An Uphill Climb

by Dave Sargent

An amazing story of a young farm boy from Arkansas. Illiterate and saddled with learning disabilities, he overcomes his many obstacles to reach professional success.

344 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Dave Sargent is a published author of children's books. Dave and his wife Pat are from Prairie Grove, Arkansas and have written over 400 books. Some of their book series include: Saddle Up, stories about horses, Animal Pride, a series about a variety of animals, Feather Tales, stories about birds, and Learn To Read, books containing sight words.

Reviews

[Kasey Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was adding this book to my "Read" shelf and noticed that no one has written a review for it so I thought I'd write my first review on the site.

I read this book as a young kid in Elementary School in the 90s, and it had a big impact on my life. I was a big fan of Dave Sargent's stories for children back then. Dave actually came to our school one day to give a speech about his writing and his life.

During that visit, he had books for sale, mostly his illustrated children's stories. He also had this for sale, most likely intended for the parents and teachers that attended the event. I'm not quite sure what drew to this book, maybe his story intrigued me enough to want to read more about his life.

For whatever reason, I convinced my grandmother to buy this book for me and Dave Sargent was nice enough to autograph it for me. I still have this book on my bookshelf to this day.

Dave had a hard life and it was very interesting to read about, especially his thoughts of suicide as a child. Which can be quite shocking if you are not prepared for that.

With all this being said, though I enjoyed this book as a child, I'm not sure this book would be ideal for children to read unless they can handle the difficult themes inside.

For those that can, or for those who would like to know more about this author, this was an excellent read.

[Adams' Country Retreat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read a great true story about a boy from Arkansas. In the beginning of the book, Dave Sargent tells about the difficult life he endured and a lot about living and working on a farm. After this, the book snowballs and you find out there is a lot more to Dave, once he begins his life in the army and is deployed to Vietnam. A touching story til the very end.

[Marilyn Rushing · Rating 5 out of 5]

After a few tears I am able to write my review.

Wow!!!! What a story…..based on the life of Dave Sargent.
Unable to read or write Dave Sargent’s life was unimaginable. His class mates called him Dummy. His teacher punished him daily. His only friend was a stray dog, Tippy. Even his mom said she wished he had died instead of his brother.
Dave even tried to take his on life at an early age. After getting accepted into the army under false pretense, Dave finally made lots of friends but what would happen when they found out he could not read or write? For once Dave felt his life was truly worth living.
A must read. A story from despair to feeling on top of the world.

[Bre · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read this book several times and the life story of Dave is such a powerful one. I always recommend this book and the feedback I get when someone reads it is always positive. A story about overcoming life and doing what everyone else deems the impossible. A must read

[Clay Dollar]

Fantastic book. Been a few years ago that I read this one.

[Brayden Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the first books I ever read! got it signed too so that's pretty cool ig 😊

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

it dnt let m read it wen I try wat do I have to do in order to read it