You Can’t Make This Stuff Up: Memoirs of a Social Worker

by J. Traveler Pelton

Over the 28 years I have been in professional Social Work, I've met people from the privileged to the poor and most their relatives. This is a short, almost true history of that career, funny to tragic. Names/places have been changed to protect innocent and guilty; but I promise you won't find anything more fascinating than true life in my world. It gets greasy, gritty, gracious and no way glamourous here; I think it has been a life well lived.
If you like true to life stories, odd characters funny to tragic, you will love this book.

What others have said about Traveler's
"J. Traveler's is a gem of an author and storyteller. I know one when I find one because I'm an author myself. Her covers of her dog mysteries are adorable too. I love reading of older times and families of Faith with a gift for humor. This has it all. What a blessing to get a glimpse into such a special time, place, and family. It's just one big serendipity to come across a gift like this"

"I loved this book. Very interesting premise and the story kept me turning the pages. As soon as I finished I looked for the next book."

Get your copy today!

Genres: Ebooks

187 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 14, 2024

About the author

J. Traveler Pelton was born in West Virginia in the last century. She is active in her home church and was the Nation’s Mother for her tribe for several years. She is still wife to Dan after 47 years (He is so long-suffering!), mother of six adults, a grandmother of nine, a Clinically Licensed Independent Social worker in private practice, a retired adjunct professor of social work at her local university, and an avid reader. She lives on a mini-farm with her husband, seven alpaca, a flock of spoiled chickens, five Siamese cats, four Pomeranians, a talkative Amazon parrot named Gizmo, and her aviary of canaries. Traveler enjoys the intersection of fantasy, possibility, creativity, and speculation. Join her on the other side of the imagination tree. She’ll be sitting there waiting for your visit.

Reviews

[Esther Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring Read

I really enjoyed this book. The author is down to earth, connects well with the reader & inspires through her writings. I especially love the cover of the book, very inviting like the inside of it

[Izzy Q · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a very interesting set of stories from the experiences of a Social Worker. I had no idea what to expect when I saw this on my recommended and decided to give it a try. It was a pleasant surprise, taking a peek into what Social Workers have to go through and their experiences with different kinds of people in a system that seldom works well and never does it work for the individual, it's actually eye-opening to read her experiences. The style is a bit chaotic, you never really know where the snippets will take you, but it was nice just allowing myself to not worry about that and just accept the stories.

[Tim Shepard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating

The life story of the author and memories of her career as a social worker is an interesting read. It gives a view that is needed, both of the good and bad parts of CPS.

[Michelle Faber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Life of a social worker.

Sad and sometimes happy tales of being a social worker. Funny I places and very sad in others. Makes you wonder about our society.

[Whistler's Mom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do yourself a favor. Skip the tomatoes.

This is the first in a series of three books on this author's life as a social worker. I usually read a series in order, but that system has cons as well as pros. I started with the second book in the series and loved it. It deals briefly with her prior life, but is mostly about her career in social work. Some of the stories are funny (or bizarre) and some are thought-provoking and some are deeply sad.

If I hadn't read the second book first, maybe I wouldn't have been disappointed in this one. On the other hand, if I'd started with this one, I might never have gotten past the first fifty pages. It's unlikely I would have bought and read all three books in the series.

I have very mixed feelings about this one. Almost half of it deals with her life before she became a social worker and (frankly) it has a much harder vibe than her other books. It's as it she had a lot of anger built up and needed to unleash it. Put it another way, she always struck me as an off-beat, but likable sort. The woman in this book is someone I might avoid. Or at least try really hard not to piss off.

I gave it three stars because there's some wonderful stories about her time as a social worker. And I loved the story about her son's trouble with math and his teachers' wacky take on his Native-American heritage. I agree with her that many middle-class people are too sheltered, entitled, and narrow-minded to be much good at anything. However, there's no need to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

A reasonably intelligent, well-meaning person from a middle-class background can learn to accept that not everyone is middle-class or WANTS to be. A person who's experienced the welfare system from the bottom, looking up MAY have an advantage in social work. The intelligence, the willingness to learn the required skills, and the patience and maturity to work within the system must be there.

In my hometown there was a woman who lived in a housing project on welfare, who managed to get a degree in social work. That's commendable and I admire the woman. She was angry that no one would hire her, but if I ran a social services department, I wouldn't have touched her with a ten-foot pole. She bitterly condemned the entire system and everyone in it as failures. How could she possibly work from within to improve the system with that attitude?

I know this author must have worked with the system (while trying to change it) because she was successful in her career, but she seems to have a chip on her shoulder. That's what bothers me about this book.

There are other things that don't compute. She is in-your-face about being a conservative, but I'm not sure most Americans who consider themselves conservative would agree with her on much. She claims she was middle-class before her husband lost his job and the family fell into poverty. Her poem about her childhood shows her family was poor and she was ostracized because of it.

When her husband worked, she was a SAHM and home-schooler and they were a one-income family, living on a farm. She didn't send her children to school for fear of "indoctrination" but she never specifies what kind of indoctrination she feared. After her husband lost his job, he was unemployed for years and then got a degree in religion. He now heads a church that meets in their home.

They had four children and raised two grandchildren. Most of her children have lived productive lives, but they are estranged from one daughter. Is she the mother of the grandkids they raised? Was she an addict? You can say it's none of my business and you're right, but when you write a memoir your readers have a right to hear the whole story, not just the parts that support your claims.

