Wow. What an amazing book! It kept me reading until the wee hours. So incredibly heart-rending, and so well-written. It developed another dimension in my perception of my students in that I now regard all of them with the possibility that many of them may be experiencing personal traumas similar to the author's. I think it has deepened my understanding and compassion for them. I plan to use the book as a read-aloud source next semester... as story installments the class begs to hear each meeting.
Thank you for sharing this book with us. It is truly powerful.
-- Joyce Hamilton, South Texas Community College
As one of the reading coordinators for a recent TP Reading Scholarship Contest, I heard time and again from callers about Letters My Mother Never Read. Inspired by Jerri Sueck’s story, students talked about their new resolve to overcome their own personal struggles. “If Jerri could do it,? they said, “I can do it.?
One caller told me her mom left when she was only 5. She was haunted for years by hurt and anger, but Jerri’s story made her realize she could get past childhood unhappiness and go on, like Jerri, to do something with her life. Others said they had never thought about how lucky they were to have parents who love them. Some who had difficult childhoods realized they were far from alone in that experience. More than one caller stayed up all night reading, or almost missed their next class because they “couldn’t put the book down.?
The reading contest featured 32 different books. In a survey at the end of the contest, Letters My Mother Never Read was chosen by almost all students as the most compelling book they had read.
-- Barb Solot, Townsend Press