Publisher's Synopsis
Lucas is a shy, scholarly 9-year-old boy who finds it hard to fit in. He's constantly bullied at school and picked on by his own brothers at home. He fails when he tries to fit in, such as a disastrous attempt to play football with the guys. Luckily, he has two best friends to help him through tough times: Kai and Cassie.
But one day Kai moves away, and the bullying gets even worse when Lucas' only remaining friend is a girl. He decides to talk only to Cassie and adults and turns to books for companions. A sudden accident brings a surprising power and helps him build confi dence. When Kai visits, Lucas learns he and Cassie both have learned martial arts to help prevent people from bullying them, and they are inspired to help other kids learn to do the same.
A Light in the Darkest Days shows kids that it is okay to be different, especially when they learn to stand up for themselves. The chapter book works well for young readers or as a read-aloud story as a lesson in having confidence and bringing dark days into the light.
AUTHOR BIO
This is the first book for Joseph Atif Jackson-Morris, who grew up in North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He and his character Lucas share a quiet, reserved personality, and many of the events in the story were inspired by Joseph's own life. The character of Kai was inspired by his nephew, who passed away in 1998 at the age of 10. He had been Joseph's best friend and loyal to him always. Joseph was only 11 years old at the time when he passed. With that tremendous loss, Joseph has learned to take a lot of life's problems head on. Joseph has now grown up to be a little more outspoken than he once was. He also still has that same imagination that he had as a child. With newly gained intelligence and life experience, he wanted to use his smarts along with his imaginations to tell stories. He has now become an up and coming author. He also owns two degrees in Information Technology. While he does have a passion for technology, he also shares that same passion for writing and telling stories. He plans to continue writing stories, and more books for older audiences also.
