The Fifth Child

Author: Doris Lessing
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307777642
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 159

Book Description
Doris Lessing's contemporary gothic horror story—centered on the birth of a baby who seems less than human—probes society's unwillingness to recognize its own brutality.Harriet and David Lovatt, parents of four children, have created an idyll of domestic bliss in defiance of the social trends of late 1960s England. While around them crime and unrest surge, the Lovatts are certain that their old-fashioned contentment can protect them from the world outside—until the birth of their fifth baby. Gruesomely goblin-like in appearance, insatiably hungry, abnormally strong and violent, Ben has nothing innocent or infant-like about him. As he grows older and more terrifying, Harriet finds she cannot love him, David cannot bring himself to touch him, and their four older children are afraid of him. Understanding that he will never be accepted anywhere, Harriet and David are torn between their instincts as parents and their shocked reaction to this fierce and unlovable child whose existence shatters their belief in a benign world.

The Fifth Child

Author: Doris Lessing
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780007154395
Category : Young adult fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 159

Book Description
Classic horror of a family torn apart by the arrival of Ben, their feral fifth child. 'Listening to the laughter, the sounds of children playing, Harriet and David would reach for each other's hand, and smile, and breathe happiness.' Four children, a beautiful old house, the love of relatives and friends, Harriet and David Lovatt's life is a hymn to domestic bliss and old-fashioned family values. But when their fifth child is born, a sickly and implacable shadow is cast over this tender idyll. Large and ugly, violent and uncontrollable, the infant Ben, 'full of cold dislike, ' tears at Harriet's breast. Struggling to care for her new-born child, faced with a darkness and a strange defiance she has never known before, Harriet is deeply afraid of what, exactly, she has brought into the world..

Ben, In the World

Author: Doris Lessing
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061967874
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 182

Book Description
Far from resting on her laurels, Lessing goes from strength to strength. Ben's half-human ignorance, paranoia, and rage are magnificently imagined and vividly present on every page. The condition of the outsider has hardly ever before in fiction been portrayed with such raw power and righteous anger. Few, if any, living writers can have explored so many forbidding fictional worlds with such passion and conviction. — Kirkus Reviews The poignant and tragic sequel to Doris Lessing's bestselling novel, THE FIFTH CHILD. At eighteen, Ben is in the world, but not of it. He is too large, too awkward, too inhumanly made. Now estranged from his family, he must find his own path in life. From London and the south of France to Brazil and the mountains of the Andes. Ben is tossed about in a tumultuous search for his people, a reason for his being. How the world receives him, and, he fares in it will horrify and captivate until the novel's dramatic finale.

The Fifth Trimester

Author: Lauren Smith Brody
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0385541422
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 301

Book Description
Packed with honest, funny, and comforting advice—“a book you MUST read if you are returning to work after the birth of a child…. I loved it and you will too.” —New York Times bestselling author Lois P. Frankel, Ph.D. The first three trimesters (and the fourth—those blurry newborn days) are for the baby, but the Fifth Trimester is when the working mom is born. A funny, tells-it-like-it-is guide for new mothers coping with the demands of returning to the real world after giving birth, The Fifth Trimester contains advice from 800 moms, including: •The boss-approved way to ask for flextime (and more money!) •How to know if it’s more than “just the baby blues” •How to pump breastmilk on an airplane (or, if you must, in a bathroom) •What military science knows about working through sleep deprivation •Your new sixty-second get-out-of-the-house beauty routine •How to turn your commute into a mini–therapy session •Your daycare tour or nanny interview, totally decoded

The Future of the Fifth Child

Author: Sid Gardner
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 1491791330
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 278

Book Description
The premise of this book is that 400 million childrenone in five children aliveare abused and neglected in ways that could affect their entire lives, and that greater progress in protecting those children is both urgent and possible. The book reviews the long history of child maltreatment from prehistoric times to the present, contrasting statements about precious, innocent children with the realities of child maltreatment around the world. Child protection is defined using the sixteen categories of maltreatment from the work of the United Nations Childrens Fund. The roles of the major players in global child protection are described, noting that this field is a small part of the broader arenas of foreign aid and foreign policy. The book discusses the difficult question of what causes child maltreatment, reviewing poverty, religious and cultural practices, gender inequity and other forms of discrimination, parental addictions, and war and its aftermath. Ten specific responses to child maltreatment are proposed, aiming at reducing the fragmentation and increasing the effectiveness of child protection programs. A critique is included on recent responses of US agencies and international counterparts, with appendices on India and China as the countries with the greatest numbers of children.

