Three Little Words
A Memoir
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4.8 • 263 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
An inspiring true story of the tumultuous nine years the author spent in the foster care system, and how she triumphed over painful memories and real-life horrors to ultimately find her own voice.
“Sunshine, you’re my baby and I’m your only mother. You must mind the one taking care of you, but she’s not your mama.” Ashley Rhodes-Courter spent nine years of her life in fourteen different foster homes, living by those words. As her mother spirals out of control, Ashley is left clinging to an unpredictable, dissolving relationship, all the while getting pulled deeper and deeper into the foster care system.
Painful memories of being taken away from her home quickly become consumed by real-life horrors, where Ashley is juggled between caseworkers, shuffled from school to school, and forced to endure manipulative, humiliating treatment from a very abusive foster family. In this inspiring, unforgettable memoir, Ashley finds the courage to succeed—and in doing so, discovers the power of speaking out.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this engrossing memoir, college senior Rhodes-Courter chronicles her hardscrabble childhood in foster care, detailing glitches in the system and infringements of laws that led to a string of unsuitable and sometimes nightmarish placements for her and her younger half-brother, Luke. Using a matter-of-fact tone at times laced with bitterness, the author recounts how she was wrenched away from her teenage mother at age three and was later removed from her unstable grandfather's home to live in cramped quarters with strangers. She acknowledges that there may have been legitimate reasons for her and Luke's placement in foster care but pointedly criticizes the manner in which she was repeatedly uprooted. She also blames the ineptitude of social workers who, more often than not, acted as advocates for foster parents rather than the children they were assigned to protect. The girl's frequent moves and sporadic mental and physical abuse left emotional scars that affected her even after she was adopted by a loving family (the "three little words" that change her life are her guarded consent to legal adoption, "I guess so"). The author's ability to form intelligent, open-minded conclusions about her traumatic childhood demonstrates her remarkable control and insight, and although there are plenty of wrenching moments, she succeeds not in attracting pity but in her stated intention, of drawing attention to the children who currently share the plight that she herself overcame. Ages 14-up.
Customer Reviews
One of my favorites
I haven’t read this book since HS but it’s probably one of the only books I’ve read on my own free will and read the whole thing. I totally changed career paths (mentally) after reading this book, a Juvenile Therapist for the neglected and abused. I promised myself if I ever went back to school that’s exactly what I’d do and I owe it all this book. It was surprise it popped up as a sample and I immediately purchased it. I needed this.
10/10 book
I picked up this book one day in the juvenile detention library I got arrested at a placement I was at for breaking a window I was pretty troubled and also pretty traumatized growing up but after reading this book it pushed me to get my ged in the time being of me being in a difficult situation this book has really pushed me to do better for myself and for others that were once in line in Ashley’s situation my goal is to get my story out to. I’m super grateful she was brave enough to for the rest of us.
three little words- 5/5
One of my favorite books i’ve ever read, simply moving and just informative, it’s so hard to believe that this could be the reality for so many people. truly a eye opener