The Covered Smile: A True Story
The Covered Smile is a story of abuse, neglect, recovery, forgiveness and triumph. Even though dentists described her case as hopeless due to neglect, Sonja survived surgical removal of most of her teeth at age twelve. After multiple oral surgeries and a long struggle, she has overcome years of pain and humiliation. In this story, she shares her failures and victories and teaches the value of faith and forgiveness.
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(out of 9 reviews)
List Price: $ 15.00
Price: $ 6.95
Splintered Emotions: Aftermath of Child Abuse
In Splintered Emotions, Trena Cole describes the effects childhood abuse has had on her adult life. Trena attempts to explain, by her experiences, the “jumbled heap of negativity” typical of a survivor of child abuse: self-doubt, low self esteem, confusion, apathy, depression, suspicion, hypervgilance, fear, anger, rage, sadness, mistrust, nightmares, and frequently addiction, alcoholism, domestic violence and more child abuse.
Rating: 
(out of 3 reviews)
List Price: $ 14.95
Price: $ 14.95
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Review by Debbie Mullins for The Covered Smile: A True Story
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This book is a book for everyone young and old. It will make you think of all the pain that was in this womans life and how amazing she is and how many people she can help. Her story is heroic that she can share her suffering to better someone elses life. I personally want to thank her for her beautiful spirit that has made me want to be involved in the fight against neglect. I would recommend this book to everyone. It is a book you can’t put down till you know the end. I look forward to more books on the fight on neglect from this very talented author.
Review by for The Covered Smile: A True Story
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This book tells of a young child who survived terrible neglect. Most dont realize neglect comes in all forms. This book will have you crying with the author and then happy that she has survived!!! I recommed this book to everyone. This book will open your heart.
I hope you enjoy as much as I.
Review by Joanne Liggan for The Covered Smile: A True Story
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Sonja’s journey through life thus far has been a difficult one, but she has been able to turn all of her adversities into life-affirming experiences. She is a loving, caring and forgiving individual and the perfect example of the meaning of Romans 5:3-4(“….we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”)Her book is an eye-opening story all parents and medical personnel should read.
Review by Mary J. Doig for The Covered Smile: A True Story
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In The Covered Smile, first-time author Sonja Lauren shows her reader a new dimension of childhood neglect. By the so-tender age of 13, a child of poverty in a small West Virginia town, Ms. Lauren had all her teeth surgically extracted. The author believes she may be the youngest child ever to have this experience and her passion to educate so that others will never know her trauma emanates strongly from the pages of this slender book.
Ms. Lauren begins her memoir at her “moment of truth”–27 years old and in her dentist’s office. Because her current dentures are ill-fitting, embarrassing, and causing both speech and eating disorders, she believes that new dentures will resolve her problems. Thus she is completely unprepared for the shocking facts she hears. She no longer has enough bone in her jaw to support dentures, will need several expensive implant surgeries over the course of a year, and then will require much more expensive dentures to connect with the implants.
In shock, pain, and deep anger, she goes home wondering how she can afford her needs. Her long-suppressed childhood memories begin to emerge, and we journey back to her childhood home where, with grace, she shows parents unable to care for her and her younger sister. We meet her adopted older sister who has learned to cook and clean and bathe Ms. Lauren and her sibling. When her older sister marries and leaves home, it triggers the author’s acting-out behavior. At age 6, she is diagnosed as a troubled child and, among other behaviors, begins to frequently suck on candy and chew gum as comforting devices.
Clearly, the title is not only about hiding decayed teeth but also the demeanor of a neglected child. Ms. Lauren shows us the skills she developed in order to survive in a very literal way. One of her mother’s dysfunctions was an inability (based in deep fear) to care for any illnesses or injuries her daughters sustained. Lack of self-care education at home and school led rapidly to one of the inevitable consequences–serious oral decay and infection along with other serious social consequences. In emergency situations, she describes her dentists. The first impatiently tells her mother that since the young Lauren will not care properly for her teeth, she should have them all pulled at age 16. In an emergency visit not long after, another dentist angrily tells her parents that Ms. Lauren has been neglected and they are responsible for not assuring she properly cared for her teeth. Decades later, the author’s search to re-connect with her history leads her back to the dentist’s chart note from that day–”Absolutely the worst dental case I have ever seen.”
