FABULOUS READ!

Have you ever read a book twice?   I never have done that because there are so many I want to get into.   But this one - The Essay - I marked pages I will look back on for motivation when writing.

It's about Jimmy Lee Hickman, a junior in high school, growing up in Appalachian Ohio, where anti-socials exist along with a drunkard father and an arsonist brother.   His life took place in dumpy surroundings where rats lived and objects of waste sat all over the place.   House roofs turned into sieves during heavy rains.  Toilets existed outside.   The surroundings reeked on hot days.  "Children, barefoot and dirty, played with mangy dogs in dusty yards strewn with trash and rusting cars."

Jimmy Lee was good at football,  had a loving teacher who plays a huge part in his life and spent hours in the school library reading books.   "We walk through many doors in our lifetime.  It is the accumulation of these seemingly minor passages that shape our lives" were the words that Jimmy Lee spoke.   He did not associate reading with education.  One day Miss Singletary, the English teacher, told the class that a writing competition would be held in the school cafeteria.   Topic:  A place and time that I wish I could revisit.

And thus this story takes place!   Jimmy Lee's life changes.   The author remarks "People escape poverty every day.  We live in a country where freedom makes that possible.   What makes my story different is the fact that I didn't do it alone.   I was shown a path I could not have discovered alone.   And for that I am forever grateful".

This story was written in 2012 and if I find it at book sales and garage sales I always pick it up and send it to a friend.   Maybe they will pass it on after reading it.   It is such a good story!