How do you move forward
after going through a tragedy of unimaginable proportions? That is something that author (with Robin
Gaby Fisher) Kaitlin Roig-DeBellis has not had an easy road determining, but
her answer lies in Choosing Hope: Moving Forward from Life’s Darkest Hours.
A dedicated first grade
teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary in a quaint little Connecticut town called
Newtown, Roig-DeBellis was in circle time one minute with her primary-age
students, and the next, forced to make a spur-of-the-moment decision to save
all their lives. It was the young
educator’s quick thinking that piled her entire class into a bathroom not big
enough for even one adult. Not knowing
if any of them were going to make it out alive, she tried to keep the children
calm as they could hear the horror happening all around them. After they were led out of the ravaged school
by police and into the arms of waiting parents, the trauma Roig-DeBellis and
her class faced became all too real.
This is where the story of Choosing
Hope really begins.
Most people know the story
of Sandy Hook based on what they have read and seen on the television. However, what makes Choosing Hope so inspirational is that Roig-DeBellis has learned
not to let that unbearable day define her; in fact, she even mentions that
readers can skip the chapters about the shootings if they wish because that’s
not what the book is about. With much therapy
and the loving support of her family, husband, ex-students and their parents, the
author has chosen instead to make some good come out of this tragedy. She has left teaching (not by choice), but
has developed a nonprofit called Classes 4 Classes, where classrooms across the
nation adopt other classrooms in need.
Roig-DeBellis doesn’t
sugarcoat anything and is completely honest. However, readers expecting a
minute-by-minute account of December 14, 2012 should turn elsewhere. Choosing
Hope is about one woman’s journey to remember all those that died that day
by giving to others and choosing to reframe her thoughts.
MY RATING - 4
