The Awakening of HK Derryberry: My Unlikely Friendship with the Boy Who Remembers Everything by Jim Bradford

ON THE BACK COVER: 

HK Derryberry came into the world with the odds stacked heavily against him. He was taken from his unmarried mother’s womb three months prematurely when she was killed in a car wreck. After ninety-six days of seesawing between life and death, HK’s grandmother took him home.

One Saturday morning Jim Bradford, a successful businessman in his mid-fifties, happens into Mrs. Winner’s Chicken and Biscuits and sees a nine-year-old’s head pressed down against a black plastic boom box with a crooked antenna and three strips of silver duct tape stretched across the battery cover. He can’t help but notice the long, white plastic braces on each of the child’s legs. Mr. Bradford learns that HK’s grandmother is forced to bring him to the fast-food restaurant where she works, leaving him to sit alone all day at a small table, with only his boom box for company. On subsequent Saturdays Jim feels drawn back to the restaurant to meet with HK and begins spending every weekend with him.

Eventually it becomes apparent that buried beneath HK’s severe disabilities is one spectacular ability. He is diagnosed with Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM), which involves superlative powers of recollection that enable him to remember everything that has happened to him since the age of three. Less than one hundred people have been diagnosed with HSAM, but none of them have the physical disabilities of HK Derryberry.

MY THOUGHTS::
This was an inspirational read about the unlikely friendship between an older gentleman who seems to be pretty well off, established in his community and church and physically disabled young man who was born into a life of struggles. I loved hearing about HK's story and how the chance encounter between him and Mr. Bradford changed both of their lives for the better. 

This was a refreshing need about someone reaching out, not because he had to but out of the goodness of his heart and befriended someone whom many may see as an outsider because of his appearance. This was a heartwarming story of a child who came to know the person who become one of his greatest advocates and mentor and who allowed the child to experience life and become what he had been born to become. 

I love how Mr. Bradford allowed HK's personality to come through the stories and I found several times that I laughed out loud while reading and other times I smiled hugely. 
This is definitely a must read and you will be reminded of a couple of things. First that a little kindness may change many lives, not just your own. And second, there are truly angels among us, whether they are an older gentleman set in his life, or a young child with many physical disabilities who remains positive through all of his life. 

I would highly recommend you read this story and come to know the famous HK Derryberry. 

DISCLAIMER:: I received a copy of this book from Handlebar Publishing in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.