A Stone of Hope: A Memoir
Written by Jim St. Germain and Jon Sternfeld
Narrated by Ron Butler
5/5
()
About this audiobook
In the tradition of The Other Wes Moore and Just Mercy, a searing memoir and clarion call to save our at-risk youth by a young black man who himself was a lost cause—until he landed in a rehabilitation program that saved his life and gave him purpose.
Born into abject poverty in Haiti, young Jim St. Germain moved to Brooklyn’s Crown Heights, into an overcrowded apartment with his family. He quickly adapted to street life and began stealing, dealing drugs, and growing increasingly indifferent to despair and violence. By the time he was arrested for dealing crack cocaine, he had been handcuffed more than a dozen times. At the age of fifteen the walls of the system were closing around him.
But instead of prison, St. Germain was placed in ""Boys Town,"" a nonsecure detention facility designed for rehabilitation. Surrounded by mentors and positive male authority who enforced a system based on structure and privileges rather than intimidation and punishment, St. Germain slowly found his way, eventually getting his GED and graduating from college. Then he made the bravest decision of his life: to live, as an adult, in the projects where he had lost himself, and to work to reform the way the criminal justice system treats at-risk youth.
A Stone of Hope is more than an incredible coming-of-age story; told with a degree of candor that requires the deepest courage, it is also a rallying cry. No one is who they are going to be—or capable of being—at sixteen. St. Germain is living proof of this. He contends that we must work to build a world in which we do not give up on a swath of the next generation.
Passionate, eloquent, and timely, A Stone of Hope is an inspiring challenge for every American, and is certain to spark debate nationwide.
Jim St. Germain
Jim St. Germain is the cofounder of Preparing Leaders of Tomorrow (PLOT), a nonprofit organization that provides mentoring to at-risk youth; and a board member with the National Juvenile Defender Center. He works as a residential care advocate for the City of New York, and was appointed by President Obama to the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Jim lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his son, Caleb.
Related to A Stone of Hope
Related audiobooks
Fire Shut Up In My Bones: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bastards: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5High Yella: A Modern Family Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Grace Will Lead Us Home: The Charleston Church Massacre and the Hard, Inspiring Journey to Forgiveness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Citizen Outlaw: One Man’s Journey from Gangleader to Peacekeeper Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bring Back Our Girls: The Untold Story of the Global Search for Nigeria’s Missing Schoolgirls Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Second Chance Club: Hardship and Hope After Prison Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Murder in Music City: Corruption, Scandal, and the Framing of an Innocent Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Separated: Inside an American Tragedy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Children Under Fire: An American Crisis Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Girl Named Lovely: One Child's Miraculous Survival and My Journey to the Heart of Haiti Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Holly: Five Bullets, One Gun, and the Struggle to Save an American Neighborhood Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Making Rent in Bed-Stuy: A Memoir of Trying to Make It in New York City Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPicking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Getting Life: An Innocent Man's 25-Year Journey from Prison to Peace Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Race: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Life of a Klansman: A Family History in White Supremacy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Love Prison Made and Unmade: My Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Prison Guard's Daughter: My Journey Through the Ashes of Attica Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5My Vanishing Country: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Invisible Man Got the Whole World Watching: A Young Black Man's Education Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Coyotes of Carthage: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Terrorist's Son: A Story of Choice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Barack Like Me: The Chocolate-Covered Truth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leaving Breezy Street: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Here We Are: American Dreams, American Nightmares (A Memoir) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5From Prison Cells to PhD: It is Never Too Late to Do Good Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSunbelt Blues: The Failure of American Housing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Personal Memoirs For You
I'm Glad My Mom Died Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding Me: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Roxane Gay & Everand Originals: Built for This: The Quiet Strength of Powerlifting Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love, Pamela: A Memoir of Prose, Poetry, and Truth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Counting the Cost Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Roxane Gay & Everand Originals: My Year of Psychedelics: Lessons on Better Living Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Woman in Me Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Night: New translation by Marion Wiesel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Angela's Ashes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Girls Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5While Time Remains: A North Korean Girl's Search for Freedom in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pageboy: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Stolen Life: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inside Out: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Year of Magical Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Enough Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Glass Castle: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dad at Peace Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Making It So: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Choice: Escaping the Past and Embracing the Possible Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love, Lucy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5See You on the Way Down: Catch You on the Way Back Up! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Summer of Fall: Gravity is a bitch, but I'm still standing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Y'all Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related categories
Reviews for A Stone of Hope
5 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Heartwarming and uplifting story. Informative and entertaining.
*Note - missed portions of this book due to app glitches. While reading one chapter seemed to just end in mid-sentence signifying that the chapter wasn’t actually complete. Also on more than one occasion, the audio would simply cut out (counter continued) then come back on. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A compelling memoir that details the tragedy and triumph of an individual who encounters poverty, violence, incarceration all before young adulthood. Several people invest in him along the way which changes his life trajectory. This story highlights the difficulties in navigating the broken and complex systems in the U.S. Yet, the author sheds light on the hope of a better tomorrow and a better system. I love the incorporation of facts that add breath to the journey and the author’s use of quotes from writers and scholars who speak about the same issues. Very powerful story.