I will be the first to admit that I did not realize the power of some of the stories that John Hacker and I published in our book, 5:41: Stories from the Joplin Tornado,until I started doing the first revisions.
Prior to that time, I had dealt with the stories one at a time and did not realize the collective power they held.
After the book's publication in August, we had a number of people tell us how much they appreciated the book, but they had not been able to read more than one or two chapters at a time because they could not stop crying.
After we haard those comments at nearly every signing or event we attended, it became clear to us that there was another story that needed to be told, utiliing the same format as 5:41.
When John and I spoke at the Joplin Rotary meeting Friday morning at the Holiday Inn, we announced that we are publishing a follow-up to 5:41, tentatively titled Reborn: One Year After the Joplin Tornado.
The book will again be divided into four segments- stories written by John, stories and essays written by me, stories from tornado survivors, and transcripts of important speeches that have been made in the months since May 22.
People have asked us to give updates on some of those who wrote stories in the first book and some of our writers have agreed to provide chapters for Reborn.
The book will again provide stories about the Joplin-area hospitals, the swchools, and the courageous everyday people- the survivors and the volunteers, and the community leaders who were responsible for making the recovery of the city of Joplin a success story for the ages.
More information about the new book will be featured in upcoming posts.
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