http://ozarkspub.vo.llnwd.net/o37/KSMU/audio/mp3/professorr_6606.mp3
The secrecy of hoarding is now out of the closet: two cable television shows feature sufferers from this compulsion, and America is watching. Dr. Jean Stringam, associate professor of English at Missouri State University, explains that the compulsion to hoard can come from desperation and hunger, as described in her first book, “The Hoarders.”
The main characters in the children’s novel (classified for independent readers age 9-12) begin to see their mother change, and they never know if she will forget to make dinner for a few days, noted Stringam. That’s when they begin to hoard food – stashing it away a little at a time.
Stringam’s book, “The Hoarders,” will be available for sale June 8, but it can be pre-ordered online. It is the first in a four-part series chronicling the events of the same year – each book being told through the eyes of a different cousin in a large extended family.