 |
|
WHAT'S NEW? PLENTY! | |
Spend Some time with WATB? After Stephen Gallup, who was in my U of I Summer Writing Festival class a few years back, gave me a signed copy of What about the Boy? A Father’s Pledge to His Disabled Son, I set it aside for winter reading. Winter arrived, I’ve read the book and hallelujah for cold weather that plants you next to the fireplace by 7 p.m. The premise: Nobody knew what hurt little Joseph, and no one was offering a way to help him. He cried most of the time, and thrashed about as if in pain. He wasn't learning how to crawl, talk, or interact normally. Doctors told his parents to seek counseling, because nothing could help their son, and the quality of their own lives was at risk. Refusal to accept that advice changed their lives. Gallup chronicles a family's rejection of hopelessness and their commitment to the pursuit of normalcy. You’ll be intrigued by the controversial practice of infant/child patterning, amazed by the medical barriers that blocked little Joseph’s success and inspired by his parents’ determination to move their disabled son to normalcy. Ultimately, the author comes to acknowledge that "normalcy" has more than one definition. Read the book. You’ll be richer for the experience. www.fatherspledge.com/ One more thing: I moved the book down in my reading stack a couple of times because it was self-published. Within the Whole Host of Iowa Authors profiled here, several self-published good books. But overall, most self-published books would be wonderful first drafts. True, Gallup’s book can be improved, but then so can mine. So, if you shy away from self-published books, don’t do it with What about the Boy? A Father’s Pledge to His Disabled Son. | |
| A Whole Host of Iowa Authors - Sharelle Byars Moranville Sharelle Byars Moranville’s fifth book comes out in March. A manuscript en route to becoming her sixth book is out to be read. [If you’re an author, you know how Sharelle feels right now.] Sharelle loves what she does and has solid advice for others who want to join her in the authors’ circle. Click on Worth Reading for more. | ||
| Past Featured Iowa Authors | ||
| Growing Up Country by Carol Bodensteiner | ||
| Sailing Down the Moon Beam by Mary Gottschalk | ||
| Fairest of Them All by Jan Blazanin | ||
| The Just-Right, Perfect Present and The Pickle Patch Bathtub by Fran Kennedy | ||
| The Weight of Silence and These Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauf | ||
| Frost, Stork and The McCloud Home for Wayward Girls by Wendy Del Sol WendyDelSol.com | ||
| Zakery’s Bridge: Children’s Journeys from Around the World by Kay Fenton Smith & Carol Roh Spaulding | ||
| So Grows the Tree- Creating an Ethical Will by Jo Kline Cebuhar, J.D. | ||
