The Tiger's Child: The Story of a Gifted, Troubled Child and the Teacher Who Refused to Give Up...

Abandoned by her mother on a highway at age four, abused by her drug-addict father between his prison stints, autistic, electively mute Sheila Renstad at age six broke through her silent rage to communicate, aided by her five-month relationship with special-education teacher Hayden. That experience, recorded in Hayden's One Child, which became a TV movie, is updated in this deeply moving sequel. It picks up with Sheila as a sullen 13-year-old bouncing between juvenile facilities and her father's ``care.'' As Hayden renews her ties to Sheila--first at a clinic, then through informal contacts--the girl's outbursts and foul-mouthed sexual preoccupations betray a desperate craving for a sense of belonging. An inspirational testament to the healing power of love, this authentic tearjerker resonates with drama. There is no storybook ending: Sheila, with an IQ over 180, forgoes college to work for McDonald's; an epilogue finds her 10 years later as a branch manager at McDonald's and an articulate, stable woman. Paperback rights to Avon; Literary Guild alternate; Readers Digest Condensed Book selection. (Mar.)