Review: Overcoming Fear
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 30, 2013
Dr. Jared Oath started The Gingerbread House project partly due to his past but mostly to honor the love he’d lost. His desire to help children be safe and unafraid stemmed from his own battle with unrelenting child predators. A group of physiologists participated as actors at the playhouse performing a play based on Jared’s past. He played himself, Tenny. His friend, Kizzy, was played by a young student named Peggie.Keren Joel’s little boy, Sawyer, screamed unmercifully in the presence of strangers. He clung to her not wanting to let her go. She had brought this behavior upon her own child and she had to correct it before he started school. Keren sought out Dr. Oath and brought Sawyer to The Gingerbread House.Jared recognized her immediately but it took Keren a few minutes to accept that he was Tenny, all grown up. The long ago incident was her fault and Jared was the hero but she never was able to tell him that. Was it too late? Had his Kizzy finally come back to him?Ms. Hopper writes a compassionate novel about a subject that all parents face: protecting their children. Her artful telling of the story has the reader warming to the characters and feeling their anguish and fears. Well done.