Work with What You Got: A Memoir
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Elite wheelchair racer and wrestler Zion Clark joins with New York Times best-selling author James S. Hirsch for a stunning memoir—recounting childhood adversity, awe-inspiring perseverance, and self-invention. When a baby named Zion was born in 1997 to an imprisoned, drug-addicted mother, his future seemed bleak. Born without legs due to a rare condition called caudal regression syndrome, Zion was abandoned and shunted to a foster-care system ill-equipped to care for him. In this stirring memoir, readers will follow as he is bounced from home to home, subjected to abuse, neglect, and inconceivable hardship. Somehow, Zion finds supportive angels along the way: his first two foster families, who offer a haven; the wrestling coach who senses his “warrior spirit” and nurtures it; the woman of fierce faith who adopts a seventeen-year-old and cheers his every match. From play-by-play narration of how Zion adapts wrestling moves to defeat able-bodied opponents, wielding phenomenal arm and hand strength, to accounts of his extraordinary work ethic, unflagging optimism, and motivational speaking, this is an inspirational story of courage that will appeal to any athlete who respects determination, any young person facing adversity, and any reader who wants to believe in the human spirit.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Professional athlete Zion Clark (b. 1997) chronicles his childhood navigating the Stark County, Ohio, foster care system in this motivational memoir. Clark—who was born without legs due to caudal regression syndrome—entered foster care after being surrendered at birth by his mother. Via concise, honest text, Clark recounts how he was "fortunate to have two early foster homes... that were so good" but maintains that constant uprooting and a lack of consistent adult figures led him join a gang, where, he writes, he found the closest thing to family he ever had. After years of being labeled a "problem child" ("That's what happens when you grow up in a violent, unstable world," he asserts), he was adopted by Black foster parent Kimberlli Hawkins, whose support and religious teachings helped him develop a strong sense of belief in himself. Clark's forthright recollections of wrestling with the "dual stigma of being disabled and being Black," and how overcoming his adversities prompted him to support others' endeavors to face their own, presents an illuminating look at the trials of one person maneuvering the foster care system, and details his views that community support and faith are the key to navigating life. Ages 14–up.