Reviewed by Bernadette Longu for Readers' Favorite

Hear Me Roar by Mindi Hood is a most interesting yet difficult memoir to read without crying and getting angry with adults and the powers that be. It is very much a must-read for every young girl or even young boy who is starting to get interested in the opposite sex or who has discovered what their sexuality is. Even today, society is not prepared to talk about, help, or accept when someone is different from the norm. This is a book that you cannot put down and is a must-read from cover to cover. I take my hat off to Mindi for putting pen to paper and writing about her experiences and how she was treated by those in authority and people she loved because of who she was and the fact that they refused to accept it. It shows that people make rules and regulations that suit them and what they believe but they don’t or refuse to take into account that everyone is different and we not made the same. It shows how intolerant we are of people who are different from us.

Mindi Hood grew up in an era when if you were different from what society dictated, you were not accepted. A person who marches to a different drum gets pushed aside, ostracized, not believed, ridiculed, and told to stop rocking the boat, man up, and be who they should be. It takes a lot of courage to march to the beat of a different drum than what society dictates. Mindi had one person who walked with her every step of the way, which was her faith in Jesus. This is a strength that everyone who is different takes with them wherever they go, even when people try to change who they are. Mindi has shown courage that a lot of people today would love to have. She has shown me that my march to a different drum is what I was given by my faith in God and that is where my strength has come from as well throughout my life. As simple as Hear Me Roar is, it will have a profound impact on anyone who reads it with an open mind. Thank you for letting us into your heart and your agony.