Ghost Girl

by Torey L. Hayden

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.

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology, Memoir, Biography, Abuse, Education, Mental Health

307 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 1, 1991

About the author

Victoria Lynn Hayden, known as Torey L. Hayden (born May 21, 1951 in Livingston, Montana) is a child psychologist, special education teacher, university lecturer and writer of non-fiction books based on her real-life experiences with teaching and counselling children with special needs.

Subjects covered in her books include autism, Tourette syndrome, sexual abuse, fetal alcohol syndrome, and elective mutism (now called selective mutism), her specialty.

Hayden attended high school in Billings, Montana and graduated in 1969. She then attended Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington.

A little time after having written her most famous book One Child, Hayden moved to Wales in 1980 and got married to a Scot called Ken two years later. In 1985, she gave birth to her daughter Sheena. Hayden is now divorced.

She has also written three books of fiction in addition to her non-fiction books.

Reviews

[Maria Espadinha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Humano Demasiado Desumano


Jadie é mais um caso de mutismo. Mais um caso duma jovem que em resposta a maus tratos infringidos, se encerra em si mesma, num mundo concha.
Maus tratos?!... Maus tratos será um eufemismo incapaz de fazer jus aos abusos que a vitimaram!
O que nos contam são Horrores! Pavores inimagináveis! Cenas que saltaram dum thriller de terror para a tela real!...
Custa aceitar que seres tão abjectos, capazes de tamanhas atrocidades, pertençam à mesma espécie de Jesus Cristo, Pitágoras, Madre Teresa de Calcutá , Nelson Mandela, e outros afins!
Será possível considerá-los humanos?! Membros da mesma Humanidade que nos inclui?! É caso para perguntar!

Em simultâneo com o relato de todo o trabalho investido por Torey na recuperação de Jadie, "Uma Criança Em Perigo", envolve-nos numa visita guiada pelos sinistros ramais da 'DES'humanidade!...

Concluída a sua leitura resta-nos implorar por mais Toreys.
Se aberrações desta estirpe abundam por aí, então todas as Toreys serão úteis e agradecem-se!

"Uma Criança Em Perigo" é uma história real e revoltante!
A quem interessar, aconselho a sua leitura num dia de lazer, pois uma vez iniciada será difícil interrompê-la!

[Ruth Turner · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

*spoiler alert for the first half of the book*


This is the second book that I've read by Torey Hayden, and I think it will be the last.

It's well written and easy to read, as far as the writing style goes, but that's the only good thing I have to say.

As for the story itself, I don't believe a word of it.

Jadie, the central character in this story, suffers from selective mutism, but only at school. For years, teachers and the school psychologist have been trying to get her to speak, with no success. Torey Hayden, the new teacher at the school, and in charge of the small class of special needs children, has her speaking before the end of her first day. Really?

Reuben, a nine year old boy suffering from autism, went to use the toilet. Some little time later "Reuben was heard crying, and when the toilet door was unlocked Jadie was sitting on the toilet, her dress hiked up around her waist and her underpants around her ankles. Reuben, standing in front of her, his overalls down, was howling pathetically as Jadie clutched his penis."

Jadie ran off, and when Rueuben finally removed his own hand from his penis, it was red and swollen, with "human teeth marks".

Soooo...Torey explained and apologized to Rueben's nanny, who'd come to pick him up after school.

"Turning a whimpering Reuben over to his nanny, I explained briefly what had happened and apologized profusely. His parents could phone me, I said, if they wished to discuss the matter further, and I gave my home telephone number."

She didn't see the need to speak to the parents herself? And the parents didn't contact her, or the Headmaster? Their autistic son is upset, with bite marks on his penis, and they say nothing?

There is another incident involving Jadie, Jeremiah and a male puppy, which I won't relate here. Suffice it to say that I'm extremely broad minded and nothing much shocks me. But this did. I was also dumbfounded. Torey spoke briefly with Jadie about the incident, and then related what happened to the school psychologist. They suspect sexual abuse but decided they needed concrete evidence, so they did nothing. Again, really? Two similar incidents, one involving a male puppy, where Jadie is overheard telling Jeremiah that she knows how to suck milk out of a penis, and the school psychologist doesn't even speak with Jadie?

Jeremiah, an eight year old boy of Sioux heritage, is quite a handful. He's often aggressive and constantly uses foul language, including the f* word, not only at the other students, but also the teaching staff. No attempt is ever made to correct this. In fact, no one even blinks an eye, even when he's trying to teach Rueben to say f***.

