There are two editions of "Letters My Mother Never Read", this green version is the abridged copy. Reading this version deprives the reader of Jerri's poetry, family photos, and legal documents that support this incredible story. That said, the green copy will not lessen the emotional turmoil the reader will experience as Jerri recounts her life story. From the step-grandmother who fed her cookies and milk one month and relegated her to life in the coal cellar and the yard only a few months later, to the foster mothers who would not allow her in the house, to coping as a college student with no place to go when the dorms closed for breaks, Jerri explains how even the most basic concepts of how to use a telephone could be alien to someone who has who has been raised without role models and relegated to non-human status. This book is a must for foster children who may have thought that no one could ever understand, a must for educators who may realize that a student needs help, a must for social workers to read of people who have slipped through the cracks, and a must for children and parents to realize they have what others only dream of. If this books needs a tagline, it would be "this book should be on Oprah." ( )