I’m asking One-Liner Wednesday to do double duty this week. When Yvette Prior announced the release of This is How We Grow, I took one look at the contributing authors and knew I’d be reading this anthology very soon. Since I don’t have many places on my blog to include a book review, I decided to add it into this post. Hey, it’s not like these are ever one line.
When so many friends are involved in a collaboration, you need to support them.
Those two paragraphs are part of Linda G. Hill’s fun weekly series One-Liner Wednesday. If you have a one-liner, and would like to join in on the fun, you can follow this link to participate and to see the one-liners from the other participants. The following section is my review of This is How We Grow:
I follow some of the authors who contributed to this anthology, through their blogs, books and contributions in other collections. I was familiar with some of the stories from material they had shared, but having an issue shared as a full length story is special. As Yvette says in her introduction:
“Making time to explore someone else’s story can open the curtains to deeper understanding and healthier connecting.”
Like me, you probably know many of the authors. You follow their blogs. Perhaps you’ve read one of their books. Perhaps you like their poetry or the stories and photos they share. Perhaps you actually know some of them, have met them in person, shared a meal, a drink, a moment. But I would bet you don’t know them as well as you will after reading this book. The stories are heartwarming, personal and told honestly. You might think I have no way of knowing that, but if you read the book, you will understand.
We learn about these people through stories of love shared between family members and pets, to celebrity close encounters, to life-changing moments, necessary instruction both explicitly offered and observed as it was received—welcome or not—by others. These stories highlight the diversity in our lives. Diversity of people, places, aspirations, situations and fate. They add meaning to what we often take for granted, and they make us question the assumptions we will make in the future. Understanding how people deal with trauma, the illness of loved ones, and the revelation of the ways in which our emotions intersect with the emotions of others—a situational awareness many of us will never experience—and our own growth, is positively amazing.
This book is like an immersive university course in life. At times it is both hard to read and impossible to put down. I give credit to Yvette for assembling and arranging these stories, but I wasn’t surprised that she had done such an excellent job. That seems to be her special talent. She had a point to make, information to share, a message to send to all of us about the world we live in and the people we share that world with. She pulled together a wonderful team and I enjoyed every single contribution to this book.
This is how we grow. Yes, that’s the title of the book, but it’s also the significant message delivered across its pages. To quote Yvette again:
“The components of perspective and empathy are intertwined and complex.”
I doubt any of us would disagree with that observation. I don’t know about others, but I realize I didn’t fully understand how intertwined and complex these components are.
This is How We Grow has 13 authors providing poems and personal stories:
Yvette Prior
Dragonfly by Ana Linden
Untangle & Learn by Mahesh Nair
Made My Day by Sherri Matthews
Beneath by Trent McDonald
Ground Zero by Jeffrey D. Simmons
Combatting Caregiver Burnout by Mike F. Martelli
There’s No Return to Sender by Robbie Cheadle
Numbers Lie by Lauren Scott
Grateful & Graceful Grandparenting by Miriam Hurdle
Seeing Through by Yvette Prior
Winding Road of Writing by Mabel Kwong
Blogging & Rekindling by Marsha Ingrao
Right and Wrong by Cade Prior
Each author in this book hopes that you enjoy the personal narratives offering unique outlooks and ideas about assumptions and cultural differences and similarities.
How can buy this delightful book at Amazon.
That’s it for me today. I hope to see you here tomorrow for Thursday Doors.
All five of my current books are now available in audio book form thanks to Amazon KDP’s Virtual Voice process. The voice is AI generated, but I can honestly say, it’s pretty darn good. The audio books are reasonably priced (all below $7 US) and, if you already own the Kindle version and want to add an audio version, you can do that for $1.99. There is a five-minute sample on the book page for each book. If you’re interested, click on any of the Dreamer’s Alliance book links below the image or on the link below for my latest book.
No Facilities 
Add your thoughts or join the discussion. One relevant link is OK, more require moderation.