Jeremiah doesn't have learning disabilities. "His pugnacious behavior was so extreme, his mouth so foul that the parents in his previous school had banded together to keep him from returning, even with resource help." So he'd ended up here in a last-ditch attempt to save him from custodial detention." So they place him in a special needs class where he's allowed to swear and behave a badly as he likes?

At about half way, Jeremiah used the word "nigger". Phillip, a black boy in the class, who was born drug addicted and is in foster care, comes to school with a Christmas snow globe that his birth mother sent him. Jeremiah states that his is better because it came from Disneyland and "not no nigger dimestore."

And that, folks, was the end for me!

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished this book in exactly one week. Ghost girl is...a compelling book, to say the least. The fact that it tells a true story is one of the reasons why its reader is urged to keep on going, but the most important reason is that you can't help but wanting to find out what happened to Jadie.

The book is about her, an 8-year-old girl who's deeply disturbed and is an elective mute. That means she doesn't talk by choice. She never laughs, never cries or expresses any other kind of emotion. She just is. Walking doubled over as if she's crippled, she just seems to not care about life or anything around her at all. The author of this book, Torey Hayden, is a special education teacher who has helped children her whole life and has got quite the career record to testify to that. The book deals with Torey coming to Jadie's class to teach and slowly trying to get through to her, wanting to find the source of her problems.

It's obvious from the start (thanks to the cover text) that something horrible and terrifying must have happened to Jadie (or is perhaps still happening) for her to be so psychologically damaged. And as you get on, you start collecting pieces to the puzzle, though it's all very confusing at first and you share the teacher's frustration.

I won't give away anything more, since it's really just a book that needs to be read to fully understand its power. For lack of a better word, it leaves you shocked. When I put the book down I felt like crying. Crying for Jadie and the millions of other children out there who have gone or are going through similar situations. If only there were more caring and loving teachers like in this book, then maybe the world would be a better place. Maybe.

[Meg Sherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book freaked. me. out. You know - in that "praying you can forget it long enough to fall asleep" kind of way. Seriously - if Hayden handed the manuscript to Stephen King and asked him to make it more disturbing, there wouldn't be a clown-wig-wearing, pig-blood-showering thing he could do about it.

The craziest part is - it isn't a horror book. Well, I guess it sort of is. It's a horror book slash murder mystery with the undertones of a thriller that's driven by the special interest story of a child psychologist teaching elementary school. The only thing that could make it crazier would be if I told you it's a true story.

Also - it's a true story.

The plot follows psychologist Torey Hayden (the author) as she unravels damage done to 7-year-old Jadie, then fights to rescue her from the worst nightmare you can imagine. Best case scenario - she's being sexually abused. Worst case scenario - she's being sexually abused by the members of a Satanic cult (probably her parents), has been forced to ritualistically slaughter animals to drink their blood, and also witnessed the brutal murder of a young girl.

This is the first book I've read in one sitting in YEARS. Mostly because I'm an adult and a parent... so disappearing for 16 hours is generally frowned upon. Besides, I can usually tear myself away with a reminder of my responsibilities. Or if that fails - chocolate.

But I could hardly leave this book to PEE.

At first, it was the other-worldly prose that grabbed me. Hayden would be a gifted writer even if she WASN'T a gifted psychologist. Then I was glued to the book by my concern for Jadie and a desperate need for her to find safety. By about halfway through, I was just SO FREAKED OUT that I thought if I looked away I might find myself face-to-face with Freddy Krueger, Bloody Mary, or their even-more-terrifying illegitimate love child. I figured if I made it to the end, my mind could rest easy in a nice resolution.

BE WARNED NOW: THERE IS NO RESOLUTION. They never find out exactly what happened to the poor kid! So now I just walk through my life terrified that my babies will be kidnapped and sexually assaulted by a Satanic cult.

(SIDE NOTE: The colorful, profanity-ridden comments of 8-year-old Jeremiah are possibly the funniest things I've ever read in my life. The entire read is worth it, just for him.)

Jadie will haunt me until my last breath. Stories like this simply should not be true. EVER. Especially for children. Reading this book has completely disillusioned me on the inherent goodness of human beings. Now I'm terrified the guy in line at the grocery store behind me is a child-abusing Satanist who wants to drink my blood.

I'm putting myself on a strict recovery regimen of picture books and Disney movies.

And chocolate.

