Hannah knew she was different she knew that parts of her were frightening, both to herself and others. A child like Hannah-hospitalized at six weeks, shut in closets, locked out of her home, beaten by both her brother and herįather, rejected by the public school-not only feared other people, she feared herself as well. “Children can't begin to learn until they feel safe,” she writes, “and they can't feel safe until they are honestly and completely accepted. MacCracken gives the child (and herself) a leisurely observation period to test each other out.

Besides, the school she works at is just for such difficult cases: the buck has been passed long enough, and finally stops at this one small classroom with one brave teacher who will not Her official diagnosis is “psychotic' but the auvhor has little trust in such catchall labels as “schizophrenic” and “autistic,” which often serve as institutional alibis. Phillip Lopate is a poet and author of “Being With Children.” gum wads, obese in a filthy dress she has not taken off in years, refusing to budge from the coat closet. Mary MacCracken, whose first book was “A Circle of Children,” has written here a touching, moving true story about her class of four disturbed children, and most specifically, Hannah, an 8‐year‐old who comes into it the first day like a wounded beast: howling, unintelligible, cracking her head against the floor, hair full of bubbleĪ Very Special Child.

Lovey by mary maccracken