Some time ago, the publishers of John A. Sarkett’s book Extraordinary Comebacks, asked me if I would like an advance copy of the book. I haven’t had a chance to read it, embroiled as I was in the end-of-the-year chaos. The book contains 201 vignettes — “stories of courage, triumph, and success” — from a variety of fields. Whatever your background, at least one of these stories will speak to you and encourage you to keep going.

The vignettes are arranged according to background — for example, Walt Whitman’s story is included in the Literature section. This construction makes it easy to focus on particular areas of interest. The book can be read cover-to-cover, but the vignettes are also short, requiring perhaps five minutes of your time each, which makes the book easy to pick up during a few free moments, but just as easily put down for later; the reader can skip around according to interest.

I would think that this book might be a good addition to the teacher’s classroom library. Our students struggle with difficulties, and I believe the vignettes might inspire our students to keep going.

[tags]John A. Sarkett, Extraordinary Comebacks, book review[/tags]