Large Library of Full Audiobooks in Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

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Title: Mentor

Subtitle: A Memoir

Author: Tom Grimes

Narrator: Tom Grimes

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-01-10

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 9 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

A chance encounter between two writers, one young, one older, develops into a wonderful friendship neither expected. Frank Conroy, the author of the classic memoir Stop Time, meets Tom Grimes, an aspiring writer and an applicant to the Iowa Writers Workshop, which Conroy directs. First as teacher and student - and gradually as friends - their lives become entwined, and through both successes and disappointments, their bond deepens. Exquisitely written, Mentor explores the writing life and the role of a very important teacher while offering an inside view of the most famous writing program in the world and the sometimes sordid business of publishing. Honest. Heartbreaking. Poignant. Grimes entered the Writers' Workshop with the dream of being a writer. Two years later, he left with that and much more.

Members Reviews:

LIFE'S EASY BUTTON

Tom Grimes writes a memoir about lifes easy button. It is a story about mentor ship; it is a story of every man who grows to love what they do.This audio book enlightens young and old; a young person sees opportunity, an old person sees immortality.

A listener hears about an evolving life. He becomes part of the story because he has been in some of the places Tom Grimes takes him.

This story is intimately personal. Grimes grows up. Grimes marries, divorces, and re-marries. Grimes struggles with insecurity. Grimes is inner and other directed; he knows where he wants to go but he needs some affirmation of his chosen direction. Parts of every life are in this story.

Mentors are in all disciplines of life. This is a story about a writers life but it is really a story about the meaning and value of mentor ship; a story about personal growth for any cog in the working world.

The complexity of a mentors role in ones life is perfectly revealed in Tom Grimes memoir. Every person should have at least one mentor in life because it is like having an easy button for many of lifes afflictions.

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Title: A Popular Account of Dr. Livingstone to the Zambesi and its Tributaries

Author: Stanley Livingstone

Narrator: Steven Crossley

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 3 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-26-10

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Livingstone's first book revolutionized the way European readers saw Africa and made him a hero in England. He returned again to the Zambesi with his brother Charles and others, this time with more equipment and funds. Again he faced hippopotami, crocodiles, impossible terrain, and disease, but his greatest enemies on this trip prove to be human.

The British eventually lost faith in the expedition, but Livingstone proved in the end to have had tremendous foresight. He doesn't romanticize, but he is often poetic in this account.

Editorial Reviews:

Sponsored by the British government, David Livingstone embarked on his second journey to the African continent in 1858 to explore the Zambezi river. Livingstone describes wooing and bribing the natives, eating game like roasted elephant foot and hippopotamus intestines, and suffering from every indigenous disease on the river. Because the writing was done in the Victorian era, listeners can expect to find the language dated and written by a skilled scientific observer. Narrator Steven Crossleys British accent and animated inflections help listeners adapt to the extensive and informative memoir. Never slowing for the most difficult words, he demonstrates a skill at the numerous native names and places that makes him sound like a linguistic expert.

Members Reviews:

The Horrors of Slavery in Africa

Dr. Livingstone's accounts are a real eye-opener to the devastation that slavery brought in Africa. There was literally a war going on in east and central Africa to enslave vast numbers of people, and Livingstone describes it graphically and brings home the true horror that it was. He says, for example, that 19,000 slaves had been sold in the Zanzibar slave market the previous year, but that represented only a tenth of the number captured and enslaved--most died horribly brutal deaths before reaching that market. If you want a true picture of the devastation that slavery brought in Africa, read this book.

A simply superb book

An excellent account of Livingstone's great second journey through Africa. This time up the Zambesi and the lesser known Shire River. The discovery of fabulous Lake Malawi and the great and unexplored mountain regions on its shores. Follow the explorer through the Portuguese territory and the unmapped interior of Kariba, and his return to Victoria Falls.

Dr Livingstone was a man far, far ahead of his time , as this account shows. His understanding of the peoples of Africa, the struggle against continuing slavery in the Portuguese area and his descriptions of the flora and fauna of this fascinating region make this an essential read.

