Dear Shrink

by Helen Cresswell

When the woman looking after them in their parents' absence dies suddenly, three children find themselves in foster care and must use all their courage and ingenuity to cope with the situation.

Genres: Fiction

160 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Helen Cresswell (1934–2005) was an English television scriptwriter and author of more than 100 children's books, best known for comedy and supernatural fiction. Her most popular book series, Lizzie Dripping and The Bagthorpe Saga, were also the basis for television series.

Reviews

[Serena]

This book was a horrendous rip-off of The Catcher in the Rye. I read this many years ago, and never forgot the title. I've since forgotten most of the content, but I do remember that several unmistakable elements of J.D. Salinger's book were stolen. It was disgusting. The main character, his little sister, the parents, even the way the main character talked and acted were clearly taken from The Catcher in the Rye. This book is borderline plagiarism. I absolutely cannot believe this woman had the nerve to publish this piece of crap. As you can tell, this book makes me furious.

[Kathryn]

The plot was interesting enough. 2 married botanists decide to spend 6 months in the amazon leaving their 3 children (7-16 yrs) behind. No relative was prepared to be their guardian so a woman who babysat the mother as a child was paid to move in for the duration.

The babysitter unexpectedly dies. The children are split up and forced into foster care. The middle child, a boy, starts keeping a journal. The journal is in the form of letters addressed to My Jung and as they become "more familiar" it changes to "Dear Shrink".

I found the depiction of the first carers interesting - clearly only doing it for the money and hated children, treating them badly. Then they are put into a foster boarding house. Things are about to become tragic and very grim when suddenly the parents return.

If I was the older child I would never forgive my parents for what they did - it was incredibly selfish and lacking in parental care. Effectively they were abandoned. I would be leaving home as soon as I was old enough and able to provide for myself.

[Sophie]

It was a cute book. Seemed very monotoned though like nothing really got too exciting and just drifted in and out lazily. Picture it being narrated by Matthew McConachie reading a thriller.. this wasn’t meant to be a thriller but it just kinda flatlined the entire way. However with that said, sometimes it’s nice to escape into a world that eases your stress instead of contributing to it. Even though this was not a cheerful story by any means it was similar to just a vary bad long horrible kinda day stretched out over a few months.

[Kate]

I have gotten used to demanding real danger from youth authors, but this is really a juvenile-level book, so I think the danger that is there (esp, and most creepily, from the foster father that wants to get Lucy alone) is sufficient; at first, though, I was ambivalent about the parents coming home from the Amazon and finding the kids in the nick of time. The writing is great.