PUSH by Sapphire

Yeah, it's the book that led to the film which has led to Gabourey Sidibe's fame (no, I haven't seen the film).

Let me say, I LOVE me some Gabourey Sidibe. (Ever seen here on a red carpet or in an interview? She is SO FUNNY and so real and just so much fun.)

But this book I love even more.

It's not a great book for me to read now, when I work all day long with people whose situations are very similar to Precious's (and I may even have a client or two named Precious whose fathers have raped and beaten them for years) - but the book gives me hope. It made me smile, it angered me. It faced realities head-on, including very ugly realities - including small-mindedness of a sympathetic protagonist.

Things were not tied up neatly in a bow at the end, but there was hope. And it shows how important a little kindness can be. It made me remember the letter I got from a student once - I felt like I hardly knew this student at all, as she came mid-year and had really excessive absences. It was my worst teaching year ever, and I wasn't on my game - I realize now that I engaged in self-destructive behaviors to reflect my misery. I hardly remember her at all - just a few times she'd come in after school to make up assignments, etc. We never really talked much, and I only heard rumors from the school counselor that her mother had died, her father was having a hard time, her own health was precarious. And of course I worked with her - she was a bright girl, falling behind, very quiet. The next year she wrote me a beautiful letter about how me believing in her and taking the time to really be there for her made all the difference in her life.

And in the book, it's the same - the EMT, the nurse - people who are kind to Precious because it's their job and their nature, and how that means so much to her while they probably even wouldn't remember her.

We never know the burden of the people we encounter, and sometimes kindness goes miles. And that is the lesson I take from Push.

READ THIS BOOK. It's phenomenal. And if you read like I do, it'll only take you a couple of hours, and your world will be rocked. You will smile, you will be sickened, you will be angry, you will be happy. The damn book will make you feel and make you think.