A great personal history

I cannot say I LOVE IT....it is an object not a person, but the book is excellent for understanding the complexities of David's life and work in southern Africa.

Fascinating journals of exploration

Livingstone's journals are always fascinating, with vignettes of his travelling, companions, scenery, geology, and local people and their customs. His endurance and wry sense of humour prevail throughout. He does not dwell on the hardships, yet he and his staff suffered great privations, often short of food and in danger from local tribesmen.

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Title: The Price of Stones

Subtitle: Building a School for My Village

Author: Twesigye Jackson Kaguri, Susan Urbanek Linville

Narrator: Richard Allen

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-10-10

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 2.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

An incredibly inspiring and thrilling book, this is the story of Twesigye Jackson Kaguri, who grew up in rural southwestern Uganda, the son of an irascible small-time farmer and his loving wife. In spite of the family's poverty, Jackson succeeds and graduates from the national university with a calling to work in human rights that leads him to Columbia University. There he falls in love with and later marries an American scientist, Beronda.

When Jackson returns to Uganda with his bride, they are overwhelmed by the many villagers who line up to ask for help with food and school fees - and having lost two siblings to AIDS, Jackson is especially moved by the plight of the thousands of abandoned AIDS orphans in his local district. Impulsively, he and Beronda vow to open the first tuition-free school for orphans.

A newlywed with little money, and facing opposition from his domineering father and townspeople, Jackson doggedly builds one schoolroom at a time with the help of many supporters in Uganda and the financial pledges of churches in America, and with the sustenance of his strong faith in Jesus Christ.

Weaving together stories from his youth in Uganda and the remarkable account of how one person with a dream can change lives - both his students' and his supporters' - this is an unforgettable book that demonstrates that one person can be a cup of cold water to a thirsty world. The book concludes with the graduation of the first class of Nyaka AIDS orphans, almost all of whom Jackson and his supporters are sponsoring as they continue their education and dream of becoming doctors, teachers, lawyers, engineers, and even, perhaps, the future president of Uganda.

Critic Reviews:

"The Price of Stones is an inspiring account of turning tragedy into hope for others." (Jimmy Carter)

Members Reviews:

One person can make a difference...

I first read about Jackson Kaguri and the Nyaka school for AIDS orphans in an article in Time Magazine. In a world of sad and depressing news, it was so inspiring to read that one person can make a difference and start a movement to help the often forgotten victims of the AIDS epidemic, the orphans left behind. Kaguri speaks from heart breaking experience, having lost both his brother and sister to the disease. He had achieved the "dream" through his love of education. He had gone to school in Africa and came to America to finish his college career. He met the love of his life, they were married and starting to save money for a down payment for their first home. He then became responsible for his nieces and nephews left behind after his siblings' deaths. He then began to think of all the other AIDS orphans left behind who were not always fortunate enough to have someone to care for them. A system of grandmothers who had raised their own children have now watched their grown children die and are raising their grandchildren. At first there were people who told Kaguri not to worry about it, that there was nothing he could do, but slowly there came together another group of people who joined his cause.

I read this book in two day's time and have gone on to loan it to a friend. This is the type of book that you will want to share with others.

This is an amazing story. I have students who NEVER read

I teach an Academic Literacy class at a Community College.

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Title: A Shattered Mind

Subtitle: One Woman's Story of Survival and Healing

Author: Dauna Cole

Narrator: Shawna Windom

Format: Abridged

Length: 2 hrs and 32 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-12-10

Publisher: Tate Publishing

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Twelve-year-old Dauna found herself sitting on a stool in the middle of a dilapidated barn. The cold metal of a gun was pressed against her temple. "You have a choice. Have sex with each man here. If you refuse...we will put this gun to your head and pull the trigger." Dauna did not know if she would survive this game of Russian roulette. Either way, she would lose. If the gun did not kill her, the repeated rapes by the men surrounding her could very well kill her spirit.

