num_pages: 325
description: In her own voice author and poet Nikki Grimes explores the truth of a harrowing childhood in a memoir in verse.Growing up with a mother suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and a mostly absent father Nikki Grimes found herself terrorized by babysitters shunted from foster family to foster family and preyed upon by those she trusted. At the age of six she poured her pain onto a piece of paper late one nightand discovered the magic and impact of writing. For many years Nikki's notebooks were her most enduing companions. In this memoir Nikki shows how the power of those words helped her conquer the hazardsordinary and extraordinaryof her life.
language: English
title: Ordinary Hazards
publisher: Wordsong