An Extraordinary Year

REMEMBER WHEN... * phones still sat on a desk? * television had only 3 channels? * all three channels displayed only black and white? John Reed is a ten-year-old who lives in northwest Ohio with his mother, father, and younger brother. John begins 1963 with a revelation that he is in for an extraordinary year. Every month brings significant events that John must cope with, learn from, and assimilate into his understanding of life. John learns that not everything that happens in life is good, but that life unfolds as it will. Through his own trials and tribulations and those of others John cares about, he learns the importance of human dignity, human connection, and respect for not only humans, but our natural world. Spoken plainly from his ten-year-old perspective, John's year from beginning to end is full of not only important events, but of small moments that deepen his love of his family, as well as his town and its inhabitants. For John, the miraculous and the mundane have equal impact on his experience of 1963.