Growing up with MacKenzie: My Life in Black and White

by Jon Kirkland Bonham

Life is good, when I don't manage to screw it up by being the "stuff-happens poster-child". I've got a case of Murphy's Law in overdrive. If you think there's NO possible way to mess it up just add ME to the mix. I'm an over-achiever. Need a visual? Try to picture had friends, I was good at sports, I wasn't the class clown, but I wasn't that despised, little tattle-tale of a teacher's pet, either. I had my books, my basketball, and life wasn't perfect but it was all MINE. How could you possibly mess that up, you say? Well, one morning, instead of waking up to my MOM, I found her replaced with a NOTE. To say "things changed"-what an understatement! Well, living in San Antonio, Texas with a brother I never knew existed, I became the most culturally-confused child to walk the streets of the Alamo-City. Welcome to my world the blond, blue-eyed kid with the older "Brotha'."Getting through middle school (or what they call junior high school- back home) has been the worst. But four years later, life is starting to get back to "normal". How did I go from being in the "White" family photo, to feeling like I'm in the "Right" family photo? Pull up a chair it's a long story. But I warn ya'-you'll never know what to expect, when you're Growing up with MacKenzie.

596 pages, Paperback

First published November 16, 2006

About the author

Born a “military brat” on Veteran’s Day (1968), Jon Kirkland Bonham now resides in San Antonio, TX with his beloved fiancee, Anne, as well as a huge extended family.

After being shot eleven times in a near fatal 1994 car-jacking, he graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 1997 with a Teaching certificate in Secondary English and a B.S. in Kinesiology. His commitment to children is clearly shown through his years as a foster-parent, mentor, and nigh upon a decade as a middle school teacher/coach in one of the most prestigious school districts in San Antonio.

JB, as friends call him, relishes spending time with loved ones, worshiping God, fitness, and all types of music. He loves reading everything from books of Black interest and the Bible, to Shakespeare, and comic books. An award-winning poet, he anticipates a fulfilling writing career, after the release of this, his first novel about what he knows best...the middle school adolescent.

Reviews

[Maya Wilder · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite teacher wrote this book and there is a character of my likeness as well as my classmates in it! Great story that brings back memories of good times from my youth and the things we experienced. Love you Coach Bonham!