Genre: Memoir
Description:
“Happy Like Coach Jack is a true story about a young man nobody
expected much from — and what happened when a whole community quit making
allowances and expected everything he had to give.
Jack Simmons has Down syndrome. Before baseball, most of his
afternoons went to sports video games and a quiet hope that someday there might
be more. When a traveling youth baseball team in St. George, Utah invited him
on as an assistant coach, they wanted nothing more than to do something kind.
Nobody expected what came next — not the players, not the parents, not even the
father who thought he already understood his son.
Told through the eyes of Jack's father, Happy Like Coach Jack follows
what happens when a community decides not to make room for someone, but simply
lets him take his place in it. Somewhere along the way, Jack started working
toward a goal nobody around him even knew he had.
This is a book about community, about youth sports at their best, and
about a young man with an intellectual disability who was never told to stop
reaching for more. It is funny, it's thoughtful, it's tender, and every word of
it is true.”
Author:
John Simmons has written multiple books. Until recently he was also the
President and CEO of a business he had started, but is now the head of a
charity. He and his wife have several children, some their biological offspring
and several adopted, both domestically and internationally. He lives with his
family in a rural mountain valley in Utah.
Appraisal:
I viewed this book as a memoir since it is told from the viewpoint of
the author, the father of “Coach Jack.” The actual star of the book. Jack, who
has Down syndrome, is also a big sports fan. The book explores Jack’s life from
a younger kid interested in sports and attempting to participate in whatever
way he could until he reached his 20s where he still wanted to be a part and
how his community came together and found a way to include Jack. In doing so
the community benefited too, in many ways. If this doesn’t amuse you, warm your
heart, and inspire you in some way, you need to read it again and pay better
attention the second time around.
Buy now
from: Amazon US Amazon UK
Format/Typo
Issues:
Review is based on an advance reviewer copy
so I can’t gauge the final product in this area.
Rating: ****
Four Stars
Reviewed
by: BigAl
Approximate word count: 25-30,000 words
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