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| Category: Biography | |
| About the Book | |
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DELLA'S
CHILDREN is a frightening character-portrait of the 'Baby
Jane' of child psychology, an educator who used her professional knowledge to swindle parents and educators, yet whose sanity unraveled in the process. The story is told by an angry teenager, who exposes the secret world of private schools, where profit dominates over decency, and a demented overseer is able to bilk trusting parents at the expense of their children. It is a remarkable true-life detective story of the incredible youngsters who untangled Della's web of fraud and deceit, and revealed the origins of her frightful madness. Sometimes violent and grotesque, sometimes humorous and touching, it is a caustic first-person narrative in a uniquely sarcastic style. It is a riveting tale of imprisonment, escape, and redemption, a chronicle of the children whose determination prevailed over a skeptical adult world, and the decline of the institutions they exposed. Although it was written to reveal serious crimes against children and their families, and has graphic and disturbing elements, DELLA'S CHILDREN is a positive story of youngsters fighting for truth and integrity. Throughout his retelling of the bizarre events of his story, the author constantly reaches out to his readers in a personable style, anticipating their every reaction. He does this because the characters who inhabit this distorted world are real people, whose names have been changed, and whose actions seem so illogical in our time. The narrative is peppered with the wry and sarcastic comments typical of a teenager, and the people are assigned cruel, satirical compound-names because it is an expose' with an audience. Above all, readers know from the outset that they are to be treated as participants, and shown things they do not want to see. The result is a gradual awareness that they can not turn away. They have embarked upon a journey from which they can not return unscathed.
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| About the Author | |
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Richard Kent Smith spent thirteen years in the schools depicted in his book, made his escape, and went on to obtain graduate degrees in Secondary Education and Fine Arts. He has been a teacher,counselor, and has worked with parents and educators to publicize the conditions described in DELLA'S CHILDREN. |