Recommend?

I really would recommend this book to any AP student, any student at that. It really makes you stop and think what we really have, and how much we do have. Not every kid has it as easy as most kids around us. It really teaches us to value are life and what we have, and who we have in it. Anyone's life could change in an instant, no matter if it is getting taken away from your parents at a young age, or getting into an accident which could paralyze you forever. It teaches you the meaning of life, and how to follow your own instincts and have a voice of your own and just move on in life.

Summary.

Ashley had spent so many years in foster care. Nine years is a lot to a little girl, who had been taken from her mom at such a young age. She lived in fourteen different homes, with different parents, different siblings, different families. Her mother had her at such a young age, and just could not care for a baby. Her mom ended up having Luke, her younger brother by two years. Foster care took them both at the same time. Her moms life spirals out of control, as she promises Ashley over and over again that she would get her back, not to mention this lady was the most important lady to Ashley. Ashley had been left clinging to her and her mothers relationship which was unpredictable, and dissolving. She never understood why she couldn't live with her mom. She was left with painful memories of being taken away and juggled between foster homes. Ashley eventually finds courage to succeed and get over the fact her mother is not coming back for her.

Best chapter

To me the best chapter has to be the last one. Chapter thirteen. She had ventured for ten years before she found a home, a good home where someone wanted her and accepted her. She still never found out who her biological  father was. She reconnected with most of her family. Such as her mom's sister, who helped raise her, and also her uncle. Her aunt told her the truth about the baby in the box, and what happened. She found out Adele had got really sick. Her grandfather also came over to visit her because he had not seen her since she lived with him. While with her family, she discovered a lot of truths that she would have never known if she did not have that one visit with them. Her mother, Lorraine was on her way to come see her. But Ashley did not want to see her for anything, so they left before she got there.

Analyzing the tone of a page

Page 21.
Ashley is visting her mother, and things are going good. She is still a little girl, so she does not really get what is going on still, and why she can't be with her. Her mom brought her a gift, and she was really happy. This is when Ashley brings the fact up that she had another little brother besides Luke, and her mother tells her if she ever tells a foster parent, or a case worker, she could end up in jail again. Ashley goes home and tells her foster mother what happened. Her tone is very confused because she does not get why she can't tell anyone what happened.

Ten significant events

1) Ashley's mother Lorraine Rhodes gave birth to her at just seventeen. This was her mother, her one and only mother. When she got put into foster care at just age two, Ashley was attached to her. Lorraine promised Ashley that one day she would get her back. Lorraine never got her back, and never made any attempts, and as Ashley got older, she realized that her mother didnt want her. Through all the foster homes she was at, her only hope was her mom would one day soon come back for her.
2) Ashley's mother had hooked up with a drunk one night, and ended up marrying him. She soon found out she was pregnant, but lost the baby when the baby was just a few days old. She did nothing but put the baby in a box, and told Ashley she could never speak of this again.
3) Her mother, Lorraine, had gotten pregnant by this man again. This time she had the baby and it lived. This was Ashley's little brother Luke. He also gets taken away from Lorraine at the same time as Ashley. Ashley felt like she had to keep a close eye over her brother at all times. She felt as if she was his mother, his protector. They end up getting separated  in foster care, but brought back together many times. This is the only thing left of her family Ashley has to count on.
4) Ashley was taken into foster care at just age two, a very young age for a baby to be taken into foster care. She was way too young to understand why she could not be with her mother who she had loved and adored so much.
5) The next nine years of her life, she spent bouncing back and forth from foster home to foster home, not one family wanted a little girl like Ashley. Sometimes she was in foster homes with her brother Luke, other times she was not. As she got older she realized why she was in this position, and realized her mother was not going to come back for her. She was put into fourteen different foster homes before someone would adopt her.
6) While in foster care, her foster parents would take her, and also Luke's foster parents when they weren't together would take him, to see their mother and Luke's father Dusty. Plenty of times Lorraine would not show up. Dusty would always show up, thats when Ashley began to look at him as a father figure and she kept telling herself that Dusty would soon get them back and they would be living with Dusty and not Lorraine. Lorraine always promised Ashley she would be able to get them back soon enough. As Lorraine's vists became less frequent, Ashley stopped believing her.
7) Ashley and Luke got placed into the care of their Grandfather in South Carolina. The Florida foster care system was not too good with keeping up to date with them, so their case was all over. They were both very happy here, especially because their grandpas lady friend, Adele was like a mother to them. They lived in fear, known that at any moment they could be removed from here. Adele and Grandpa were not married, and because of Grandpa's recent history of being in jail, the foster care system could remove them at anytime. She was very happy, she felt like she was in a dream because there was finally a motherly figure in her life taking care of her. Grandpa got shot, but he lived, thats when the foster care decided to pull them out of there. Adele promised she would try her hardest to become a licensed foster parent, but never did.
8) Luke and Ashley got sent to live with Majorie Moss, a very mean foster mother. The house was packed with kids. She would punish the kids by shoving hot sauce down their throats, or making them go into squatting positions for long periods of time. She abused the kids and none of the case workers would see that or listen to the kids when they came to check up on them. One time she even tried to drown Luke because of something he did. She would not let the kids have any of their belongings from their other homes, and would hardly ever even feed them. If one of the kids had happened to pee the bed, they would have to sleep in it. When they showered, they all had to use the same water.
9) Both of the kids got put into a group home for foster kids. They both loved the group home. Everyone treated them so good, compared to all the foster homes they had been too. In the group homes they would go to picnics, and do things together. There would always be potential adoptive foster parents at these outings scouting out kids they would like. Luke got picked first, and then did Ashley.
10) Ashley ended up getting adopted by these parents that had been watching her at outings. They were a very loving nice family. They had two older sons, and these kids became Ashley's siblings. Gay and Phil were her adoptive parents names. She did not like them at first, but she grew to love them. They are now the most important people in her life. She couldn't ask for any better people to have adopted her(Her website). When she was younger, and they had first adopted her, the judge had to ask her if this is what he wanted, and these are the parents she wanted. Her response was "I guess so." or the "three little words".

