"Nobody told her: '4-year-olds can't be responsible!'"
932499
A raw look at mother/daughter relationships and the great, menacing void that rises up to crush us when we lose a parent at such an early age.
The legend of the Black Madonna, the metaphor of the bees and the touching friendship that develops between some very special black women and a lost and lonely white girl -- all against the backdrop of the American civil rights movement -- makes for an unforgettable story. Long live Sue Monk Kidd -- and may she write more stories that celebrate female relationships and the very real and powerful hand of God in our lives.
I do, however, have one question: why didn't someone tell Lily that a 4-year-old can not be responsbile for the shooting death of her mother, even if it was her ignornant, scrambling fingers that accidentally pulled the trigger?
Maybe it's me, but I don't think this message ever came out, directly or indirectly. In fact, the last words on the subject suggest Lily IS very responsible, too bad, so sad. I do not think this message is a worthwhile one for girls and women, who are often bogged down with similar guilt for far lesser mistakes.
1064907
I have taken it away from my daughter!  She has such an attitude and is so disrespectful.  I wouldn't allow my child to speak that way, so why would I allow her toys?  It has the valley girl attitude, saying "Hello" and "Excuse me" with great negativity. She just has an attitude in general.  My mom tried to get her the car also, which after hearing tires screach she says "Watch where you're going" with the same nasty attitude.  Horrid, just horrid.  I don't see how parents can let their kids play with this, then again, people let their girls play with brats dolls.  Come on parents!  Is this how you want you children acting?
3594171
When I first saw this book I thought "Is this made for a 3rd Grader?" because the book looked like a kid book with large print in it.
My view as far as Evie kidnapping Grace/Brianna was a selfish move. Yes she was her mom but she had no idea how to even be a mom. She should have left Grace/Brianna where she was at, in a nice home.
Evie couldn't even take care of her, she had little money, nowhere to live and no job. She didn't even know how to burp Grace/Brianna, the Waitress had to show her. I don't know what Evie was thinking when she ran from Justin and took her 5 month old baby out in the middle of the night. She put both her and her baby in danger.
I thought it was cold hearted for Justin, Brianna's dad to say "I don't want to be her father, she was an accident."
All and all this book was too short and left us with a cliffhanger.
1562323
This is a review from an 8 year old who got this a year back.
I cannot start a conversation, I can only talk about what she wants to talk about
If I ask Barbie a question, she won't answer
She doesn't listen to my answer if that is not what she is expecting . E.g. she was talking about how good it is to be a doctor even though I said that I didn't want to be a doctor.
Her legs cannot move
Her clothes cannot be changed
641194
I don't think this is age appropriate for a child under 3 if you expect them to do anything besides throw the parts and try to destroy anything being built.
522287
If I could give this negative stars I would...if her childhood turned her into the way she is, how does she expect her poor kids to turn out? Cause she's a million times worst of a mother than Barbra. I read the entire book trying to finally get her insight and point of view to try and better understand her. But of course, as anyone can guess I didn't. All she did was blame her mother (yes, the mother raising HER kid) for everything. And how custody was just taken from her very shadily (nothing to do with you out partying and sleeping around 24/7 instead of taking care of your kid?) glad I read the book to realize she may actually have a real mental problem considering she sounded delusional through the whole book. And not to mention the small fact she still does not have custody of her 8 year old (can't blame your mom for that one jenelle) as a mom, I know how hard it is to have custody taken away. They still give drug addicted parents their kids, any judge should give jenelle full custody back. But the reason they probably don't is all those mugshots (ALL NONE OF HER FAULT lol) and the multiple drug addicts she's been with. And then she wants to know why people don't like her. SAVE YOUR MONEY! As an avid read, that's 4 hours of my life I'll never get back. Struggled reading through half of it because whoever she paid the money to write her book sounded like a middle school girl who had a lot of misspellings and punctuational errors.
1012295
I promised this to my 3 year old daughter and when the day has come she was so disappointed, an Elena of Avalor wand arrived, no bubbles, no songs, no lights, just a wand and no Ariel on it. Be careful... they don't even care about what you ask.
2057154
Marvelous logic game. A four-year old will never imagine she's learning while striving to complete each challenge.
3352104
my heart  broke for this child..but it happened  everyday..and no one knew..it had to be kept secret by the children or it got even worse,..no one believed..complaints were said to be domestic
378395
she is obviously not even one who likes reading her kids "fart" books.  kids LAUGH at this stuff, my 8 year old thought it was funny.  he didn't take it seriously, and HONESTLY, "Dirt Kirt" only got that way from not bathing in forever.  what parent is truly going to allow their kid to never take a bath?  so the fears that the 1 star rater has for this book are very unrealistic, and her review is unfair to the author.
609960
This story stinks!  The heroine, Angie Wu, is in the 4th grade.  Her traveling Aunt Li sends Angie a set of Trouble Dolls from Guatemala.  Angie loves them - plus they seem to work to rid her of her troubles - and takes them to school for Sharing Day.  Then her classmates and friends demand to borrow the dolls to use with their own troubles, and through their negligence, the dolls are all subsequently lost or destroyed!  At that point, since the dolls didn't work for anyone else anyway and people blamed Angie, she decides the dolls are more trouble than they're worth.

