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Comments for Ghost Girl
Ghost Girl: 01/16/07
I'm not sure what to make of Ghost Girl. This memoir of a year teaching an elective mute and her three classmates is simultaneously charming and horrifying. The book uses horror genre conventions: a mater of fact tone, cliffhangered surprises at the end of chapters and the combination of graphic sexual description with the occult. There's just problem: the events described are based on reality.
The book is a memoir but other than it being presented in the first person it doesn't read like a memoir. It reads like fiction. Other than one's prior knowledge of Torey Hayden's work as a teacher and therapist and note below the copyright that says the names were changed to protect the privacy of those involved there is nothing in the text to suggest or remind one that the story is non-fiction. There are no footnotes and no bibliography. Both would have been helpful as Hayden refers to her previous work or to something she has read on a subject without providing enough information to look up what she is mentioning.
Another Reason Why I Like Working From Home:
Today was the first day back to school after a three-day weekend for Sean. In the excitement to get back to school, Sean forgot his owl backpack with his Spiderman blanket (for nap time) that I had packed. I had placed the backpack on the front door knob to make remembering it easy but Sean had taken it up stairs to put on after he put his shoes on. He had put it down next to my purse, put his shoes on and then forgotten to grab it.
When I was talking to Ian to see if he was coming home for lunch (he wasn't) he mentioned that Sean had forgotten his backpack at home and had been very upset about it. I knew it was still before nap time at school so Harriet and I grabbed the backpack and made the five minute drive over to school to deliver it.
Sean was outside playing when we got there but one of his teachers was glad to see us arrive with it. He had apparently been "having a heart attack over forgetting" the backpack. Had I still been working on site the backpack would have stayed at home and Sean would have had to borrow a blanket for nap (something he hates to do). I'm glad I was able to drop off his backpack before he needed it.
Steps: 10000