The Lost Children: Part 1 of 3
The Lost Children can either be read as a full-length eBook or in 3 serialised eBook-only parts.
This is PART 1 of 3 (Chapters 1-4 of 25).
You can read Part 1 two weeks ahead of release of the full-length eBook and paperback.
First published in 1974 as A Circle of Children this is the first of four books from learning disabilities specialist Mary MacCracken.
This is a book about children so emotionally disturbed they cannot fit into society; it is also the story of a woman whose involvement with these children changed the shape of their lives forever.
When Mary MacCracken joined a school for emotionally disturbed children as a volunteer, she quickly found herself rocked to the core by the strong, loving people who taught there, the hard-pressed and bewildered parents, and the damaged children. On the outside most of the children looked healthy. But the reality was far sadder. Locked away from love and any human contact, these children struggled with life every day.
It soon became evident that Mary MacCracken was a natural, gifted teacher. Using her instincts, observations and common sense, Mary was able to establish a rapport with even the most difficult children. Overtime, Mary taught her class to eat and to drink; she decoded their mutterings, and taught them to talk and to read. But most important of all she helped them to take the first steps towards feeling love and trust.
There are no miracle-workers in this story, only a remarkable woman who refused to give up. Heartfelt, moving and incredibly inspiring, this is an amazing story about the astonishing human capacity for growth and change, even in those whom society regards as beyond help.
BEST DEALS
About the Author
Mary MacCracken, internationally best-selling author, has written four books about her work with autistic and learning-disabled children. Her latest memoir (The Memory of All That, forthcoming) is a loving and heartwarming account of her thirty years of marriage to Cal MacCracken, an inventor with more than eighty patents, and of caring for him as he faced Alzheimer's. She spent her last years with Cal at Kendal at Hanover, a Continuous Care Retirement Community in Hanover, New Hampshire, and the decade after his death writing about their experience dealing with his disease.
Her books have been published in fourteen countries and the first two were made into movies for television, starring the actress Jane Alexander. Recently, her first four books have been republished, the first and last under slightly different titles (Lost Children and A Safe Place for Joey) and still attract a wide readership.