FAVORITE QUOTES:

What was going through my mind as I studied her was that she would have made an archetypal country-western singer. She had about her that powerful aura of hardbitten wisdom, the kind evidenced by women named Lurleen or Loretta...

"Help me," she was saying, almost sighing. "Help me, help me, help me..." Coming nearer and nearer until all that was visible on the screen was a mouth forming the same words over and over again. "Help me, help me, help me..." Then the monitor went blank. (Jadie)

"Sometimes what comes out is anger, because it's frustrating, because something's got to come out, and because feeling angry isn't as scary as feeling afraid." (Torey)

"Like I said, we aren't little girls. We're ghosts... I don't mind when it goes dark... Gotta be dark to be a ghost. But if it goes too dark before you get out, you can't do it. You can't get out of your body and you get shut in." (Jadie)

"I've probably lived a pretty sheltered life... But I can't say I'm not thankful for that. It's easier to believe in the good in people if you don't know all the bad." (Lucy)

"They say hurting's good. You get stronger, when you hurt. They make you strong, so you can kill people. If you don't like someone, they teach you how to make that person die." (Jadie)

"Because she's disturbed. Because I don't want to see a replay of the Salem witch hunt right here on my own turf. That's what that was, wasn't it? Hysterical children accusing innocent adults... These are PEOPLE, Torey. This is a FAMILY we're talking about here, and they're never going to be the same because of this. You and I and the police and everyone, we'll walk out of it. The Ekdahls won't. I'm scared shitless by this talk of witches and Satan and stuff, not because of what it is, but because of what it can do... I'm so frightened we're going to forget these are people and we're destroying them." (Arkie)

Certainly, I realize a clear-cut climax and resolution would make it a much better book. Unfortunately, it would also make it fiction. (Hayden explaining her lack of resolution in the epilogue)

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Torey Hayden has written this book inspired by her experiences as a teacher helping students with a wide range of emotional disturbances. This book follows her as she worked with Jade, a young girl with elective mutism. When she and Jade finally get down to business and she helps Jade put a voice to her fears, she discovers that the child is apparently being abused by a cult of Satan-worshipping child molesters.

I say apparently because it's clear that ultimately this is all speculation. While it seems plausible enough that Jade and her sisters have been sexually assaulted (her father is arrested some years after Jade is taken from his custody for molesting a child her age), the rest is not really proven.

The book is sensational and well-written, but inconclusive. There is never any proof that Jade's claims are true and as this all took place in the 80's when there was an hysteria surrounding children being abused by devil-worshippers, that leads my inner skeptic to think, "Weeeeeeeeeell, maybe not so much." On the other hand, I must be honest and say that I just don't know. I definitely don't want it to be true--if it is, the poor children endured absolute hell. And that makes you pause and wonder what kind of world we live in.

[Rosie · Rating 4 out of 5]

De uma forma simples e descontraída somos apresentadas a esta investigadora comportamental de crianças especiais e as motivações que a fazem trocar o certo pelo incerto, o conforto e um certo facilitismo por um trabalho árduo, lento e só. Num impulso deixa para trás a cidade e opta por um lugar mais rural porque acredita que poderá dar mais de si própria, sobretudo, contribuir junto de quem mais precisa e com menos recursos disponíveis.

Com uma resiliência adequadíssima às suas funções esta professora vai operando junto daquelas crianças e vamos ficando presos às suas histórias de vida. Jadie é a criança mais enigmática e intrigante que nos vai deixando avassalados. A lentidão do processo de conquista de confiança é desarmante e só queremos ler mais e mais para percebermos o porquê das suas atitudes e por outro queremos ver ser feita justiça.

Meu Deus... Sim, por favor! Clama-se por justiça!

É um verdadeiro horror aquilo a que alguns meninos estão sujeitos. COMO É POSSÍVEL? Eu, que não sou capaz de matar um insecto, acho que me metamorfoseava e era capaz de sei lá o quê perante semelhantes monstros...

Interessa-me particularmente livros que retratam problemáticas de foro psicólogico e se se tratar de jovens ainda me acutilam mais a curiosidade.

Foi o primeiro livro que li desta escritora e já me estou a ver comprar todos os outros em catadupa...

[PinkAmy loves books, cats and naps · Rating 3 out of 5]

GHOST GIRL, the fifth book in my Torey Hayden bingeathon is primarily the story of Hayden’s work with Jade, who is has selective mutism (which Hayden refers to as ‘elective mutism’) and is likely a victim of abuse. Jade tells cryptic, wild tales with some details so precise they had to be true. Again, Hayden seems to lack the understanding of her role of mandated reporter and the boundaries between suspecting and investigation.