Imagine a world where your very first memories are of sexual abuse, where molestation and rape are a childhood norm, and where your own family members do not protect you, but instead are the source of your torment. For Dauna Cole, this nightmare was reality.

A Shattered Mind is her story of survival through horrific abuse and of her lifelong struggle to overcome the psychological and emotional aftermath. After being removed from her home by Child Services, Dauna thought her suffering was over, but it was just beginning as she worked to put the fractured memories of the past and the pieces of herself back together again.

Members Reviews:

Very real portrayal of DID and its effects

My grandmother had DID and so did I, though not to the degree of the author. I know what it is to feel my mind shatter like a crystal goblet thrown against a brick wall. I know the horror of being caught in such Catch-22s as she was trapped in in that barn scene. I can say that her story is very real and she describes things well. Recovery is a lifelong challenge with DID and this author is to be commended in her efforts to do so. For all of us who have known such breakage within, books by authors showing the way out are always encouraging.

good reading but looking for best practices

Reads easy and enjoyable. Looking for a best practices with DID reasonably priced. I enjoyed reading this book though but sometimes scenes were confusing

mixed feelings

I bought the book at 8:30 last night and finished it this morning at 8:30. It was quite the read. I had to stop a few times to absorb what I was reading and due to errors in continuity. I did go to sleep about 12:15 am and woke up early. I resumed reading at about 6:30. It was hard to put down and I enjoyed it for the most part. I think there are some pages or paragraphs missing from the kindle edition. It was frustrating at times because the errors made it hard to keep up the flow of continuity. Otherwise, it really is an inspiring and uplifting story. I feel good inside after reading it since I'm going through my own healing journey. I also think considering the errors, its a bit over priced. I have hundreds of kindle books and I rarely pay as much for them but I made an exception. I hope the author or someone will go through it and fix the problems.

Outstanding!

I found this book to be quite helpful in gaining a better understanding of one of the most fascinating mental illnesses there are. It felt realistic and quite personal. I thought it was well written and I enjoyed it.

Loved one of a survivor with did

This book helped me understand better... it's been years but I remember growing up with my mother who had did. It was very insightful and I don't feel so alone.... thank you.

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Title: The Quiet People of India

Subtitle: A Unique Record of the Final Years of the British Raj

Author: Norval Mitchell

Narrator: David Mitchell

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-09-10

Publisher: CoolBeat Audiobook Publishing

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 7 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

A unique record of the last 17 years of the British Raj, as seen through the eyes of a young officer of the Indian Political Service. Taken from Norval Mitchell's own original memoir, written in 1975, his son, David, carefully edited the work to produce an account of a man for whom improving the lot of the masses, those quiet people of India, met with ever-increasing frustration by the "dead hand" of British and Indian bureaucracy.

Members Reviews:

Just an amazing book about the british Raj

The story in this book follows the mood in now Pakistan at that time very well

Memoirs of a Human Rights Violator...

Ths book is somewhat inaptly named. It should have been titled "The Quietened People of India". The author details how British used draconian measures to contain freedom movement in India. He tries to dilute the ramifications of Churchill's "scorched earth" policy during second world war which lead to the death of 3 million Indians due to famine induced by it in rice belt. Once expected a more honest description of the Bengal famine in 1942 from somebody who was posted in the same area. But you would be sorely disappointed if you expeced truth from this apologist of the British imperialism. The author details with a smug rectitude how he punished the rebellious Indians by caning them on their backs and butts (Amnesty, are you listening here!) but had a doctor monitor their physical condition to withstand such punishment before he actually had it administered. He wants to feel good about this consideration for the people at the receiving end of his atrocity. He also documents how he had the properties of the Indians, participating civil disobedience, confiscated for not paying the arbitrary fines imposed on them for participating in freedom movement. In many cases , these properties consisted of few utensils, family silks and little trinkets of gold and silver and some grain. Majority of Indians were too poor afford to pay the hefty fines imposed on them for demanding self-rule. He remains silent about Churchill's deliberate policy of depriving Indians of the food grains which other countries were willing to send for free when the news of British induced famine reached those countries. The author has the penchant to describe robbery from natives as willing contribution from them for a war they did not start but had to pay immense price for in human and financial terms. A book like this, full of retarted conceit, patronizing generalizations and moral smugness, could have only come from the pen of a true blue Brit. An important memoir of atrocities nonetheless.

