Becoming Anna

Becoming Anna
by Anna J. Michener

Becoming Anna
List Price: $15.00
Our Price: $4.88
You Save: $10.12 (67%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Anna J. Michener
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1999-09-01
ISBN: 0226524035
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: University Of Chicago Press

Book Reviews of Becoming Anna

Book Review: Thank you so much, Anna J. Michener
Summary: 5 Stars

When I was around 5 and a half years old, my parents divorced. My father was my rock during that time, and did all he could to furnish a sense of normalcy and keep routines consistent, but my mother seemed unnerved when I would become fraught with anxiety and wake up crying at night when I missed my father during the weeks she had custody of me. She began to take me to myriad doctors and pscychologists, trying to find one who would give her a diagnosis (or as the case was, diagnoses)for my normal reactions to the dramatic upheaval in my life. By then, I had been diagnosed with OCD, anxiety disorder, and ADHD. After these diagnoses were made, a whole team of doctors began pushing to medicate me with medicines that cause harm to developing brains, but my father, God bless him, never deserted me, and stood up to the whole team, saying that there was nothing wrong with me. When I created my own fantasy world where everything was cozy, good, and everybody liked me for who I was, (where none of the mean kids at school or bad doctors would ever find me) another psychiatrist tacked on a diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome. I TRIED to make myself seem normal, tried to please my mother and get her to back off. One incident where I did this was when I was 9, and at a summer camp, and a girl who claimed to be my friend got into the shower I was in. She asked me to do something, and I wanted to show everyone how I could "act normal," and keep her as a friend, and so we got into the same shower, and pulled off both of our....I'm not going to go into the whole experience here.

The final straw came when I was 14, and my mother sent me to a "social skills" camp for children with behavior problems. The experience was terrifying for me and had a terrible effect on my self-esteem. What I remember most vividly is crying helplessly in front of my mother, begging, "just make me a list of all the normal things you want me to do, and I'll do it...I'll be good, I promise, just don't send me back there," while she said nothing.

I discovered Anna J. Michener's illuminating autobiography just this summer, and as I read it, I cried...I was so happy to know that I was not all alone. So very, very, happy and relieved. After I put it down, it was as if a weight had been lifted from my chest. Thank you so much, Anna J. Michener. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Please keep fighting the good fight. I'd recommend your book to anybody. :) All the best, DolphinGrl86.

Summary of Becoming Anna

Becoming Anna is the poignant memoir of the first sixteen years in the life of Anna Michener, a young woman who fought a painful battle against her abusive family. Labeled "crazy girl" for much of her childhood, Anna suffered physical and emotional damage at the hands of the adults who were supposed to love and protect her. Committed to various mental institutions by her family, at sixteen Anna was finally able to escape her chaotic home life and enter a foster home. As an effort toward recovery and self-affirmation as well as a powerful plea on behalf of other abused children, Anna wrote this memoir while the experience was fresh and the emotions were still raw and unhealed. Her story is a powerful tale of survival.

"A teen's raw, in-your-face chronicle of events almost as they were happening. As such, it's unforgettable. . . . Michener's story gives voice to the thousands of children and adolescents trapped in 'the system,' biding their time until their 18th birthdays. A candid and unstinting tell-all."?Kirkus Reviews

"Extraordinary. . . . Michener's expressive writing does justice to a topic that is clearly very disturbing to her personally and communicates a profoundly important message on behalf of all abused and neglected children."?Booklist

"An important book, painful to read, but essential if other children in similar situations are to be saved."?Library Journal

"An innocent child's account of 16 years in hell and of the terrible wrongs inflicted on children who are without rights or caring advocates."?Choice

"[Michener] emerges as a compelling and courageous advocate for children and their welfare?she's a young writer with an extraordinary voice."Feminist Bookstore News

"Quite simply one of the best, most compelling, well-written autobiographies published in years. . . . Remember the name. We have not heard the last of Anna Michener."?Myree Whitfield, Melbourne Herald-Sun, cover story

