As a follow-up to her account of providing foster care to at-risk children, 2003's Another Place at the Table
, Harrison focuses on one particularly challenging child. Foster parents in Massachusetts since 1988, Harrison and her husband have three children by birth, three by adoption, and a flock of kids staying with them who need short-term care. Into this mix comes Daisy, a five-year-old with a speech impediment who slowly reveals a history of sexual abuse. The way in which Daisy folds into the busy Harrison family, and the difference in her behavior when she's around her spaced-out birth mother, demonstrate how much environment can affect a child's demeanor and development. Harrison shows such honesty about her emotions and her limitations as a foster parent that Daisy's heartbreaking story is even more searing. The memoir also offers a glimpse into the lives of foster parents, who are often depicted as indifferent or awful. Harrison and her husband, on the other hand, are good, caring people who struggle to care for a passel of emotionally bruised children—and usually succeed. (Apr.)
