence the motivation for her to strike out on her own path.

Flash forward 8 years to Del’s one woman stage show about a traffic jam. Del is now Elena Franco performing a host of monologues about a traffic jam. Both “traffic jam stories” are slightly similar, yet reveal that as Del has aged 8 years, her recollections of the Los Angeles traffic jam are more positive and accepting. With her success on the stage as Elena Franco, Del has found her identity and place in the world.

Those who enjoy theater and monologues will find this story a great resource. There are some precious nuggets in these pages. As far as a basic story for pleasure reading, this book would not appeal to the masses. It may be too confusing for a struggling reader to understand and follow.

AREAS FOR TEACHING: monologue, drama, script, setting, flash-back, flash-forward, humor, voice

RELATED WEBSITES:

http://books.simonandschuster.com/Breakout/Paul-Fleischman/9780689871894/reading_group_guide

http://www.adlit.org/adlit_guided_disc/28146

REVIEWED BY: Kevin Stratton

Born Blue

Author: Han Nolan

Page Length: 277

Reading Level: 7

Genre: Fiction

PLOT SUMMARY: Until you’ve been a foster child whose own mother will trade you for drugs, you don’t know what a hard life is. Janie does. Janie’s life has been nothing but hard times, trials, and tribulations – but, she’s blessed with an amazing gift. She has the voice of an angel – of course a career as a singer isn’t easy to come by and is all too often filled with the same elements that have made her life miserable in the first place. Will Janie have the strength to nurture her talent or will she succumb to a life of bad decisions and end up just like her mother?

REVIEW: Born Blue looks at the struggles of young Janie. Her first big memory is of drowning followed by placement with a foster family. Her friendship with a young boy got her through until her mother kidnapped her and traded her for a fix. Janie’s growing up now and learning that a life with no friends and no family is empty. She becomes bitter and disillusioned and takes to the streets. It’s all too easy for Janie to become involved with the wrong crowd. Singing like the great ladies – so famous for the blues – seems to be Janie’s only saving grace.

The book is good tool for teaching students the dangers of drug abuse and how life is a series of choices and the consequences that follow each of those choices. Janie wants to be a superstar and has a dream of recording with the greats – so many students can relate to her reaching desperately for the stars and her desire to be famous. However, Janie, because she’s been hurt along the way, hurts others too. She ends up handing her baby over to a young man as if he is the father even though he is not. He’s never told that the baby is not his (I am wary of the message this sends – even though Janie does what is best for the child in the end). Janie’s showing promise by the end of the book, but the reader has been taken through her lying, cheating, stealing, drug abuse, random sexual encounters, etc.  I would not read this as a class novel although there are many compelling issues for discussion.

AREAS FOR TEACHING: comparing text to self, compare and contrast, sequence of events, plot, cause and effect, use of dialect and its effects

TOUCHY AREAS-PAGES: “I left his room but I left my panties behind” (147)

“I wanted what he give me, every bit of it” (140)

Death from an overdose, sexual incidents, drug use

RELATED BOOKS: The Facts Speak for Themselves, Dancing on the Edge, Sending Me Down a Miracle, When We Were Saints, A Summer of Kings

RELATED WEBSITES:                            

http://www.hannolan.com/

http://www.bookrags.com/biography/han-nolan-aya/

http://www.teenreads.com/reviews/0152019162.asp

REVIEWED BY:  Dayna Taylor