Every reader will find resonance somewhere in this wide array of experiences of hardship and comfort, mediocre and top grades, social success, and difficulty. . . It's a roadmap to living an extraordinary life. When I was 8, my grandmother sent me a biography of women's lives. Clara Barton's accomplishments as a nurse and humanitarian spoke to me, and her story lingered long after I had lost track of the book. Twelve years later, I became a registered nurse.
Books can influence young lives.
More than a how-to book, How Jane Won shimmers with personal triumphs. Mary Previte, New Jersey assemblywoman and administrator of Camden County Youth Center, was born the daughter of missionaries China. As a girl, she spent three years in a Japanese concentration camp. Where at age 14, she lost her left hand in a revolving saw accident. Positive statements like that pop up repeatedly in these stories, showing at least a single binding thread throughout the interviews.