|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Book 1: 9 Lives, I Will Survive
Joshua is
an adorable and tenacious young boy who, like a lucky cat, appears to live a charmed life. Born premature, at
only 26 weeks gestation, baby Joshua weighs a mere 2 pounds, 2 ounces at birth. For the first four months
of his life, Joshua is connected to life-support equipment, in the Neo-natal ICU of a hospital in Tucson,
AZ. This tiny infant's journey of challenges and hope has begun.
Joshua's life-giving
parents are unable to properly care for him, so Josh and his two siblings, are sent to live with
relatives. This placement proves dangerous and unsafe. After four years of stress and tension,
these three innocent children are removed from this environment, and enter the foster care system. Josh and his
sister are eventually adopted into separate families.
9 Lives, I Will Survive, is the story of young
Joshua's struggle for survival. It is an introduction to the foster care system, the diversity of families,
and the interracial adoption of this older, special needs child into the home of two loving and committed mothers.
Published November 2007, in paperback
and hard cover with dust jacket.
|
|
|
Book 2: 9 Lives, Cat Tales
Safe and happy in his new adoptive home, young Joshua Carson has multiple interests and talents, as well as a keen hunger for experiencing life. He is
confident in his abilities and is eager to try new challenges.
In 9 Lives, Cat Tales, the second
book of the trilogy, Joshua shares several adventures from his elementary and middle school years. He befriends
an adopted boy from Russia, shares adventures from his week at the Y-Mountain Camp, sharpens his athletic skills, experiences
his African American roots at a cultural heritage camp, makes new friends at a ranch for special needs
animals and people, and meets Martin Luther King, III.
Like all kids, Joshua wants to be accepted.
He believes in magic and miracles, and makes an unusual Christmas wish, which he thinks will help him fit in...will his
dream come true?
Published July 2008, available in paperback.
|
|
|
| 9 Lives, Full Circle |
|
|
| By Jan Crossen |
Book 3: 9 Lives, Full Circle
Being a teenager is tough for most kids, and Joshua Carson is no exception. Like many adopted teens, Josh
struggles to understand his past and his identity. He is a handsome and charismatic guy, with a fabulous smile and a
normal IQ. But Josh has social, academic, and behavioral issues that are difficult for his parents, his teachers, and
him, to understand.
Josh makes poor choices and his risky behaviors get him into trouble
at school and with the law. Desperate to be accepted, Josh falls in with a gang and later with an irresponsible
adult who tries to use him.
At the same time, Josh tries to handle normal teenage activities like multiple
girlfriends, getting his first real kiss, being on the high school football and basketball squads, skate boarding
with other guys, and creating beats on his keyboard.
Just prior to his eighteenth birthday,
Josh reunites with a birth family member who explains that Joshua's birth mother drank alcohol during her pregnancy
with him. As a result, Joshua has an invisible disability, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders or FASD. The
brain damage caused by the alcohol explains his bizarre behaviors, but now he must find a way to manage his disabilities
in order to achieve his dreams.
Scheduled for publication fall 2008.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
