Growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, TikTok influencer James never learned how to read. The economically insecure child of a single Black mother, he attended schools where \u201cteachers never taught.\u201d He also grew up with OCD, ADHD, anxiety, and dyslexia, all of which made school challenging. Despite his lack of literacy, James graduated from high school and attended a few college classes before being imprisoned for trafficking guns to make extra money for his mother and himself. Not surprisingly, the author\u2019s illiteracy made day-to-day life extremely difficult. Everything from grocery shopping to cooking to texting required a reading level he did not have. \u201cYou can\u2019t even make Kraft Mac & Cheese if you can\u2019t read the instructions,\u201d he writes. \u201cI had to be shown how, then memorize it.\u201d Not knowing how to read also made him dependent on others, creating unhealthy relationships and driving him toward coping mechanisms, namely drinking. \u201cThis isn\u2019t just about reading,\u201d James writes. \u201cIt\u2019s about survival. It\u2019s about the masks we wear and the parts of ourselves we bury just to make it through the day.\u201d James credits therapy, sobriety, and veganism for helping to change his life\u2014and allowing him to learn how to read. He sees his journey toward literacy as a journey of healing and liberation. He writes, \u201cIt\u2019s my belief that reading is that launching pad, no matter what your personal struggle is to overcome.\u201d The book\u2019s more expository chapters sometimes drag, spending more time on processing than plot, but overall, this is a thoughtful and inspiring story about vulnerability and courage. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, TikTok influencer James never learned how to read. The economically insecure child of a single Black mother, he attended schools where \u201cteachers never taught.\u201d He also grew up with OCD, ADHD, anxiety, and dyslexia, all of which made school challenging. Despite his lack of literacy, James graduated from high school […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5665,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5664"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}