The sole responsibility of mandated reporter is to notify child protective services when abuse is suspected and/or when signs of abuse surface. We basically say, “Hey, just letting you know this happened, the ball is in your court.” CPS (or whatever initials the bureau uses) and sometimes also the police are solely responsible for the investigative portion of the report, including whether the report warrants investigation. The mandated reporter is not supposed to decide whether to report, nor is she tasked with determining whether evidence exists to prosecute.

Hayden doesn’t understand the boundaries between her role and the next. I get it, I’ve had to make reports both when I suspected abuse and when I heard or saw things that I was pretty sure didn’t rise to the level of actionable next steps. Legally, I still needed to report.

Torey can be a fantastic teacher, bond well with the kids and has the patience of a saint. She isn’t at all vindictive when kids, parents or administrators tread her poorly, not an ounce of passive-aggressiveness.
With Jade Hayden goes to the extreme of driving 4 hours to an occult bookstore to learn about ritual abuse and consult a young Wicca bookstore worker to determine the origin of Jade’s claims (this is in the 80s or 90s pre-internet/google).

As a child psychologist, the details of the accuracy of Jade’s statement shouldn’t have been Torrey’s primary concern, she is not an investigator. Determining whether Jade was experiencing hallucinations part of her role, which Hayden did explore with the woefully overworked school psychologist.

I enjoyed reading GHOST GIRL despite my need to stop in frustration and stew.

[SadieReadsAgain · Rating 2 out of 5]

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 & 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.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the true story of an experienced special ed teacher who goes to a small town to teach a class. One girl in her class in very disturbed and this book tries to unravel why the girl is disturbed.

Once I got into the book I couldn't put it down. But now that I am finished.....creepy. I don't think I will sleep well tonight. This book will probably give me nightmares and I sort of regret reading it!

I googled and the girl is now grown-up, but declined to be interviewed.

I have my opinion about what maybe happened to the girl, but I don't want to say because it will give away spoilers.

[Lemae Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is gripping and heartwrenching. It is a story that I just had to finish once I started, and I read the entire book in one sitting. But once I finished the book, I almost wished I hadn't read it. There are some very grapic and disturbing images in this book. It made me feel bad to even let my mind wander to these kinds of places. The very sad thing about this book is that it is a true story. And whether you believe Jadie truly experienced these things or not, I really do believe she experienced what she said she did--at least to some extent. No little child could simply make-up the kinds of things Jadie recalls. That is why at the end of the book, while the author makes no concrete statement as to whether Jadie's experiences were 100% true, I believe they did happen to her. Maybe every detail was not recalled entirely accurately, but there is a lot of evil in this world...and I don't take that for granted. I also think that if a child acted the way Jadie did in this day and age, a lot more people would suspect abuse. It seemed like all her teachers and even the psychologist simply believe Jadie was just a "messed up" kid. How sad.

Proceed with caution with this book, it is extremely disturbing to those who are sensitive to such matters and especially if you are a spiritual person.

[Nenette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really, really disturbing....as this is a true story, untainted, non-fictionalized. Unlike in fiction, it does not have all the answers, and as a reader, I don't feel free to formulate any either. At the end, I can only hope and pray for a good life for both Jadie and Amber, and for Sapphire of course.

Torey Hayden is a good storyteller as I believe she is a teacher. The book was written for someone with no psychology background easy to understand. Not only that, I found myself really immersed in the book, wanting to get to the end of it to find out what happened. Apart from the "entertainment" value, this book is also a valuable resource material for other special education teachers and other professionals working with special children.

Torey Hayden is now a favorite author in my list, and I will definitely seek out her other books.

[Daina Cing · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jadie's story is compelling, disturbing, and touching all at once. The story naturally attracted my interest and, no matter how horrifying and sickening Jadie's experiences were, I still found myself reading more and more chapters with every chance I had. This is a very good story, just bear in mind that this is a non-fiction story written by the teacher Ms.Torey herself. In my opinion "Ghost Girl" is definitely not one of those stories you can shortly discuss with a friend who hasn't read it yet because there are so many details that connect with each other, rather it is something that for one to thoroughly comprehend one must read themselves. One more thing: if you cannot digest anything related to satanism or occultism then have caution while reading this book because (personally I agree with Tory Hayden that Jadie's case was intertwined with satanism) you'll come across it around the middle to the end of the book when Torey is finally putting two and two together.

