Asleep with One Eye Open - Dale S Ailes

My name is Zander. I am in fourth grade. I do not have a hero because my teacher says a hero is someone that saves somebody else. I need to find a hero somewhere because I need saved. My mommy drinks way too much and when she does she yells a lot and hits me. She never makes me dinner. I only eat cereal. She used to give me baths that make me sick. The doctor says that bleach makes me sick so maybe she must have been washing me with bleach. I am never allowed out of my room. She beats me so hard sometimes that I can't walk. I cry so much. I remember one time when the doorbell rang at home; she grabbed me and locked me in the trunk of her car. She always says I am a bad boy, but I don't know what I did. So if there are any heroes left in the world, I need a hero....please send me a hero. Asleep with One Eye Open is a story about a boy named Zander that endures a life of abuse. He is looking for a hero to save him, and looks to the ones he feels are the only ones that can, his teachers. Asleep with One Eye Open explores the steps that leads to the abuse and how it is handled, or mishandled, by the school. Asleep with One Eye Open is not only about the abuse, but also is about the whole process of surviving the abuse with a surprise ending.