OUR FIRST REVIEW

Thank you so much Dr. Julie Wilgen for submitting our first review :

Dr. Julie Wilgen’s Review of Every 10th Starfish by Sandy Knauer


Every 10th Starfish chronicles the journey of a troubled teen Annie and her psychotherapist foster mother Sandy Knauer through a series of letters exploring the challenges each faced in their quest to find the right balance of understanding and setting boundaries. The author shows insight and empathy as she and her family tried to provide a stable home for Annie in spite of difficult circumstances. She helps the reader to understand what foster families experience emotionally as they try to adapt to the needs of Annie, who has a history of sexual abuse and other types of physical and emotional abuse, and who, in her 15 short years, had been in 22 foster placements, group homes, psychiatric hospitals, and alternative schools.

This is not a Cinderella story but rather addresses tough choices that real-life Annie and Sandy’s family must face and the reality of letting go of family members as a result of death, addiction, and recalcitrant behavior. This book will open the readers’ minds and hearts to the kind of strength and love that is required to be a foster family and to enable the 10th starfish to survive. It also raises the question of what happens to all the other starfish and foster children who fall through the safety net. It is interesting reading!

NOTE: The reviewer Julie M. Wilgen, Ph.D., teaches in the Dept of Human Development and Family Studies at the University of Delaware.