[Sara Dye · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a special education teacher, I found this book so, so interesting and heartbreaking. I found the ending less than satisfying, but it is real life and real life doesn't wrap up nicely with a little bow on top. I will definitely be checking out Hayden's other books.

[Becky Courage · Rating 1 out of 5]

Jadie lives her life physically hunched over and in complete silence. Clearly a disturbed child, she is placed in a special needs program to receive extra care. When the school hires a new teacher – Torey Hayden - Jadie is finally willing to speak and reveal her story. Her story is shocking and unlike anything Ms. Hayden has ever dealt with before in her role as an educational psychologist.

This novel was troubling, to say the least. The blurb on the cover states: “The true story of a child in desperate peril – and the teacher who saved her”. I anticipated this novel being written in a non-fiction/memoir style, however it was written like a mystery. Hayden kept building up and building up to ultimately reveal the disturbing truth of Jadie’s childhood. This leads me to believe the entire thing is fictionalized.

*(Spoilers)*
The entire story appears largely sensationalized. Jadie hasn’t spoken a word to any teacher or psychologist in years and then boom; in the first 6 hours of Torey Hayden arriving, Jadie speaks to her with very little prodding. I don’t buy it.

There is one disturbing instance where Jadie sexually abuses another student, and Ms. Hayden simply sends the abused child home with his Nanny and a phone number in case the parents want to discuss the matter. That is ridiculous. If this actually happened, it should have been reported and dealt with in the proper way. Additionally, one student in the class – Jeremiah – is constantly using racial slurs, foul language and is generally disrespectful to students and Ms. Hayden. Yet Ms. Hayden does absolutely nothing to discipline him or discourage the behavior. Again, I find this ridiculous.

I was further shocked at the story regarding Amber when she hurt herself on the playground. Ms. Hayden brings Amber inside, takes her pants off and find a scar on her abdomen. Then Ms. Hayden asks the male Principal to come in and examine Amber, naked. And at no time are Amber’s parents called. I just simply could not believe what I was reading. There were many instances where things should have been reported to the school and to the police; however Ms. Hayden failed to do so.

There were other instances in the story that just seemed too convenient or too splendid to have actually occurred. For example, Jadie and Amber are taken away to a foster home. The very next day, Ms. Hayden just happen to use the children’s bathroom (weird) and find Amber in there. Unlikely. Then, at the end of the novel when Jadie is taken away by child services, Reuben sings Silent Night and Jadie turns around to give them a smile as she walks off to her new life. Come on! This is garbage.

In the synopsis of this novel, Hayden is described as ‘…one remarkable teacher’, which I find to be a pretty narcissistic comment. It appears these novels were written to boost her ego, and her income. The writing style supports my assumption, as she chose fancy words such as ‘…her recalcitrant silence’, ‘…a disconsolate expression’, and ‘…an ectomorphic Santa’. Hayden is only using these words to make herself seem intelligent and important.

In the end we are left with no definitive explanation as to what really happened to Jadie. There are three scenarios presented: the psychological, the satanic and the pedophilic. The instances described by Jadie in this novel could be true, as horrific things happen to children every day.
However, I just cannot accept this novel as a true story. There is something disturbing about a special needs teacher basing a book series around special needs children. What is even more disturbing is the blur at the front of this novel by the Florida Times – Union which states: “What kind of book will hook a teen on reading?...Any book by Torey Hayden’. The subject matter of this novel is NOT for teens, and I was shocked at the suggestion.

I would not recommend this novel to anyone; teens nor adults. It was sensationalized and capitalizes off of special needs children by those intended to protect them.

