Dreams from My Father (Adapted for Young Adults)

I barely knew my father. He left our home in Hawaii back in 1963, when I was only two. I didn t even know I was supposed to have a father who lived with his family. All I knew were the stories that my mother and grandparents told.
They had their favorites. I can still picture Gramps lean­ing back in his old stuffed chair, laughing about the time my father whose name, like mine, was Barack Obama almost threw a man off the Pali Lookout, a mountain cliff not far from our home in the city of Honolulu, because of a pipe.
See, your mom and dad decided to drive this visiting friend around the island and Barack was probably on the wrong side of the road the whole way
Your father was a terrible driver, my mother said to me. He d end up on the left side, the way the British drive, and if you said something he d just huff about silly American rules
And they got out and stood at the railing of this cliff to admire the view. And your father, he was puffing away on this pipe that I d given him for his birthday, pointing out all the sights with the stem like a sea captain
He was really proud of this pipe, my mother interrupted again.
Look, Ann, do you want to tell the story or are you going to let me finish?
Sorry, Dad. Go ahead.
Anyway, the fella asked Barack if he could give the pipe a try. But as soon as he took his first puff, he started coughing up a fit. Coughed so hard that the pipe slipped out of his hand and dropped over the railing, a hundred feet down the face of the cliff. So your dad told him to climb over the railing and bring the pipe back.
Gramps was laughing so hard he had to pause. The man took one look over the side and said he d buy him a replace­ment. But Barack said it had been a gift and it couldn t be re­placed. That s when your dad picked him clear off the ground and started dangling him over the railing!
As he laughed, I imagined myself looking up at my father, dark against the brilliant sun, the man s arms flailing. It was like

Barack Obama was the 44th president of the United States, elected in November 2008 and holding office for two terms. He is the author of three New York Times bestselling books, Dreams from My Father, The Audacity of Hope, and A Promised Land and is the recipient of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Michelle. They have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.

PRAISE FOR THE DREAMS FROM MY FATHER (Adapted for Young Adults)

"This title will be enjoyed by all readers for generations to come."  School Library Journal

 

Praise for Dreams from My Father (Crown)
 
ONE OF ESSENCE S 50 MOST IMPACTFUL BLACK BOOKS OF THE PAST 50 YEARS
 
Guides us straight to the intersection of the most serious questions of identity, class, and race. The Washington Post
 
Provocative. . . . Persuasively describes the phenomenon of belonging to two different worlds, and thus belonging to neither. The New York Times Book Review

Obama s writing is incisive yet forgiving. This is a book worth savoring. Alex Kotlowitz, author of There Are No Children Here
 
One of the most powerful books of self-discovery I ve ever read, all the more so for its illuminating insights into the problems not only of race, class, and color, but of culture and ethnicity. It is also beautifully written, skillfully layered, and paced like a good novel. Charlayne Hunter-Gault, author of In My Place

Dreams from My Father is an exquisite, sensitive study of this wonderful young author s journey into adulthood, his search for community and his place in it, his quest for an understanding of his roots, and his discovery of the poetry of human life. Perceptive and wise, this book will tell you something about yourself whether you are black or white. Marian Wright Edelman