An anecdotal indictment of the system that treats children with mental-health problems, as well as an unpersuasive call for a new order. Gutkind (English/University of Pittsburgh; One Children's Place, 1990, etc.) dubs our institution-centered mental-health system ``absurd,'' contending that its methods aren't based on solid research. He proposes instead an untested model of individualized care based on family preservation, claiming that the need for change is too urgent to wait for research to validate this model's viability. Gutkind's interest in the mental-health system was triggered by the experiences of Daniel, a seriously troubled youth for whom he acted as a Big Brother and whom he watched being bounced from group home to mental hospital to family to the street. To understand the present system, the author sat in with doctors, nurses, social workers, and other staff members of Pittsburgh's Western Psychiatric Institute as they dealt with disturbed adolescents and their families. Individually, these professionals appear well meaning and often kind, but the rigidities of the system render their efforts largely ineffective. Though he includes brief sketches of several patients and their families, Gutkind concentrates on the Scanlons, so devastated by the behavior of their mentally disturbed teenage daughter, Meggan, that they relinquish parental rights over her. Another teenager who catches Gutkind's attention is Terri, diagnosed with multiple disorders, whose eventual commitment to an adult psychiatric hospital seems inevitable. The author intersperses these dismal stories with facts and figures demonstrating the extent of the problem (millions of American children with serious mental problems, but only one-fifth of them receiving any treatment). In conclusion, Gutkind details rather optimistically how his proposed family preservation model might have helped Danny, Meggan, and Terri. Sincere, but offering little comfort to families with disturbed children and, probably, little in the way of realistic solutions.
Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-8050-1469-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
