Who Is Reading "Messenger: The Legacy of Mattie J.T. Stepanek & Heartsongs"?

Who all is reading the new Mattie Stepanek biography written by Jeni Stepanek? I am. I'm about halfway through and I'm absolutely hooked. I'm learning things about Mattie that I never knew and am realizing just how serious his health problems were; he literally lived on the edge of life and any slight mistake could take his life.

So if anyone else has bought it and is reading it, feel free to discuss it!

I read it and cried all the way through.

**I understand this is not a direct Billy review, but according to Jeni Stepanek, Billy was a big part of Mattie's life.

For those who do not know about Mattie Stepanek (July 17, 1990 – June 22, 2004), He was an excellent child poet and author who brought light into many lives. "Stepanek suffered from a rare form of muscular dystrophy, dysautonomic mitochondrial myopathy that resulted in his death just before his 14th birthday."-Wikipedia.org. Billy's significance to Mattie is that Billy made some of Mattie's poems into music, and made an album entitles "Music Through Heartsongs".

I am not going to spill the book in this review. To me the book was a biography, almost autobiographical due to the fact that it was written by his mother, Jeni. It tells the story of Mattie's journey from birth to tragic death. When I read the book, I put it down with a whole new perspective of life: a better one. I realize how selfish I was before. Without exagarration- the book made me a better person. I recommend this book to everyone. The only disclaimer is that you have to have an appropriate reading level, I found it challenging to read due to a few "big words" here and there. But the book never leaves me, wether i'm carrying it or not. Best read of the century.


Happy Holidays!!
-SSUZYJONESS

Great review, Suzy! I'm sure it will make other people who havent read it want to read it