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely the most readable of Hayden's books that I've read. Which is not to say that the subject matter was pleasant - far from it. But the narrative flowed a lot more smoothly, and I didn't find myself as frustrated with the author as I have in her past books.
The book was written in the 1980s (first published in 1991), and there are some things she was able to get away with then that would definitely not fly in a public school today - picking an unruly boy up by his belt and shirt collar, lifting a six-year-old girl's shirt up (in the classroom) to check for signs of scoliosis, locking yourself and that girl in the cloakroom because that's the only place the girl feels safe enough to tell about the abuse she's been subjected to. There's a scene where Hayden and the girl are locked in the cloakroom, and the girl (who hasn't spoken at school in ages) suddenly starts yelling at the top of her lungs (because she can, because she's safe). A teacher in the next room comes running, tries the door and finds it locked; Hayden tells her everything is ok, and that's good enough for the other teacher. (This after Hayden had only been at the school less than a semester.) If that happened in today's schools, the principal would be knocking the door down to be sure the teacher wasn't abusing the child herself.
I was disappointed that the book didn't have a solid resolution of Jadie's (the girl's) situation. Hayden finally gets her to tell the authorities about the abuse, and her story is checked out, but no definitive evidence is found. The book isn't really about having that resolution; it's more about Jadie working through her emotional and mental issues to get to the point she can talk and participate in life. But it would have been nice to know what, exactly, actually did happen. Hayden kept in contact with Jadie and her sister, so she was able to let the reader know that Jadie went on to graduate from college and do well in life, but we never do find out if the abuse and everything that went with it were real, or if they were products of Jadie's mind, created to deal with all the bad things that were happening to her.

[Blanches Jeanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

after-read effect:



tadinya sempet mau mindahin buku ini ke shelf "tendang-ke-laut" tapi ga tega juga..aku baca buku ini pas kelas 3 apa 2 smp ya? dan buat yang udah baca pasti tau buku-bukunya Torey Hayden itu diperuntukkan buat usia 30tahun keatas.orr siapapun yang sudah siap mental. Jelas aku bener bener ga siap mental pas itu.
arghhh why did i read thiss boookk?? this book haunted me for years. tapi memang ga separah Kevin sih Murphy's Boy

aduh, stress ga sih ngebayangin child abuse? tapi sayangnya itu memang realita yang terjadi. Tanpa kita sangka, mungkin kejadiannya terjadi di sekitar kita, menimpa anak-anak yang ga pernah kita sangka,dan pelakunya juga ga akan pernah kita sangka. Dan setelah baca buku ini, rasanya jahat banget kalo kita menutup mata.
Mungkin sebenernya buku-buku kaya gini perlu untuk membuka mata kita kalo child abuse itu memang bener-bener terjadi dengan taraf kesadisan yang diluar batas yang bisa kita bayangkan.

aduh pokonya stress setelah baca buku ini! aku bahkan stress abis nulis review ini!

[Caroline Aziz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not quite sure what to say about this book. Most definitely a compelling and shocking read. All Toreys books I have read are ones I try to read as fast as possible, whether that's her writing style or the content I'm not sure. I can't put them down.
This is a horrifying true story and it's totally sickening. I wanted to keep reading to check the victims were ok.
It's obviously something that happened some years ago, and thankfully victims of abuse are now treated differently and I would hope action to help would start much sooner now. Perhaps that's what made this worse is that people didn't necessarily believe and took a while to help?
A well written book. An unsatisfactory ending for me, but that's because the perpetrator didn't seem to be either caught or punished.

[Tina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow, this was...something.

I have read a bunch of Hayden's books before and so far, I enjoyed every single one of them. I love how kind, empathetic and understanding the author comes across without ever seeming like she's "tooting her own horn" too much. When it came to the kids' stories, while being sad sometimes, they were never told in a particular over-the-top disturbing way.

This one, however - hold on to your seats and prepare to be shocked and grossed out along the way, or at least, if you are like me. There was some really graphic abuse being described in here, and as I said in a previous update, also some horrible animal cruelty.

This next point might make me sound like an asshole, but to be honest, it was very hard to suspend my disbelief on this story actually having happened, or at least the way it was described. Now, I am aware that even if something is largely disputed as being an urban legend or mass panic, there is always the possibility of it having actually happened somewhere, at some point. However, what are the chances of a whole family in a tiny town being embroiled in a ritualistic Satanist abuse circle, in the middle of the 1980s at that? Sound familiar?!? (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satanic...)

Now to be fair, the author herself says in her afterword that it couldn't be fully proved that ritual abuse *was involved* and that while abuse was happening for sure, there could've been other ways that it happened. She does, however, also state that she believed these things were real, that there *was* a wave of this Satanist abuse, and while doing so, completely mis-portrays Satanism, bringing out all the clichés you can think of.

Another point that irked me - to say the least - was when an 8-year-old kid used the N-word (the one with "er" at the end) towards a Black classmate and Torey literally ignored it o_O
No, I am not at all saying she should've yelled at him or called him a horrible racist but she should have brought it up and explained that you don't use that word, even if he might've heard it at home...but not saying anything isn't cool.

Yes, this book was published in 1991 and the events happened a couple years earlier, but still, that wasn't ancient times and people did know better, or am I being too "woke" here?

