I like to support local authors and saw this book at one of our few locally-owned book stores (I love to shop at The Open Book!). It is by Wandra Daniel McGowan.
I am no professional reviewer, but am an avid reader about a variety of subjects by a lot of different authors, but I am just going to put my general impressions here:
The book has 96 pages. It took me a little over an hour to read. The general storyline follows a tween’s perspective on life when her father gets fired from his job and he eventually becomes a coach to a basketball team at an “at-risk” high school. Even though the story covers some heavy subjects, my logical mind kept trying to link the dates from her father’s high school graduation to 2005. Since this was bothering me, I also noticed quite a few typos in the book (although I find those in most books I read!).
There are real photographs in the book, and my impression is that they were a bit hokey, as I think they were actually photos of the author’s family that she was trying to tie into the story. Also, the impression I got from reading the back panel is that it was based on a true story, but then the coach graduated from high school in 1991, went to college, got his masters and was working on his doctorate, has a 12 -year-old daughter and then he retires from working 8 years later. Since this is now 2005, that would mean the coach would be about 32 right now, and he retires when he is 40?
As I was reading, I did think that the book could make a good discussion for a Sunday school lesson, and this book is her first published material that she probably had to pay herself to have published. So if you want a quick read and want to support some local to South Carolina, then that would be the reason to get this book.