Picture Book: Elliot, Julie Pearson, illustrated by Manon Gauthier

I don't know that I've seen a book directly about foster care and adoption that addressed the actual realities so specifically before.  It's unsettling, but very well done, and very needed.

Elliot
Julie Pearson, illustrated by Manon Gauthier
ISBN: 9781927485859
Read August 2016
Elliot is a small bunny who has parents who don't know how to care for him, so he lives with different families instead.

In scratchy drawings and minimalist backgrounds, we learn about Elliot.  "His mother and father loved him very much.  BUT... When Elliot cried, his mother and father did not understand why.  When Elliot yelled, his mother and his father did not know what to do.  When Elliot misbehaved, his mother and father did not know how to react."  So they ask for help from Thomas the social worker, and Elliot goes to stay with other families while his parents try to learn to care for him.  He stays with one family for a while, and then goes back home, but then has to go to another family, and eventually Thomas explains that his mother and father will never know how to take care of him, so Thomas will find a forever family for Elliot.

What I really like here is that the text specifically ties Elliot's fears and worries and anticipation into his misbehavior (or desire to misbehave) because that is actually true, and something that normal attached families and children have a hard time understanding.  I also like the scratchy informal artwork, that looks like it could have been drawn by a child, and the focus on Elliot and keeping his needs met and making sure he's informed of the process, while very specifically not giving him any power over how the situation unfolds: it's not because Elliot misbehaves or does anything, it's all based on his parents and on the decisions Thomas makes.

Very good resource, and I'm very glad to have it.

The Runaway Wife, Rowan Coleman

The Runaway Wife
Rowan Coleman
ISBN: 9781476725239
Slice-of-life "finding yourself " romance set in England/Scotland.
Read July 22, 2014

I actually read a grownup book start to finish!  It's been a long, busy, internet-distracted summer.

Rose had a rough life.  Her alcoholic father walked out when she was nine, her mother walked into the ocean when she was 16, and she walked down the aisle with the first man who told her she was beautiful.  He was an abusive creeper, natch.  Now she's 31, has a daughter of her own, and after her husband finally crosses the line (her lines were set way the hell too far back, by the way) she's run away to her "picture postcard fantasy" village where she hopes to meet one man she has built up in her mind into being a prince charming.  Predictable heart-warming slushy read.


Good characters:  Maddie, John (before he went all soft and squishy), Jenny and Brian the B&B owners, poor Ted.

Less developed characters: Rose herself (a bit of a problem when she's the reason for the story), Prince Charming, Richard the evil doctor husband, Shona.

Good bits: Rose's teenage fumblings with sexuality at age 31.  Coming from a repressed childhood myself, that rang really true.  Maddie's peculiar quirks and personality.  The connection between John and Maddie as artists.

Less good bits: The contrived drama with Ted, Jenny and Frasier.  John getting all sappy and parental.

Predictable bits: The entire last third of the book.  Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, just I was hoping that at least one of my predictions would end up being somewhat subverted (the prince charming letter bit at the end was just wayyy too much for this cynical girl to manage.)

Enjoyable, but not really my cuppa.

The Witness Wore Red, Rebecca Musser & M. Bridget Cook

The Witness Wore Red: The 19th Wife Who Brought Polygamous Cult Leaders to Justice.
Rebecca Musser & M. Bridget Cook
ISBN: 9781455527854
Read November 18, 2013

Nonfiction: Memoir of Rebecca Musser's escape from the FLDS and subsequent assistance with the Yearning for Zion Ranch raid, and the trials of the pedophilia and child abuse of the church leaders.  Includes short black and white picture segment.

Powerful addition to the stories of other women who daringly escaped from the FLDS as Warren Jeffs took his father's death as the opportunity to plunge the already secretive and enabling FLDS society further into abuses and illegal behaviors.

Also a powerful reminder of the ability of humans to contort, manipulate, and "train" young, gullible, or needy people into doing things that otherwise would seem impossible breaches of basic social contracts.  Brainwashing may not be the correct term any more, but it's alive and well in communities like that.  Manipulative actions aren't limited to charismatic sociopathic child abusers, and woe betide us all if we don't learn our lessons while we can, and spot abusers before they can harm so many others around them.