Hayden probably would have become a fine writer under any circumstances but it is our good fortune that she also decided to become a teacher of children with severe mental handicaps and emotional disorders.When you cead a Torey Hayden book, however,all such descriptions of children become academic nonsense. What we are guided to discover is that human beings rarely fit into conventional categories and diagnoses ... Hayden has a gift for demonstrating the ways in which, despite their unique qualities,these human beings are ourselves. Here are universal fears, feelings of not being lovable enough, the universal inability to express the sources of pain."

Sheila was a deeply disturbed six-year-old when she came into Torey Hayden's life - a story poignantly chronicled in One Ckild. Over the course of five remarkable months, this dedicated special-education teacher profoundly touched the life of this abandoned, abused little girl. Then Torey lost touch with the child she had helped to free from a hellish inner prison of rage and silence. But seven years later, Sheila was back, now a gangly teenager with bright orange hair - no longer broken and lost,but still troubled and searching for answers.

This marked a new and extraordinary chapter in a story of dedication and caring - one that would test the strength and heart of both Sheila and her one-time teacher. Torey would once again answer the call to help Sheila, this time guiding her through a difficult yet glorious transition into young womanhood.