Who I Am

American Scar Stories

Non-Fiction - Biography
60 Pages
Reviewed on 09/12/2014
Buy on Amazon

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    Book Review

Reviewed by Viga Boland for Readers' Favorite

Who I Am: American Scar Stories by Jenny Cutler Lopez is one of the most wonderful books I've read. At 60 pages long, it only took an hour to read the stories and look at the color photos. But what I read will stay with me for years. Few of us, if any, get through life without scars. Most scars are emotional. Fiction and non-fiction categories are full of stories about brave people who have risen above mental, physical and sexual abuse to go on to lead productive lives and also help other victims of the same.

But few books tell us the stories of those who will always bear disfiguring physical scars, those who are looked at as curiosities, who are forever asked, "How did you get that scar?" These are the people Jenny Cutler Lopez wants us to meet. Folks like Amy Tippins whose abdomen bears a massive Y-shaped scar resulting from surgery on her liver which was riddled with undiagnosed tumors. Amy will never be free of the scar, but she shows it off proudly wearing one of her "Rock Scar Designs."

Then there's young Courtney Ott, whose photo is the first we see. Her left leg has a monstrous scar from knee to ankle, the result of cancer surgery. One surgeon had recommended amputation; Amy refused. She opted instead for chemo, four years of physical therapy and 2 years in a wheelchair. Today, she plays basketball.

And then there's dear little Skylar Helms, whose face had to be stitched together again after a German Shepherd tore her skin off. Like all the other courageous people you will read about in Who I Am: American Scar Stories, she will bear the obvious physical, and no doubt deeper emotional scars all her life.

Who I Am: American Scar Stories by Jenny Cutler Lopez belongs in the waiting rooms and libraries of medical and therapy consultation rooms everywhere. It will give hope to and inspire all who read it.