Ron's Reviews > The One-in-a-Million Boy

My thoughts are awash after reading this story that I cannot stop thinking about. Books I’ve loved tend to do that. “Loved” kind of says it all, but because the boy in the book, who grabbed my heart, was a boy who liked to count and list things by groups of ten, I thought I’d form my own list of ten thoughts and feelings that tries to explain why this story so affected me:

1.) I cannot ignore the World records that were such a part of this 11-year old boy’s personality. I found myself looking forward to these lists as they popped up between chapters, in groups of ten of course. The best part: they pertained to and enhanced the story.
2.) Gosh, this book made me laugh. Inside and out loud.
3.) On the flipside - tears. Yeah, I was close. Quite a few times actually. I’ve said it before: emotions can lift a story to the next level.
4.) The friendship between this uncommonly wonderful boy and the 104-year-old woman named Ona defied proved that the boundaries of age are nonexistent and trivial.
5.) This boy’s stamp on many hearts made a deep impression on mine. A boy so young and seemingly small yet whose presence remains large. He is the intangible that binds.
6.) The dad realizing that he cannot go back, but can still love the son that was lost and understanding the blessings of the love he did not see.
7.) The mom whose broken heart finds solace in forgiveness, and the knowledge that the same heart can yet love another.
8.) The way a child can teach a 104-year-old friend to recall the best parts of a life; that age is only a number; and beginnings can occur at any point.
9.) Gorgeous, heartfelt wording:

”Then ten, and ten again, chiming from concealed spots above and between and around the houses and garages and parked cars and telephone poles and the light urges into the astonishing hour, each chime pecking a pinhole in the sheeted dark until the last layers shred completely and the light pours in and in.”

10.) Beautiful endings.