Congratulations to tour winner Cathy F. and to host winner Fabulous and Brunette.
Thank you for your interest in hosting this tour, but all stops have been filled.
Jay Armstrong will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn host.
Diagnosed with a progressive brain disease, a young father is determined to teach his children the importance of pursuing their dreams.
A cell phone’s ring interrupts the silence as Jay Armstrong sits in his high school classroom preparing for the year ahead. Something about the ring makes his stomach drop. It’s his doctor.
The words, “diffuse cerebellar atrophy, a rare, degenerative brain disease” float through the speaker. All of Jay’s youthful dreams of being a writer rush back, flooding the twenty years he has spent teaching students how to appreciate novels, memoirs, and poetry. The care he put into teaching them how to write with clarity, insight, and humor, and how to dance at the prom. The bedtime stories he never told his children spin in his imagination. It will all die when he dies.
Jay chooses to experience his condition as an inspiration here to teach him to appreciate the time he still has. He writes letters and stories to his three children about his failing voice, his impaired motor skills, and falling down on Christmas morning. Writing helps him cope with the illness and its symptoms. And so, he accepts the mission of writing more stories for them: the difference his father’s wink made at a critical moment of a baseball game, why they should take walks even in cruddy weather, and how he avoided having to explain what semen is for.
As his condition worsens, Jay’s faith in the power of storytelling deepens. His daily life is wildly different than he foresaw, and possibly shorter, but he can leave his children a legacy more valuable than any financial inheritance. He writes "Bedtime Stories for the Living", an episodic memoir to show his children how to accept their limitations and find joy. The collection of tender, witty stories about fatherhood, persevering despite illness, and pursuing your dreams, demonstrates how love gives us the strength to face heartache with bravery and grace.
August 22: Uplifting Reads
August 29: Hope. Dreams, Life... Love
August 29: Westveil Publishing
September 5: Literary Gold
September 12: Fabulous and Brunette
September 19: Lisa Haselton's Reviews and Interviews
September 26: Sandra's Book Club
October 3: Long and Short Reviews
October 10: It's Raining Books
