Joel Everett Harding

Vagabond Boy Joel Everett Harding

"If you live on the road long enough eventually you are likely to see a boy erupt in flames." So begins the opening lines of Joel Everett Harding's book "Vagabond Boy: Memoir of a Youth's Journey Through a Heartland of Chaos." This remarkable true-adventure memoir presents readers with an unusual story of childhood self-discovery and perseverance told through the lens of a boy as he struggles to overcome a turbulent youth spent traveling throughout 1950s America with his restless parents before interstate highways were invented. The family's wandering path leads through a palette of heartwarming as well as heart-wrenching encounters with reality and the inexplicable. Strange landscapes, curious people, and dubious caretakers dangle confusing lessons for the author that he must choose to accept or discard at his peril. The book abounds in humor and boyhood adventure, but chaos also hitches a ride. It seems as though Tom Sawyer and Kevin Arnold of The Wonder Years were one boy leaving a trail of exploits from coast to coast. Some events he presents seem inconceivable, such as when his parents abandon him on a lonely highway at six years old. Eventually the family's trail ends abruptly and the boy is swept toward an emotional chasm that threatens to swallow and imprison him forever, and to secure his future with a purposeful life he must somehow decipher secrets in a mysterious forbidden pond that beckons him. "Searching for a contented life from a boyhood of chaos can be like digging for Blackbeard's booty with a spoon," the author says, adding: "They both require a great deal of persistence against great odds-and there is no guarantee such treasures will ever be found." In addition to providing a "cannot put it down" reading experience, Vagabond Boy offers a story of adventure, resilience, and self-discovery that others should find meaningful for contending with a real life of chaos, past or present. The book also offers a deeper inspirational message for today's readers who struggle with their past in an ambiguous and fragmented culture-precisely where most of us live even today.