Two places mentioned.

There are many places mentioned in this book. Gay and Phil Courters home is probably one of the most important places. These are her adoptive parents. She had not lived with them long before she agreed to let them adopt her, or before she said the "The Three Little Words". After spending so long in foster homes and foster care, she wonders why there is finally a family that wants her. A family that has two grown children, why would they want another, another one thats a misfit. After she gets adopted, these people become the most important people in her life. She is more then greatful to have them, and she loves her new older brothers. These people are the ones who are going to be there for her forever, they are still in her life today. One other place that made a big change in her life was Marjorie Moss' foster home. She was mean to the kids. She was the wicked witch of the west. She had beaten the kids, and acted like life was great when social workers would come by to check up on the kids. She would force some of the kids to eat hot sauce, sometimes she would even put them in a high chair and force the hot sauce down their throat. One time, she took Ashley's little brother Luke, and basically drowned him the bathtub because of something he did. She would beat the kids with spoons, and make them "squat" against the wall to the point where it hurt them so bad. She would hit the kids, and leaves marks. None of the social workers believed any of the kids, and the kids would be threatend with one of Marjorie Moss' mean tourments.

Important people

Ashely Rhodes-Courter, also the author of the book. It was based on her, and she wrote it. Her brother, Luke was also a very important character, he was always with her going through the foster care system. They were seperated a lot durring those times, but he was always her brother, and younger, and she always worried about him and where he was and how he was. Her grandfather was also very important because he was an alcoholic and for a while Luke and Ashley went and lived with him and his girlfriend. They loved his girlfriend, but they eventually got taken away from their grandpa and his girlfriend. His grandpas girlfriend promised both Luke and Ashley that she would get them back eventually and fight for them as long as she had to...they never returned back there. Ashley and Lukes mother was probably the other big main character besides Ashley and Luke. Ashley was three when she was taken away from her mother. Her mom was the most important figure in her life.

The title

The title "Three Little Words" is very significant to the book. The "words" are "I guess so". She says these words when she finally gets adopted. The question was "Would you like to make this adoption pernament?" Phil and Gay Courter adopted her, and this was the first time she was actually in a very loving family. The family that loved her and wanted her to be apart of their family. She was unsure if she wanted to be adopted because of everything she had went through while in foster care.

About the Author.

Ashley Rhodes-Courter was born in North Carolina in 1985, to a young teenage mother. She entered Florida foster care at only three years old, and from then on little did she know, her life would change forever. In just nine years she had been placed in fourteen different foster homes. She was finally adopted at age tweleve. She is now involved in many systems that help kids going through the stuff she went threw at such a young age. She does a lot of speaking to people of all ages. Her book "Three Little Words" about her time in foster care, till the time she got adopted is one of New Yorks best sellers! She also hosted a tv show called "Explore adoption". The book she wrote is currently being read in many classrooms across America.