When Andrew Bridge was seven years old, he and his mother---a mentally unstable woman who loved her child more than she could care for him---slid deeper and deeper into poverty, until they were reduced to scavenging for food in trash bins. Welfare officials did little more than threaten to take Andrew away, until a social worker arrived with a police escort and did just that while his mother screamed on the sidewalk. And so began Andrew's descent into the foster care system---"care" being a terrible irony, as he received almost none for the next eleven years.
Academic achievement was Andrew's ticket out of hell---a scholarship to Wesleyan University led to Harvard Law School and a Fulbright Scholarship. Now an accomplished adult, he has dedicated his life to working on behalf of the frightened children still lost in the system. Hope's Boy is his story, a story of endurance and the power of love and, most of all, of hope.
David Drummond's delivery of narrative is straightforward and well paced. In delivering dialogue, however, heartfelt emotions color his reading. In this memoir young Andy is taken from his mother, Hope, when she shows neither the mental nor financial ability to care for him. Drummond's portrayal of Andy has the longing and wistfulness of a son who adores his mother and grieves their parting. In foster homes, Drummond portrays Andy as a good boy, despite his subtle defiance. One foster mother, Mrs. Leonard, is easily enraged, and Drummond's harsh Germanic tones for her character are effectively menacing. He is also spot-on in his characterizations of the social workers who do little to aid the boy's suffering. S.W. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
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