By the end of the story, Angie has justified her mother's blaming, her little brother's messing with her stuff, her friends' upset, and her classmates' anger and disappointment by deciding she didn't want the dolls after all.  Nobody in this story sticks up for Angie being allowed to keep something for herself that she loved enough to take care of (unlike her selfish classmates, whom Angie goes to a lot of trouble to please and impress).  All the messages of this book are depressing - share with people even if they don't give a hoot about your things or you, get blamed for your little brother going in your room and making messes, decide it's yourself who is wrong when other people are angry or disappointed.  The illustrations are cute, so this book drags itself up to two stars.

Let's hope Angie's "friends" and fellow students don't want to borrow the rings Aunt Li sent from Hong Kong!
3292304
My niece got these for her birthday. I wouldn't buy these for my worst enemy. There are tons of stories about these things getting stuck in hair, and a warning on the box.... I get that - people shouldn't let them near hair.  Or should I say, I know that now after frantically trying to figure out how to get a few dozen out of my own hair when my 7 year old niece thought it was funny to put a "hat" on my head. I had to pull/cut chunks of my hair out. I would never buy these things for my own kids, and definitely not for someone else's kids. I understand they have a warning, but they are rated at 4+ years old! I had no clue what these things were when she brought them over, and she definitely was not old enough, even at 7, to realize they shouldn't go in someone's hair.
4770853
The Internet is filled with great reviews of this product but I can't believe any of the reviewers actually have kids.  The filters and categories fail even the simplest tests.

For example, at the "4 year old" setting NetNanny allows kids to go to Yahoo completely unfiltered and view the news, videos, etc.  Completely inappropriate content for a 4-year old.  I really don't want my 4 year old seeing videos and pictures of wars and car crashes (which it doesn't even try to block).

So far I've had much better luck with the built-in Windows parental controls.  FAR better blocking for younger (<12) kids.
4079256
*Spoilers*
While I sympathize with the author's terrible childhood circumstances, and the cycle of abuse she found herself in as an adult, I was struck by her inability to accept any personal responsibility for her own choices.
While an abused child is never to blame for the actions of their caregivers, an adult who decides to stay involved with an abuser is somewhat responsible for the environment they live in.
I also found it telling that, at various times, ALL of her children have stopped speaking with her for different periods of time (including her oldest, who made the choice as an adult, having been raised without a mother in her life), and she (again) blamed other people's actions, rather than herself.
She is riding the victim train all the way to the station.
709303
"Babies eyes don't produce tears until they are 6-8 years old."  Hum... I don't think so.  Either I'm miss understanding what is being said, there's a major typo, or somebody is very confused.  Where did all these "facts" come from.
2465082
First of all, I was impressed by this book, and recommend it to any parent or teenager.  As someone who is exactly the same age as Katie Tarbox, this books speaks to me, and I can well recall my own experiences at that age, the vulnerabilities, and imagine what it must be like to live in that position.

But I am disturbed by the number of readers who called this book a 'sob story' and Katie 'stupid' either because this young woman had the courage to write her story, or because she was wealthy, or because she was not raped.  Also those who slap her down for her writing style are also over the top.

1)  1995 was a different world for 13-year-olds.  The Internet was new, a novelty to our generation, and it is all too believable that an intelligent, well-educated girl with absent or even mostly-normal parents could fall into a pedophile's trap.  After all, 13-year-olds give never-have-I-ever information to friends face-to-face all the time.  The predator's sexual questions might not have seemed that dangerous to a naive child.  That's the essence of childhood, the reason she is the victim, NOT to be blamed.  I am appalled by the number of people who called her stupid--on this review board alone!

2)  The readers who criticized this girl's writing style and her "cashing in" on her experience are out of line and off the mark.  For one thing, teenagers' lack of experience often does lead to certain grammatical/syntax errors that in no way diminishes the weight of their message to an INTELLIGENT reader.  And another thing, this young girl did a HUGE service to children and parents by telling her story and publishing it, and she deserves to be recognized for it, not condemned.  The idea that a victim of sexual molestation must suffer and recover in silence is outdated and sick.

3)  Speaking of outdated and sick, the people who would belittle Katie because she "was not raped" should ask themselves if they would feel the same way if it were their child?  If it were their child kissed and necked by a 41-year-old, if it were their child fondled under her clothes and pushed onto a bed by a predator?  Would they still say, "you weren't raped, get over it?"  I think not.  Those who think it makes a difference are incredibly insensitive.

All in all, the naysayers have shown a profound ignorance of youth, the internet culture, and humanity in general, while Katie Tarbox deserves nothing but praise for the way she has chosen to recover from her ordeal.  She has done so in a way that serves as a profound warning to teenagers and parents everywhere.

Oh, and about the domain name issue:  it has nothing to do with the substance of this book.  That Jones woman is the one who is printing "sob stories."  I'm not saying she should give up her domain name, but the whining posted on her website was silly.  SHE is the one who should get over her "ordeal."  And the people who condemn Katie Tarbox for using the title "Katie.com" ought to remember that a teenaged girl writing her experience is unlikely to be familiar with Copyright Law and domain names.  I thought it was a rather profound title, unlike the one it was replaced with.

In closing:  Go Katie!  Write on, and don't let the naysayers discourage you (but judging by what you've already overcome, somehow I doubt you will.)
1177941
I can't believe that anyone would want their impressionable young children to read these books. It teaches disrespect and bad behavior. Wow, totally inappropriate for young children. WOULD NOT RECOMMEND