I am still going to read more Hayden books if I come across one in the future because I don't think she's a bad person/author at all, and I fully believe this one was a blip on the radar, but I did put it down with a bad taste in my mouth.

[Naaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is, I believe, the third book that I have read by this author. I immensely enjoyed the other two and while I liked this one well enough, there were some aspects that didn't quite ring true to me.

As is the case with all her books, this is an anonymised account of the children she teaches. While the situations of the children are obviously very sad and no child should ever have to go through anything even remotely similar, the school that Hayden was teaching at seems a bit dodgy to me.

For one, it is not a special education class that Hayden is asked to teach - it is merely a classroom that has lumped all the 'hopeless' cases into. So while there are children with autism and other learning difficulties in the class, there is also a little boy who is simply there because none of the other teachers know how to manage his behaviour. He is able to spend weeks in Hayden's classroom while swearing left right and centre, using all manner of foul language but somehow it's normalised to the degree where it's just something that this child does. Surely part of Hayden's role in all this is to try to reduce the frequency of this happening, rather than just accepting it as part of the child?

Another massive red flag for me was a part in which the little girl, Jadie, literally pulls down the pants of an autistic child in the bathroom and bites his private parts to the point where he literally has visible bite marks and is bleeding. Now this occurrence in itself is obviously problematic but Hayden's handling of it was downright appalling in my opinion. Not only did she not call the parents in or speak to them on the telephone herself, she apologised profusely to the nanny who picks the boy up from school and tells her that the parents can get in touch if they have any further questions. And after all this, there is never any mention of the parents checking in or wanting to know what was going in on in a place that they obviously entrusted their child to. This does not seem realistic to me at all as I can't think of any school that I know of or have worked at where something as huge as this would pretty much be swept under the rug like this.

I feel like this book was a lot more sensationalised than the other books I have read by her and that led to me feeling a bit disappointed. It also felt like a lot of the details were embellished or downright dismissed in an attempt to keep the story dramatic, which is not needed at all in my opinion, as the story would have been just fine without all the extra, dodgy scenarios mentioned.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

First of all, be warned that if you are one sensitive to such things as child abuse/rape and animal cruelty (which who isn't?), this is not a book I would recommend. It was very difficult to get through at times.

Now I know what kinds of trauma Torey has dealt with in her career, so I suppose I should not have been surprised by the level of brutality in this book. That being said, I was still in for a shock when I read the horrible, disgusting things the formerly mute little girl, Jadie, eventually revelead. These revelations include the aforementioned child sexual abuse (including a toddler), the possible murder of another six year old girl, the pulling apart of Jadie's beloved cat, and more, all in extremely vivid detail. It also included possible satanic rituals, of which were discussed in more wretched detail in the epilogue of the book.

At the end of the story, you still don't know what has truly happened to Jadie and her sisters. What parts of her story are real? Is it all just the fabrication of a demented child? Who knows. But, as this is a true story, you cannot expect a complete, happy ending.

Like Lucy, a colleague of Torey's, I am not so naive as to think these terrible things do not occur in real life. I must admit the typical "morbid curiosity" part of me was fascinated by this, albeit appalled. But I can't, in good conscious, give this book more stars because of the real-life horror it contains.

Another thing that bothered me about this book was Torey herself. There are small things about her that irk me, such as when she described her failed relationship with an ex-boyfriend and how she seemed to be so condescending towards him up there on her high horse. Even worse was how she described the children, stating she'd worked with a well-built little boy before, and how attractive the girls, such as Jadie, were. At one point, she said, "....Amber,too, had the long, dark lashes, giving her the same look of infant sensuality." She frequently said things like that, particularly around the times she was describing the rape Jadie endured. On one level, i know that's not how she meant it, I know what she means. But on another level, I almost felt as if Torey were saying it's no wonder Jadie was raped, she's sexy and who could help it? Perhaps I'm too sensitive, I don't know. But it disturbed me nonetheless....

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 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 have problems 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.

