Ghost Girl: The True Story of a Child in Peril and the Teacher Who Saved Her

Ghost Girl by Torey Hayden
3.5 Stars

From The Book:
Jadie never spoke. She never laughed, or cried, or uttered any sound. Despite efforts to reach her, Jadie remained locked in her own troubled world—until one remarkable teacher persuaded her to break her self-imposed silence. Nothing in all of Torey Hayden's experience could have prepared her for the shock of what Jadie told her—a story too horrendous for Torey's professional colleagues to acknowledge. Yet a little girl was living in a nightmare, and Torey Hayden responded in the only way she knew how—with courage, compassion, and dedication—demonstrating once again the tremendous power of love and the resilience of the human spirit.

My Thoughts:
There is no nice, happily show more after-after, story book ending to this story of Jadie, a severely traumatized child who had so many different problems they were difficult to decide which was the most severe. It was finally determined that more than one thing may have been responsible for her condition...either separately or together.. She was either psychotic or was being ritually abused by members of an occult group. Torey Hayden was a young professional at the time...the beginning of her career and often found herself being made to feel inadequate by her older, more experienced colleagues who thought that they knew better...and to make mattes worse.... were not open to new ideas about special education and the needs of these special children. Hindsight is 20/20, and we all can look back later and wish we had seen the broader picture. Torey's honesty in writing about her own second thoughts made the story so much more compelling. I don't recommend this book to anyone that would object to reading the graphic...intense... dirty details about the life and treatment of an 8 year old girl...this is NOT fiction. I do however, applaud Torey Hayden's courage in telling the story. show less

*possible spoilers*

Why do I continue to read true-story child abuse books like this one, when it makes me so upset and frustrated? I have no idea, but this book was certainly one of the most disturbing.
Filled with references and memories of perverted ritual abuse, confusing almost hypnotic recounts of blood and spiders and definitely-not-subtle euphanisms for sexual acts, a book like this would freak me out anyway. But then add the knowledge that the victim was an eight year old girl and it's a true story.... Total mental overload.
As the author herself mentions at the end of the book, it would be a million times more satisfying and relieving to have an actual end to this case, a cut-and-dry "this is what actually happened"... but real show more life just can't be that simple. The monsters who hurt Jadie and her sisters were never found, and technically it was never 100% proven that it all happened like she said. Which leaves me one very frustrated reader. show less

The things this book describes are horrifying and, by the author's own admission, hard to attempt to stomach or understand. Tory Hayden, a teacher with a long history of working with severely troubled young children in special education and institutional settings, finds herself teaching a child who keeps relating unbelievably horrific stories and memories. Risking her credability, and maybe her career, Hayden has to decide whether to act on the belief that the girl is telling the truth, or is violently schizophrenic. Not shoes that I would like to be in. Thankfully, using patience and courage, Hayden is able to stand on the other side of the story and tell how one little girl literally living in a living hell manages to get at least show more partially stronger and more stable. show less

Jag har inte tidigare bekantat mig med Torey Hayden , Spökflickan är första bok jag läser och jag är fast på direkten. Tycker det fastinerande att Torey Hayden som är barnpsykolog skildrar verkliga händelser och barn. Jag kommer vilja läsa mer av henne, jag har inga andra av hennes böcker att gemföra med, men för mig är Spökflickan en full pott i betyg

Jadie never spoke. She never laughed, or cried, or uttered any sound. Despite efforts to reach her, Jadie remained locked in her own troubled world—until one remarkable teacher persuaded her to break her self-imposed silence. Nothing in all of Torey Hayden's experience could have prepared her for the shock of what Jadie told her—a story too horrendous for Torey's professional colleagues to acknowledge. Yet a little girl was living in a nightmare, and Torey Hayden responded in the only way she knew how—with courage, compassion, and dedication—demonstrating once again the tremendous power of love and the relilience of the human spirit.

This was fairly pulp-type reading, I got through the book very quickly. The author is a special needs teacher & has written a whole series of books about the "poor" children she's worked with (but who's stories she doesn't mind using for profit...there's no real educational or informative angle on these things). It didn't sit right with me that this is apparently a real case, but obviously changed to "protect the innocent" to the point where she could have probably made up anything. I also don't like the fact how the blurb makes her out to be some sort of super teacher...its like she's using these cases to stoke the fire of her ego, when its not even clear how much has been altered. But, having said that, it was an interesting read & show more the case is very sad. She's not a bad writer, & unlike the blurb doesn't seem to really sing her own praises too much in the story even though some of the techniques she apparently used to get the girl to talk are quite interesting. I also liked that the conclusion wasn't a happily-ever-after cop out. I don't think I'll read any more of her books though, the whole Dave Pelzer thing turned me off stories of this type as they're never nearly introspective enough, they just come across as sensationalist to me. show less

Started this book last night (19/01/09) and finished it this afternoon (20/01/09). What a fantastic piece of writing and handled very tactfully. Torey Hayden is an educational psychologist and a special education teacher, who has worked in special units, where she teaches groups of about 5-8 kids, all of who have varying difficulties with learning and lots with varied behavioral problems-Ghost Child is based on facts of one of Torey's students in a small country school in the US. she has of course changed the names involved, but her telling of this little girls story hits the heart of this teacher!! Having worked in various school settings overseas and in Victoria, this story reminded me of some of the students I have dealt with-I could show more never write like Torey does, but I certainly loved reading this one and am looking forward to reading the rest of her tales. show less