How do you teach long division to a child who believes the banana in his lunchbox is alive and trying to escape? How do you maintain control when one of your students has locked you in a closet? How do you convince a child that people are not for hurting when he is constantly battered and rejected at home?

Five children, five universes, five enemies--and Eleanor Craig, teacher extraordinaire, who battled to make them face the real world and survive.