History of pre partition India

It's more of Diary of a British officer in British India purely from his perspective . The Indian side of the story is missing . Though it makes interesting reading .

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Title: Hotel Hennepin

Subtitle: Nurses Can Make the Difference

Author: Janet Izzo

Narrator: Janet Izzo

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs and 24 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-08-10

Publisher: Tate Publishing

Ratings: 2 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

From an early age, I knew someday I would be a nurse...I looked for every opportunity I could find to practice my nursing skills. I even dreamed about it. After two years of candy striping, I had learned some valuable lessons about myself. Number one: I didn't like to be around sick people. Number two: vomit made me vomit.

At the age of 30, Janet Izzo decided to make her childhood dream a reality. Sure, she'd had some setbacks, but with the image of Florence Nightingale ever-present, she plowed forward, ignoring her family's laughter, braving college courses with students nearly half her age, and balancing the roles of wife, mother, and student. Then it happened: she was finally a nurse. But the journey wasn't over there; in fact, it was just beginning.

In Hotel Hennepin: Nurses Can Make the Difference author Janet Izzo, RN shares the joys and struggles of being a nurse. Her dream of caring for mothers and their babies brought her to County Hospital, jokingly known as Hotel Hennepin, where she had the privilege of caring for hundreds of women. Janet tells their stories as only a nurse can, taking readers behind the scenes of this busy obstetric unit where new life begins and sometimes ends on the same day. You will laugh and you will cry as you read the dramatic real-life stories behind the doors of Hotel Hennepin, showing that nursing is more than just a jobit's a passion.

Members Reviews:

A Quick and Easy Read for Anyone Who Has Ever Worked Obstetrics

I loved this book... I couldn't put it down. Read it in one sitting, then passed it on to my nurse colleagues. As a retire OB nurse I really can identify with and appreciate the physical and emotional toll working with laboring mother's can take. She put it into the words that have been rolling around in my head for years. A must read for current and former OB nurses.

Great book! Especially fun for those in the healthcare field to read.

Great book. I really enjoyed reading the different experiences Janet had with a wide variety of patients. It is an authentic reflection of nursing care in a urban hospital. I really enjoyed this book.

Interesting Fact

Interestingly, Hotel Hennepin can be found in the HCMC historical library! I am so sorry you didn't enjoy the book. HCMC nurses gave me a luncheon and book signing. My collegues felt that it was factual and loved the title since we have always lovingly called the hospital "Hotel Hennepin." We loved our patients and love nursing!

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Title: As We Forgive

Subtitle: Stories of Reconciliation from Rwanda

Author: Catherine Claire Larson

Narrator: Bahni Turnpin

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-30-09

Publisher: Zondervan

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 17 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Can a country known for its radical brutality become a country known for an even more radical forgiveness? More than a decade after the 1994 genocide, the Rwandan government has released tens of thousands of murderers back into the communities they ravaged. Survivors and perpetrators have had to learn to live again as neighbors.

Inspired by the award-winning film As We Forgive, this book explores the pain, the mystery, and the hope through seven compelling stories as victims, orphans, widows, and perpetrators journey toward reconciliation.

Members Reviews:

Glorious story of forgiveness

I liked the deep feelings expressed so perfectly.

I talk about the stories to many. I want people to read/listen so they can understand how freeing forgiveness is and do it themselves.

Life is given through it. More people will see this because of this precious book.

The narration ruined it for me

Would you try another book from Catherine Claire Larson and/or Bahni Turnpin?

Maybe by Catherine Claire Larson, but not by Bahni Turnpin. The narration was so distracting that I couldnt see past it.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

I didnt get that far, had to quit.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Bahni Turnpin?