Lauren does an excellent job of showing her reader how a neglected child experiences the parent/child relationship in reverse. The chapters progress with a primary focus on her dental experiences as a child, move into her pre-teen extractions, and continue with the lonely, bloody aftermath of two oral surgeries. Ultimately, she discusses her permanent handicaps and how such trauma could have been prevented.
The lovely young woman on the book cover is the author’s daughter Angelica, whose hand hides a smile her mother was determined would never need to be hidden. Angelica is “the incredible force that pushed me into therapy at the age of twenty-five. I knew the minute my child was born that she would not suffer as I had. I can recall the day when Angelica began to cut her baby teeth. Each night, I carefully wiped each tooth clean before bedtime. Angelica still has never had a cavity.”
We accompany Lauren as she receives her implant surgeries, new dentures and follow-up care in the face of enormous cost. The goodness of the many professionals is demonstrated when they find room in their hearts and practices to help those in need. The author’s strength of spirit is also powerfully moving, particularly in one of the last chapters when she addresses a frequently asked question, “Have you forgiven your parents?”
The book contains solid basic oral hygiene education as well as the newest findings. Oral health is clearly linked to overall health. Chapters 14 and 15 are written by two dentists, and the appendix describes ways to help children avoid Lauren’s path.
I connected most strongly to the author’s word snapshots of being a small, unkempt child alone in her “dark, dirty bedroom staring out the window” while enduring the pain of a tooth infection or a physical injury. In extreme situations only, would she would go to her parents for help. She feels responsible if her mother becomes unduly upset. She feels guilty when her dental care creates financial problems for her parents. Thus, Lauren links her writing with one of my own passions–to show readers the inner world of the neglected or abused child in order to promote education, understanding, and one day, hopefully, obliteration of the destruction of precious, young psyches.
(This review also appears at http://www.storycirclebookreviews.org)
The Covered Smile: A True Story
Review by Diane York Russakoff for The Covered Smile: A True Story
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The Covered Smile, by Sonja Lauren-I read this book in two days, I could not put it down. It is a story of survival and triumph of the human spirit over poverty, neglect and pain. As a counselor, it brought home to me just how much impact we can have on a child’s life for better or for worse.
Review by Sarah Kemppainen for Splintered Emotions: Aftermath of Child Abuse
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Trena Cole’s books are very unsettling accounts of her life as a victim of child abuse. Her first book, “Charred Souls,” is an emotional description of the abuse she endured throughout her childhood. “Splintered Emotions” is a more matter-of-fact account of how such sadistic child abuse affected her adult life. It’s about her healing process, as she goes from surviving to thriving as an adult. They are both very good reads.
This book would be very beneficial to anyone who has survived child abuse. She details flashbacks and thought patterns which still affect her, and she sets a good example by showing that it is possible to make a nice life for herself despite the trauma of her past. She discusses the clannish behavior of abusers, the personality traits that victims generally exhibit, and other pertinent issues.
The author says, “I’m not sure that it takes a village to raise a child, but I am sure that it takes a village to protect them when they are in an unacceptable environment.” This is an important book, even for adults who were not abused, because of the social implications of child abuse. She says, “I owe it to the ones who weren’t so lucky to do what I can to open people’s eyes and ears to the horrible cycle of child abuse that plagues our society generation after generation.”
She recommends making small connections with children because of how important those connections were to her when she was a child. “Look at the mean child on your street and think about why he or she is so mean.” She suggests, “Let him feel like there is something about him someone likes.”
Ending a family history of child abuse is one of the most important things someone can do for their children, themselves, and for society. These people should be celebrated.
Review by Sandy for Splintered Emotions: Aftermath of Child Abuse
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is evident in her second book. I’ve read them both, Charred Souls and Splintered Emotions, and it seems like her state of mind was so much more settled in this book than the first one. I love her style and she did a wonderful job explaining how the effects of child abuse effect all of society, not just the survivors and the people in their lives. Once again, I applaud her courage and talent.
Review by Sarah Payne for Splintered Emotions: Aftermath of Child Abuse
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This book reminds me of a self published book, and I’m not terribly impressed. I have only read through the first couple of chapters, and while there are a couple of good things, most of it is about the author and seems to have been written for her own healing. I would not have bought this book, had I known it was like this.