Abuse Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Abuse Books
Love and Addiction (Signet) ImageLove and Addiction (Signet)
by Stanton Peele, Archie Brodsky
Signet; Published: 1976-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $141.42
No Visible Wounds: Identifying Non-Physical Abuse of Women by Their Men ImageNo Visible Wounds: Identifying Non-Physical Abuse of Women by Their Men
by Mary Susan Miller Ph.D.
Ballantine Books; Published: 1996-10-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.49
Price in other shops: $14.95
Children of Neglect: When No One Cares ImageChildren of Neglect: When No One Cares
by Margaret Smith, Rowena Fong
Routledge; Published: 2003-12-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $24.95
Price in other shops: $32.50
Stolen Tomorrows: Understanding and Treating Women's Childhood Sexual Abuse ImageStolen Tomorrows: Understanding and Treating Women's Childhood Sexual Abuse
by Steven Levenkron
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 2007-03-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops: $25.95
What to Do When You Find Out...Your Wife Was Sexually Abused: With Discussion Guide ImageWhat to Do When You Find Out...Your Wife Was Sexually Abused: With Discussion Guide
by John Courtright, Sid Rogers
Zondervan; Published: 1995-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $94.41
The Abusing Family ImageThe Abusing Family
by Blair Justice, Rita Justice
Insight Books; Published: 1990-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.55
Price in other shops: $25.95
Child Protection Practice ImageChild Protection Practice
by Harry Ferguson
Palgrave Macmillan; Published: 2011-05-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $25.21
Price in other shops: $30.00
Dragonslippers : This is What an Abusive Relationship Looks Like ImageDragonslippers : This is What an Abusive Relationship Looks Like
Penguin Books Canada, Limited; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.98
But I Love Him: Protecting Your Teen Daughter from Controlling, Abusive Dating Relationships ImageBut I Love Him: Protecting Your Teen Daughter from Controlling, Abusive Dating Relationships
by Dr. Jill Murray
Harper; Published: 2000-09-19; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops: $24.00
Too Tough to Cry ImageToo Tough to Cry
by Paul POWERS
Morning Rose Publishers; Published: 1998; Paperback; Book
Best price: $53.92
Similar Books and other products
Writing Empirical Research Reports: A Basic Guide for Students of the Social and Behavioral Sciences ImageWriting Empirical Research Reports: A Basic Guide for Students of the Social and Behavioral Sciences
by Fred Pyrczak
Pyrczak Publishing; Published: 2007-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $24.00
Price in other shops: $55.50
Inside Social Life: Readings in Sociological Psychology and Microsociology ImageInside Social Life: Readings in Sociological Psychology and Microsociology
by Spencer E. Cahill, Kent Sandstrom
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2010-07-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $32.19
Price in other shops: $62.95
Madness: A Bipolar Life ImageMadness: A Bipolar Life
by Marya Hornbacher
Mariner Books; Published: 2009-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.90
Price in other shops: $14.95
The Narcissistic Family: Diagnosis and Treatment ImageThe Narcissistic Family: Diagnosis and Treatment
by Stephanie Donaldson-Pressman, Robert M. Pressman
Jossey-Bass; Published: 1997-07-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $24.99
Price in other shops: $44.00
Undoing Depression: What Therapy Doesn't Teach You and Medication Can't Give You ImageUndoing Depression: What Therapy Doesn't Teach You and Medication Can't Give You
by Richard O'Connor
Little, Brown and Company; Published: 2010-01-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops: $15.99
The Power of Persuasion: How We're Bought and Sold ImageThe Power of Persuasion: How We're Bought and Sold
by Robert V. Levine
Wiley; Published: 2006-01-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.92
Price in other shops: $16.95
Social Psychology ImageSocial Psychology
by John D. DeLamater, Daniel J. Myers
Wadsworth Publishing; Published: 2010-05-20; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $108.00
Price in other shops: $182.95
Surviving Domestic Violence: Voices of Women Who Broke Free ImageSurviving Domestic Violence: Voices of Women Who Broke Free
by Elaine Weiss
Agreka Tm Llc; Published: 2004-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.43
Price in other shops: $17.95
Lucky: A Memoir ImageLucky: A Memoir
by Alice Sebold
Back Bay Books; Published: 2002-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.02
Price in other shops: $12.99
A Death in Texas: A Story of Race, Murder, and a Small Town's Struggle for Redemption ImageA Death in Texas: A Story of Race, Murder, and a Small Town's Struggle for Redemption
by Dina Temple-Raston
Holt Paperbacks; Published: 2003-01-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.00
Price in other shops: $15.00
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories