Close-Up

by Szabinka Dudevszky, Pieter Piers (Illustrator), Pieter Kers (Illustrator)

Fifteen teenagers speak candidly about living separated from their families. and give moving self-portraits as they talk about their lives. These are intimate stories about trust and betrayal, friendship and grief, fear, resistance and courage. The young people represent all children who find themselves at the edges of society. Photographs by Pieter Kers underscore the poignancy of each story. "My mother couldn't take it anymore. When I was three, she dropped me at my father's. He said, ‘I'll take care of little Joey.' But he had no time. . . . I ended up in a children's home. That's when my parents lost me." I spent four years in that children's home. It sucked. I always played by myself. . . . When I was seven, I got foster parents. The administration said to me, ‘Here is a mother for you, and a father.' Well, I didn't even know what that was, a father and a mother."-- from the book

128 pages, Hardcover

First published May 4, 1995

About the author

Szabinka Dudevszky writes scripts for documentary films and theater productions. She lives in the Netherlands. Close-Up is her first book.

Reviews

[Martha Schwalbe · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I read this book I was creating lists of books to read together: The Other Wes Moore, I Don't Wish Nobody to Have a Life Like Mine, Monster, and this book would all fit nicely together in terms of life horror and decisions.
Not all of the teens in this book chose to live in foster care, yet they all ended up there. Some of their stories were really hard to take.

[LeAnne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good insights into disturbed kids from lousy homes.