She's a good writer. When she forgets her bitterness toward the world, she has a wonderful sense of humor. Her background is unusual and her story is of value because of that. While I don't agree with all her claims and don't understand others, I did read the whole book and enjoyed parts of it very much. I think the second and third books in the series are better.

She makes a valid (and valuable) point when she insists that most Americans have wildly inaccurate ideas about what social workers do and CAN do. We hear about cases that implode and assume the social workers did something wrong. In fact, they must work within the system and the final decisions (leave the kids in the home or remove them, arrest the parents or try to educate them) lies with others. The good ones (and I think that's most of them) try hard to clean up messes someone else made. It's not an easy job and they deserve more respect (and more pay) than they get.

[ahava · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. There are various editing issues in here but it didn’t take away from the premise. I feel shortchanged because the remainder 30% of the book was promo for her other work. While that’s okay, I felt she could’ve added more about her work instead of rushing it at the end.

If I weren’t already aware of people and things in society that social workers have to face, then I’d be surprised about what happened. Honestly I skipped the tomato poem; I love tomatoes and appreciate the storyline there.. however I’m here for the social work. Interesting background of how she became a social worker. I also liked reading where her career ended up and how some of her other patients were.

Oh and I totally remember when everything blew up about the emotional support animal. I had a hermit crab, and if my landlord wouldn’t have allowed me to have him, I would’ve been one of those people knocking on the door of a therapist for that paper. Ha ha.

Last but not least, major kudos to the author for making it as far as she did in life—with her education and helping others.

[Koren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frankly, I'm a little confused. The book's title says this is a memoir, but in the beginning there is a disclaimer stating that "any resemblance to any person living or dead is totally unplanned. This is a work of fiction based on remembrances as a child." To me, it is a work of fiction or it is a memoir. It can't be both. So that spoiled it for me. Some of the stories are pretty far out there, although most of the book is believable. It was disappointing that most of the experiences were only a few paragraphs, so it doesn't go into very much detail about the cases and it goes back and forth between her experiences as a social worker and her past life. I will say though, the cover art is pretty cute. but perhaps the fact that it is not a real picture of her probably should be a clue.

[Bob Ojala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great stories! Don’t let the lack of editing prevent you from reading this!

This author’s job experiences will tug at your heartstrings. She shows how wonderful most people can be, but also shows the terrible side of family squabbles.

I was a bit disappointed at the lack of editing in the manuscript, but it did not prevent me from thoroughly enjoying the book.

Mrs. Pelton was a real blessing to her clients!

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was pretty good

I liked the stories and I even liked the brevity of them but the editing was off and made it harder to read. I kept getting confused when the gender pronouns kept changing for the same person. I wasn’t sure if the author was taking about the same person or not. I had to go back and reread a couple of times to make sure a new person hadn’t been introduced. Otherwise I really enjoyed the stories.

[Arlene Shavlik · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was ok, but the title was very misleading to me. From the title, it sounds like a book written by a social worker, telling unbelievable stories about her caseload. There were 3 or 4 stories about cases. The rest of the book was all about the author's life. It was kind of interesting, but if not for the hook "You can't make this stuff up", I would not have purchased or read the book. Disappointing book for me.

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Story

I enjoyed this book. The writing was done well and the subject matter interesting. It is a short easy read, some of it sad, some of it hilarious. It skims the surface of issues in Appalachia, not really going in depth to explain the background of that part of the country. Still it was entertaining to read.

[Jeannie · Rating 3 out of 5]

sort of interesting

The book included a lot of acronyms and I had no idea what they meant. People not in the field have no idea what DV, WEP, and various other acronyms mean. At times, the sentence structure was strange, making the meaning confusing. This book needed a good editor.

[M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know

This has the bones to be a good book, but it's just too scattered. Ideas and people that are familiar only to the author, leaving the rest of us to figure out what the whole thought is. What happened before? What happened after? Too many partials. I'd recommend this to anyone after a solid edit and proofing.

[Judy Middleton · Rating 5 out of 5]

You Can’t Make This Stuff Up is the riveting and action packed memoir of a gifted social worker who uses love, kindness, common sense and her Native American culture to make a difference in the lives of the families she serves. It is at times heartbreaking, at times humorous but altogether heartwarming and I can’t wait to read the other books in her series.

[S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adorei todas as histórias, que são partes da história de vida pessoal da escritora. A escritora é muito acessível e tem partes que parece que somos nós próprios a viver a história. Muito bom. Também gosto da capa.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a random Kindle Unlimited book. I thought it would be humorous. It was short and somewhat interesting.

[Sandra Bacon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Complete waste of time. Poor excuse for a book.

[Eleyne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish the book itself was longer. I enjoyed the stories.

[Linda Griffin · Rating 4 out of 5]

you can’t make this stuff up

I enjoyed this book. I was a foster parent for many years. Pelton has a good heart. I’m anxious to read her other books

[Tonya Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Social worker's Experience

J traveler Pelton has written a series of books about being a social worker. The stories are at times funny, yet poignant.

[Jen&Jude Hamilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

can’t make this stuff up

Very educational on experiences of a social worker. Some of them are so exotic they are unbelievable but very eye opening to the unfamiliar.