Anyone. She spoke too slowly and dragged out words unnaturally. The worst part was that she put on Rwandan accents when she quoted Rwandans but she didnt ham it up when she quoted American men or other people. I couldnt listen to it. It also seemed overly sentimental in the reading.

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Title: Amen, Amen, Amen

Subtitle: Memoir of a Girl Who Couldn't Stop Praying (Among Other Things)

Author: Abby Sher

Narrator: Abby Sher

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs

Language: English

Release date: 11-23-09

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 10 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Then she begins to pray. At first she repeats the few phrases she remembers from synagogue, but by the time she is in high school, Abby is spending hours locked in her closet urgently reciting a series of incantations and pleas. The prescribed patterns from which she cannot deviate become her shelter and her obsession.

In college, Abby is diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder, and while it helps explain the counting and kissing and collecting, she resists rationalizing her deepest obsession, certain that her prayers are not an illness but the cure. Unable to confront the fears that drive her, she descends into darker compulsions, cutting and starving herself, measuring every calorie and each incision. But even in the darkest moments of her illness, there are glimmers of laughter and hope, for she carries the irrepressible spirit and passion that are so much a part of her family. Ultimately, it is another loss - the death of her mother - that compels Abby to redefine the terms of her illness and her faith, freeing her to live and love more fully.

Full of heartbreak, buoyant with humor, and marked by exceptionally vivid storytelling, Amen, Amen, Amen is a brilliant account of soul-searching, self-discovery, and the bounds and boundlessness of obsession and devotion.

Editorial Reviews:

Amen, Amen, Amen: Memoir of a Girl Who Couldnt Stop Praying (Among Other Things) is Abby Shers thoughtful, funny, and often painful memoir documenting her life struggling with OCD since she was a young girl.

In her case, the disease creates the need for near constant prayer, the need to count every calorie and every step, and the need to self-cut and self-punch - among other things. It is a story about love, loss, a debilitating disorder, and the resolve to move forward.

A comedian and veteran of the renowned Second City improv troupe, Sher narrators her own difficult story with honesty, clarity, and respect.

Members Reviews:

Ultra-realism.

This is an interesting concept for an audiobook production. A very realistic, non-polished interpretation. The narrator is the author, her voice sounds childish, and I had a difficult time relating. I wonder how this book would read if a more mainstream actor would do the narration. I could not get how this woman was so successful ion the stage, because by the sound of her voice you'd never think she'd make it past the middle school play. I kept thinking "oh, she's doing great, that's just the narrator" and then I would realize the narrator was Sher herself!

The content, however is stunning, a compelling insider's look into the psycho-pathology of a wide range of thought and mood disorders, as well as behavioral dysfunctions. However, Abby Sher has the advantage of substantial economic resources, and is from a culturally advantaged family and one wonders how a less financially endowed person with these challenges would fare in the current economic climate and job scarcity.

I would have given this book 5 stars but Sher's reading seems to stay in the "juvenile" registers, i.e. the reading sounds like "baby talk" a lot of the time, and with a lisp thrown in for good measure! She can't help the lisp, but the baby talk could have been dialed back.

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Title: Step Out on Nothing

Subtitle: How Faith and Family Helped Me Conquer Life's Challenges

Author: Byron Pitts

Narrator: Byron Pitts

Format: Abridged

Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-29-09

Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

In Step Out on Nothing, Byron Pitts chronicles his astonishing story of overcoming a childhood filled with obstacles to achieve enormous success in life. Throughout Byron's difficult youth - his parents separated when he was 12 and his mother worked two jobs to make ends meet - he suffered from a debilitating stutter. But Byron was keeping an even more embarrassing secret: He was also functionally illiterate.

