Ashley Woods
Content featuring @flatiron_books
I lost my kid in Walmart once. She was only two at the time, wearing a black jacket with little white hearts and carrying a pink cupcake rattle that my mom had given her. I turned for a second and she was gone. Isn’t that always the story? It took a second for what was happening to register, but when it did, I panicked. ⠀
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I was that crazy mom in the middle of Walmart with stained sweatpants screaming and crying for her little girl. I’m not even sure who found her. My mind had completely shut down, but I took off running when a man approached me and told me she was with the cashier at check out lane number five. ⠀
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If I was maybe half way to bonkers before, this event pushed me over the edge. Not only did my anxiety sky rocket me into helicopter mode, but I was incredibly ashamed of what had happened. ⠀
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The fear and shame I felt, all of it, was crippling. And it took me years to realize that those emotions were never rooted in truth. ⠀
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Statistically speaking, our children are more safe than ever, but as a culture, we are more scared than ever. Why? That’s where Kim Brooks’ book, Small Animals comes in. ⠀
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Kim starts her story with the day she left her five-year old in the car at Target to run inside and grab a set of headphones. What she didn’t know at the time was that someone was watching her, recording her. Her actions led to child endangerment charges; the story that follows is her personal and legal journey, interspersed with expert interviews and thorough research. ⠀
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This book is enlightening, encouraging, harrowing and entertaining. It’s literally all.the.things. I enjoyed getting to know Kim, her anxieties (which I related all to well to) and her inner dialogue (which always gave me a good chuckle). Reading Kim’s story was like listening to an old friend recount her life over hot coffee with a double dose of cream. ⠀
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I received an ARC of this book from @flatiron_books in exchange for an honest review.
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