From Popping Out to Moving Out : A Guide to Growing Up Good

While the texts are virtually identical, there are two differently illustrated versions of "A Guide To Growing Up Good." Acting on the advice of many reviewers of all races, it was felt that readers of color might better relate to characters with whom they most often interact in their own immediate family circles. For that reason, the version with the "Black" suffix when ordering, and with a small letter "B" in the lower right hand corner of the cover, shows the main narrator, their family, and the majority of others with key roles in their lives, as primarily people of color. By contrast, in the version without the "Black" suffix, the main actors are White, or light skinned. This is meant to make clear the critical message that character, decency, and universal truths of love, goodness, and importance of family are absolutely color blind. That self evident fact having been made about the messenger, let's get to the book itself, and its unique way of delivering its message.

Suddenly I’m rudely evicted from Mommy’s moist, dark, but totally protective care. Strangers with blue masks are oohing and aahing. Then they spank me! I can’t talk, but I sure can see what’s going on. Attacking a defenseless little creature. Wow! Then time goes on. I tell you about every bump in the pot-holed road of life as I grow up. Like how I feel when Mommy is having another baby. When bribed to use the potty. When schoolmates make fun of kids who look different. When my body starts to change. When one of my best friends gets cancer. When I learn to drive. Or, scariest of all, when high school days are over, and the time has come to leave the loving nest in which I had been shielded by my family since that first spank. Some milestones are light and cutesy; others really touching and emotional. But such is life……

Dr. Dickie (Richard) Marks is an accomplished and respected orthopedic surgeon. Nice, but how does knowing what to do in the operating room qualify him as an expert about life's twists and turns as his main character grows from just being born to college dorm? The answer to that is the life which he has lived. Richard and his wonderful first and only wife of many decades saw the innumerable ups and downs of bringing up kids with strong moral compasses as they raised their own girl and boy. Then their daughter had three of her own, as did their son. The lessons that parents both teach and learn from their children and were, and still are, being all the more reinforced while watching and listening as those six grandkids encounter life's inevitable challenges. And that is what qualifies Dr. Marks to reflect on life from the first person perspective of our narrator.