Call Me Brave: Rise of the Vanguards

Middle School Is Where Courage Gets Tested

Jace Thompson is the new kid at Live Oak Middle School, trying to fit in without becoming a target. He wants friends. He wants respect. He wants to make it through sixth grade without messing everything up. Then he ends up on a team with three very different classmates. Naomi notices what others miss. Liam thinks in patterns and details. Ava feels the pressure to get everything right. Eric, a foster kid, wants a real place to call home.

During a leadership scavenger hunt at the Frontiers of Flight Museum, their differences collide fast. When a younger student is pushed around, the day stops being about points and clues. It becomes a choice. Stay quiet, or stand up.
As the year unfolds, these five students learn that bullying isn’t solved in a single moment. It is challenged through small acts of courage, honest conversations, and friends who show up again and again.

Each chapter ends with Leadership Elements that invite reflection and discussion. PACE color personalities are introduced along the way, helping readers understand how different people think, react, and lead.

Mike Manazir has a passion for stories, leadership, big ships, fast jets, thundering Harleys, and one woman: Kelly, his bride of more than forty years. He is a graduate of Top Gun and commanded an F-14 squadron, the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier, and a Carrier Strike Group. Mike retired as a Two-Star Admiral and is now an executive with a Fortune 100 aerospace and defense company.He mentors a leadership style based on heart and trust that champions inclusion. Mike believes if you have one or more people looking to you to show the way, you are a leader. He wants to help you be the best leader you can be so you can Lead to Win.Connect with Mike on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and at www.MikeManazir.com.