[Shayla Padilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a very interesting plot. It is about a lady named Torey who gets a job in Pecking to work as a special needs teacher because the old teacher didn't come back. She later found out that the old teacher had commited suicide. On their first day she had four children; Jeramiah,Reuben, Philip and Jadie. Jeramiah was in the class because no other techer wanted him in there classes. He was a very violent child and swore all the time. Reuben was autistic. Philip was a premature baby so was a little slow on learning.And Jadie was a mute. Jadie was the most interesting to Torey because were she used to work she specialized in mutes.Torey works very hard at getting Jadie to speak. By the end of the first week Torey had Jadie talking.She wasn't talking on an every day basis but she would respond to questions in short answers.Torey kept on trying to figure out why Jadie didn't talk. The only way Torey could get Jadie to talk was when they were in the closet and all the doors were locked. Jadie would come in every day after school. Jadie and Torey would talk.
This book was really good. I loved how the mood changed all through out the book. Sometimes it would be intense and other times happy, or scary. The thing that I didn't really like was all the swearing.The genre is non fiction because this is based on a true story. The dominant impression for this book is probably intensity. Intensity as the dominant impression is good though because it keeps you hanging on the edge of your seat and wanting to read more.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Beth Harris · Rating 1 out of 5]

Each to their own and all that stuff,

But this was the first and last book I will ever read of Torey Hayden’s unfortunately. This isn’t my sort of book anyway and I knew before I opened the cover, but my mum had just finished reading it and was raving about it so I thought I’d give it a go.

The story was unbelievable, these books are meant to be true stories but some of the events in the book were that badly written about that I genuinely couldn’t believe it. The way the events were portrayed made me think it had been majorly exaggerated and that made the book ridiculous to read.

As soon as I read a story which included derogatory terms for a little boy of colour, I decided enough was enough. I can take a lot of things lightly and with a pinch of salt but I feel this book took things way too far and couldn’t bare to read on.

If you’re into this sort of book then you will probably enjoy it, but personally it’s not for me and I will not be reading any books of Toreys again.

[Irene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't like how the case ended/concluded, but I acknowledged the possibilities in it, as Torey described it. I came across with children victims of sexual violence during my work, and yes, there are organized pedophiles and pedophile ring, and occult violence using children as sacrifices/objects. I also do not like the "ending" of their cases. But hey, this is the real world, the freaking-insane world, and children must live and try to survive in it. Fortunately in the end Jadie did have her chance to pursue her dreams. I'm so happy for her. I wish other children with similar horror-struck experience would be granted the same opportunity as Jadie was. And it takes someone like Torey Hayden to help make it possible. God be with you, Torey.

[Tiago Cabica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uma leitura simples e rápida que nos leva a conhecer a incrível história de Jadie, uma menina com um comportamento muito característico. É muito interessante ainda poder seguir os restantes colegas de turma de Jadie, cada um com problemas específicos e que nos levam a conhecer novas realidades.
A forma como nos vamos envolvendo na historia e nos 'segredos' de Jadie é viciante levando-nos a querer sempre ler mais e mais.
É triste saber que existem casos destes no mundo e que há mais crianças como Jadie a passar por aquilo que ela passou. É um caso comovente e triste ao mesmo tempo...

Recomendo vivamente esta leitura, não vos deve passar ao lado.

[Shana · Rating 4 out of 5]

FOUR AND A HALF STARS. I love Torey Hayden's books and this one was no exception. As a therapist,I find her descriptions of the way she works with children very inspiring. My guess is that this book is set in the early 80's, when things were very different in terms of response to child abuse and there were times I was pretty surprised by the way someone handled something, as nowadays you'd be calling child welfare. This is a really engaging story and I couldn't put it down. The ending is not what I hoped it would be, which is why I couldn't quite get to five stars. However, it is a true story and clearly there are no easy resolutions in life.

[Ingie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review written June 18, 2019

3 1/2 Stars - A tumultuous true story

This was a reread of a book I read twenty years ago and it honestly wasn’t a really uplifting story to follow sunbathing beside a pool on the beautiful island Majorca (Spain) . My heart is, and will forever, crying for these children we are told about. Please, let them all get support and help. Hugs, love and a better life. — Punish the perpetrators so it hurts, very stinging painfully hurting. I listened (the audiobook this second time) with interest although this was perhaps too harsh and horrible from the life reality for my taste.

I LIKE - Ms Hayden’s books about the kids she “helped”

[Karolína · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written book even for someone who might not necessarily be into child psychology. I found it very interesting and odd at the same time. As the story unfolded - from a mute girl in special-needs class, who eventually started to talk, but telling very disturbing stories to victim of (maybe) some sort of abuse. I wish the ending was bit more transparent as to what really happened? But i guess maybe no-one really knows up until today:-)

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never know how to describe true stories as it is someones life that your talking about. I read this book in less than 24 hours, it was sickening and gripping and shocking. I would read Torey Hayden again, without a doubt.