Courage

Courage for Beginners is by Karen Harrington who wrote Sure Signs of Crazy.  I loved Sure Signs of Crazy!  I was so excited to see CFB available for audio download from the library!
It is very clear to me that Ms. Harrington must have/have had a wonderful father.  The dads in SSOC and CFB are really incredible dudes.  Human with faults, sure, but the kind of men with hearts of loving fathers.
Harrington has tackled another tough subject with this book:  agoraphobia. But again, like SSOFC, this book is life like, in that the "big" problem isn't the only one. So this isn't just a book about a family dealing with agoraphobia, but family dealing with all of the things that a family deals with, plus the hell of mom's agoraphobia.  Bullying, belonging, middle school, coming of age, a life-threatening accident, self-esteem, friendship.  All of this, just like life, and written so well, that even though Mysti's life is (like all of ours) full of different challenges and problems, this isn't a "problem book," just a very, very well written book about a real family.  Love this author.

When I first heard..

my friend Julie describe Sure Signs of Crazy, I thought that there was no way I wanted to read it.  When she told me it was the story of a twelve-year-old girl whose mother had tried to drown her and her twin brother when they were little, killing her brother, I thought, nah.  Not in the mood for a downer.  But then she told me it wasn't a downer at all.  And she was right.  And wow, did I love this book.  Karen Harrington is a new author for me, but I will be sure to read more by her.  What a lovely, sad, happy hopeful story.  Sarah Nelson's mother did try to kill her.  Now her mom is in a mental hospital, prison situation and doesn't have much contact with her.  Her father is an alcoholic, but a good man.  Sarah writes two diaries, a fake one, incase anyone finds it, and a secret one, in which writes to Atticus Finch, wishes he was her dad.  They live in a rented home in Texas and move around a lot when folks find out that they are "that family."  What a great story.  I know it sounds like a downer, but it isn't.  It is lovely.  Please read this.  You will fly through it.