For a kid from inner-city Baltimore, it was a recipe for failure. Pitts turned struggle into strength and overcame both of his impediments. Along the way, a few key people "stepped out on nothing" to make a difference for him - from his mother, who worked tirelessly to raise her kids right and delivered ample amounts of tough love, to his college roommate, who helped Byron practice his vocabulary and speech. Pitts even learned from those who didn't believe in him, like the college professor who labeled him a failure and told him to drop out of college. Through it all, he persevered, following his steadfast passion.

After 15 years in local television, he landed a job as a correspondent for CBS News in 1998, and went on to become an Emmy Award - winning journalist and a contributing correspondent for 60 Minutes. Not bad for a kid who couldn't read. From a challenged youth to a reporting career that has covered 9/11 and Iraq, Pitts's triumphant and uplifting story will resonate with anyone who has felt like giving up in the face of seemingly insurmountable hardships.

Critic Reviews:

"It seems unimaginable that someone of Byron's intelligence and elegance could have faced so many struggles as a young man. No wonder he is such an inspired story teller - his own story is inspiring." (Katie Couric)

This book will move you, inspire you, and make you look at your own difficulties in a whole new light." (Anderson Cooper)

Members Reviews:

Amazing inspirational book!!

This book is an encouragement and inspiration for all in life!! Mr. Pitts does an awesome job demonstrating how personal struggles are the stepping stones to where you want to be in life!! This book will cause you to laugh and cry!! Thank you Mr. Pitts for sharing your story.

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Title: Step Out on Nothing

Subtitle: How Faith and Family Helped Me Conquer Life's Challenges

Author: Byron Pitts

Narrator: Byron Pitts

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-29-09

Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 22 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

In Step Out on Nothing, Byron Pitts chronicles his astonishing story of overcoming a childhood filled with obstacles to achieve enormous success in life. Throughout Byron's difficult youth - his parents separated when he was twelve and his mother worked two jobs to make ends meet - he suffered from a debilitating stutter. But Byron was keeping an even more embarrassing secret: He was also functionally illiterate.

For a kid from inner-city Baltimore, it was a recipe for failure. Pitts turned struggle into strength and overcame both of his impediments. Along the way, a few key people "stepped out on nothing" to make a difference for him - from his mother, who worked tirelessly to raise her kids right and delivered ample amounts of tough love, to his college roommate, who helped Byron practice his vocabulary and speech. Pitts even learns from those who didn't believe in him, like the college professor who labeled him a failure and told him to drop out of college. Through it all, he persevered, following his steadfast passion.

After 15 years in local television, he landed a job as a correspondent for CBS News in 1998, and went on to become an Emmy Award - winning journalist and a contributing correspondent for 60 Minutes. Not bad for a kid who couldn't read. From a challenged youth to a reporting career that has covered 9/11 and Iraq, Pitts's triumphant and uplifting story will resonate with anyone who has felt like giving up in the face of seemingly insurmountable hardships.

Critic Reviews:

"It seems unimaginable that someone of Byron's intelligence and elegance could have faced so many struggles as a young man. No wonder he is such an inspired story teller - his own story is inspiring." (Katie Couric)"This book will move you, inspire you, and make you look at your own difficulties in a whole new light." (Anderson Cooper)

Members Reviews:

Step Out on Nothing

The most inspiring book I've read/listened to in a very long time. I was so inspired I bought the hard copy for my 13 year grand daughter who is currently having problems reading.

Powerful, Inspirational and Encouraging

This book took me on an emotional roller coaster. It took me back to a special time in my life and encourage to keep fighting no matter what the obstacles.

Inspiring!

This was an inspiring story that grabbed me from the start all the way to the end. The author read the book, and he was great! I highly recommend!

Every parent and teacher should read this

I am so inspired by Mr. Pitts' story of faith, family, and community. As an educator, I have met so many colleagues who have given up on students with challenging problems. As a parent, I have lost hope from time to time. Mr. Pitts' story makes you stop and re-think any feeling of hopelessness. Every one involved in supporting young people should "read" this for encouragement. Many young people should listen to this, especially if they have difficulty reading.

Thank you, Mr. Pitts, for being willing to share your painful and victorious memories.