The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls

    When the going gets tough, the tough get going.  The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, is a passionate memoir about the author's challenging life growing up.  Jeannette Walls had a very interesting, yet complicated childhood.  Her parents had financial issues ever since she was little, so Jeannette, her parents, and her siblings, Brian, Lori, and Maureen, were constantly on the move to avoid the unpayed bills that piled up month after month.  As a kid, Jeannette faced many obstacales like moving to different places all the time, experiencing break-ins, and coping with an alcholic in her family, but she was brave and always able to pull through.

    At the beginning of the book, when Jeannette was only three years old, she caught on fire while boiling hotdogs and was taken to the hospital.  The doctors said she was lucky to be alive, but they had to make a skin graft.  After only six weeks, her father took her from the hospital and brought her back to the trailer park.  Then just a few days later, Jeannette went back to boiling hotdogs.  She even began to grow an interest in fire.  In the book, she said, "I became fascinated with it.  Dad also thought I should face my own enemy, and he showed me how to pass my finger through a candle flame."  Even after Jeannette had been severely burned, she decided to go back and confront what had harmed her.  
    In another part of the book, Jeannette's bravery was portrayed when an intruder entered their house in Phoenix one night.  Jeannette kicked and punched at him, chasing him off...but she didn't stop there.  In the book, it states, "Brian and I grabbed a hatchet and ran after the man until he disappeared around the block." She was just ten years old at the time.  Her father was not home yet and her mother didn't even wake up, so she had to deal with it on her own.  And she did, successfully.
    Finally, Jeannette had to live with her father being an alcoholic.  Every night, he would stay out late drinking at the town's local bar and wouldn't arrive home until early in the morning.  When he was home, he would usually be in a bad mood and take it out on the rest of the family.  One Christmas when Jeannette's father was drunk, they were kicked out of Church.  In the book, she said, "Back at home, dad thrust his lighter into the Douglas fir.  The dried-out needles caught fire immediately.  Flames leaped through the branches with a crackling noise.  Christmas ornaments exploded from the heat." Christmas is supposed to be a happy time for kids to enjoy, but Jeannette never got the chance to experience that.  She just had to deal with it and move on.  These were the kinds of extreme events Jeannette had to endure, this and much more.
    Although life was tough for Jeannette Walls, she proved time and again that she was a true survivor and could overcome adversity.  She had a very hard childhood.  Along with the severe injuries, house intruders, and drunken father, she had to get accustomed to moving from place to place often.  Just when she'd thought she'd settled for good, Jeannette would find herself having to pack up her stuff again and start over somewhere new.  In the real world, these issues do happen, in fact, they can happen to lots of people.  It's not easy to go through.  You have to be very brave, like Jeannette.