Fifth Born

Author: Zelda Lockhart
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0743418670
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 225

Book Description
When Odessa Blackburn is three years old, she sees her grandmother for the last time, and so begins her story as the fifth born of eight children in a troubled family. Molested by her father, Odessa is also the sole witness to a murder he commits. Her mother guards both secrets and joins her husband in ostracizing their fifth born from the rest of her siblings. As Odessa grows, so do her troubles. She ultimately separates herself from her parents and siblings into a new reality that prompts memory and revelation. Her choices for survival provoke an outcome that will forever alter the carefully maintained lies of her childhood. Zelda Lockhart's Fifth Born is lyrically written, poignant and powerful in its exploration of how secrets can tear families apart and unravel people's lives. Set in rural Mississippi and St. Louis, Missouri, Fifth Born is a story of loss and redemption, as Odessa walks away from those who she believes to be her kin to discover the meaning of family.

The Fifth Sister

Author: Laura Landgraf
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780996982603
Category : Child sexual abuse
Languages : en
Pages : 342

Book Description
In this compelling, intimate, and artfully told story, readers will experience the crushing impact of psychological, physical, sexual, and spiritual abuse, the burning desire to transcend the family script, and the gritty determination to succeed.

Children of the Fifth World

Author: P. M. H. Atwater
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1591438004
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 156

Book Description
Our species is evolving in preparation for the new world on the horizon • Explains how the increase in intuitive, creative, and abstract-thinking abilities of children as well as incidences of ADHD, dyslexia, and autism signal evolutionary changes at work in humanity--the emergence of the Fifth Root Race • Connects the appearance of these traits with ancient myths and evolutionary calendars as well as predictions by Teilhard de Chardin, Edgar Cayce, and other visionary seers • Reveals how these “new kids” act as agents for world change by reflecting back every misguided aspect of business, politics, religion, and culture The past 30 years have seen a quantum leap in the intuitive, creative, and abstract-thinking abilities of children as well as an unprecedented rise in incidences of ADHD, dyslexia, and autism spectrum disorders. As P. M. H. Atwater explains, we are witnessing evolution at work. The changes in consciousness and brain function evident in these “new kids” signal the widespread emergence of the Fifth Root Race and, fortuitously, coincide with our transition into the Fifth World. Providing a resource for parents and new kids themselves, Atwater explains what is happening to our species and our world--from neurological changes and climate upheavals to the drive to be constantly “connected” through screen-based technology and the unnecessary widespread use of drug therapies. Sharing individual case histories underscoring the traits of the new-child personality, she reveals how these children, born with universal consciousness encoded in their DNA, act as agents for world change by reflecting back every misguided aspect of business, politics, religion, entertainment, technology, and culture so we can’t ignore what needs to be repaired. Atwater shows how children labeled as autistic or otherwise “damaged” have enormous potential for greatness. Connecting recent events and cultural shifts with creation myths, evolutionary calendars, and historical records from every culture as well as predictions by Teilhard de Chardin, Sri Aurobindo, Edgar Cayce, and other visionary seers, Atwater shows how the genetic shift now occurring follows the “Rule of Thirds” in its progression. Exploring timelines for the next several hundred years, she explains that the coming new world will be tailored specifically for the new kids, who will lead the way in the Great Shift from old world to new.

The 'Evil Child' in Literature, Film and Popular Culture

Author: Karen J. Renner
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317966740
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 202

Book Description
The 'evil child' has infiltrated the cultural imagination, taking on prominent roles in popular films, television shows and literature. This collection of essays from a global range of scholars examines a fascinating array of evil children and the cultural work that they perform, drawing upon sociohistorical, cinematic, and psychological approaches. The chapters explore a wide range of characters including Tom Riddle in the Harry Potter series, the possessed Regan in William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist, the monstrous Ben in Doris Lessing’s The Fifth Child, the hostile fetuses of Rosemary’s Baby and Alien, and even the tiny terrors featured in the reality television series Supernanny. Contributors also analyse various themes and issues within film, literature and popular culture including ethics, representations of evil and critiques of society. This book was originally published as two special issues of Literature Interpretation Theory.

The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary

Author: Laura Shovan
Publisher: Yearling
ISBN: 0553521403
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 274

Book Description
An award-winning, big-hearted time capsule of one class’s poems during a transformative school year. A great pick for fans of Margarita Engle and Eileen Spinelli. Eighteen kids, one year of poems, one school set to close. Two yellow bulldozers crouched outside, ready to eat the building in one greedy gulp. But look out, bulldozers. Ms. Hill’s fifth-grade class has plans for you. They’re going to speak up and work together to save their school. Families change and new friendships form as these terrific kids grow up and move on in this whimsical novel-in-verse about finding your voice and making sure others hear it. Honors and Praise: Winner of a Cybils Award in Poetry Winner of an Arnold Adoff Poetry Honor Award for New Voices An NCTE Notable Verse Novel A Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Book of the Year An ILA-CBC Children’s Choice Nominated for the Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice Award, the Wisconsin State Reading Association Children’s Book Award, the Rhode Island Children’s Book Award, and the Great Stone Face Award (New Hampshire), Lectio Book Award Master List “This gently evocative study of change in all its glory and terror would make a terrific read-aloud or introduction to a poetry unit. A most impressive debut.” —School Library Journal “Sure to inspire the poet in all of us, young and old.” —Mark Goldblatt, author of Twerp