The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Jeannette Walls remembers from the age of three, when she is severely burned while "cooking" hot dogs and her clothing catches on fire. Page to page reveals the disturbing picture of a mother who refuses to mother her four children, and a father who leads the children like a pied piper, then letting them down when he is dishonest and destructive. Painful to read, yet hard to put down, the reader is disturbed yet admires the resilience of these children who raise themselves.