Rescued from the Mud

A High School Story

by Charles Stansbury

Formats

Softcover

$13.99

E-Book

$3.99

Softcover

$13.99

Other Books By Author

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Book Details

Language : English

Publication Date : 8/25/2018

Format : Softcover

Dimensions : 6x9

Page Count : 104

ISBN : 9781546253235

Format : E-Book

Dimensions : N/A

Page Count : 104

ISBN : 9781546253228

About the Book

The book is about four high school teenagers who are called misfits, left-outs, and losers by their peers because of their defiant behavior toward teachers and administrators at their high school. The first teen, a native American, is a drug user whose father is a drug addict and petty thief. The second teen, who is Jewish, has been in and out of the detention center for a series of house burglaries. His father is unemployed, and his mother died from AIDS. The third teen, a Puerto Rican, drinks alcohol and hangs out all night in the streets, worrying his mother who is on the brink of a nervous breakdown. The fourth teen is an African American who bullies students after school. He would often shake them down for money or physically assault them for no reason. Both of his parents are doing time in prison, and he is living with his grandmother. These four teens were the most likely to fail in life. They were disrespectful and belligerent. Nevertheless, the stage was set to move them to another type of educational environment—one that would hold them accountable in strict fashion, or else, the next move could have them sent away to the state reformatory for boys. This new educational environment for them would be an alternative school that would force them to plot a journey toward changing their attitude and behavior to be productive human beings, despite coming from a life of despair, stemming from a broken home. They have acknowledged that they are waist-deep in mud and need to be rescued, so therefore, they make a pact among themselves to succeed in life, to build and make an indelible work. The questions are, How do they do it? What is their plan to be rescued from the mud? Time will tell.

About the Author

Charles Stansbury is an African-American author. He is an adjunct faculty member at Mercer County Community College in New Jersey, and Bucks County Community College in Pennsylvania, where he teaches Writing Composition and College Reading. “Three Crooked Roads” is Mr. Stansbury’s fourth book. His other books are:

- Towards A New Spirit: Enough Is Enough

- No Turning Around

- Two-Fisted Champion

Mr. Stansbury has an MA degree in School Administration and Supervision from Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey.

Customer Reviews

Mr. Stansbury has written another book that is geared to young people but is a great read for all ages. It reminds us that no matter what we go through in life, a turn around is possible! Parents/Grandparents who are going through challenges with their young person should read also.

Teresa Warren
In “Rescued from the Mud,” Charles Stansbury, author of “Three Crooked Roads,” once again zeroes in on the challenges of inner-city life. In “Crooked Roads,” Stansbury used the short story genre to examine the dead-end nature of gang membership, obesity, and homelessness, and he adroitly crafted each story to help the reader experience and understand both the causes and possible remedies for these desperate life choices. Similarly, in “Rescued from the Mud,” Stansbury uses the novella genre to take us into an inner-city high school, where four young men—Native American Hercules Lightfoot Gordon, Jewish Juno Ledbedder, Puerto Rican Jasper Dee, and African American Omar Welk — struggle with deadly habits and attitudes spawned by their difficult backgrounds: an absentee parent, drug addiction, stealing, alcoholism, and bullying. Stansbury deftly intertwines the lives of these teens, who have become mired in the “mud” of their own despair, until each of them reach a turning point when concerned school officials confront them with a choice: “Shape up or ship out” to super-strict Turner Alternative School or the Jamesville State Reformatory for Boys. As a large colorful sign on the wall of Latimore High School’s principal proclaimed to all its students: “YOUR ATTITUDE DETERMINES YOUR ALTITUDE,” and that, in a nutshell, is the theme and moral of “Rescued from the Mud.” It’s a touching and uplifting story of how these four teens of different ethnicities and races bond together to help each other climb up and out of the “mud” of their difficult backgrounds. In doing so, they inspire others in the alternative school, the state reformatory, and Latimore High to make serious changes in their own lives. In the book’s five-years-later Epilogue, Stansbury summarizes the considerable accomplishments of the four boys: “The four men, who in their teen years were once dubbed most unlikely to succeed in life, still keep in close contact with each other, and have decided to become mentors to those teens who need someone to rescue them from the mud.” Clearly, this book would be very appropriate for high school values discussions and other character and moral education programs. Well done, Mr. Stansbury!

Alan Teplitsky, Ed.D

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