Little Miss Merit Badge: A Memoir [Paperback]

Ronda Beaman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 18, 2012

"I was hooked by the age of 6." So begins the memoir of a girl whose 17-year-old parents dropped ice cubes down her diapers to make her dance, whose bare-chested grandmother gave her singing lessons, whose brother tried to get rid of her with a strategically dropped boulder, and who moved so many times she barely got desk assignments at school, let alone had time to make any friends.

The on-going, outrageous dysfunction, and denial in her life was enough to turn anyone into an addict.

 Nationally recognized university professor and internationally renowned speaker Ronda Beaman confesses her drug of choice was earning Girl Scout badges. Lots of them. And she never quite kicked the habit.

LITTLE MISS MERIT BADGE takes readers through oddball adventures Beaman had earning her many badges as she explores the nature of resilience and the accomplishment addiction many young girls develop to compensate for growing up in a challenging environment.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Former Girl Scout, Dr. Ronda Beaman was the first recipient of the National Education Association's "Excellence in the Academy: Art of Teaching" award, as well as mother of USA Today's Most Creative Family, and is a faculty resource for the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO) University. 

A highly regarded speaker, she also directs leadership studies at California Polytechnic University and is Chief Creative Officer at PEAK Learning, Inc. She is a national thought leader for The American Health Network and her work has been featured on major media including USA Today, CBS, NBC and Fox. 

Dr. Ronda Beaman is available to speak at troop meetings, book clubs and readings, or writing seminars. Find her at LittleMissMeritBadge.com. 

 REVIEWS "...a warm and wise account of what it takes to build a life of merit and then pay it forward." -- Catherine Ryan Hyde, Author of PAY IT FORWARD and 16 other novels

"...proves you can have the best of everything, even in the worst of circumstances, if you are willing to work at it." -- Barbara Hannah Grufferman, Author, THE BEST OF EVERYTHING AFTER 50 "

...beckons you to look at life and learning in a whole new way and by the end makes you better at both." -- Nanci Bell, M.A., Co-founder of Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes

 "Funny, poignant and meaningful." -- Jerry Scott, Co-creator, internationally syndicated comic strips "

...a journey of resilience, hard work and hope that can reawaken our own exceptional selves." -- Dr. Paul G. Stoltz, Bestselling Author, ADVERSITY QUOTIENT

Editorial Reviews

Review

The author writes with vivid energy and humor, and she knows how to turn a phrase; she describes her hospitalized father as "slowly deflating, like a basketball left too long in the garage." Kirkus Review

Product Details

• Paperback: 242 pages
• Publisher: Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing (February 18, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1936214474
• ISBN-13: 978-1936214471
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,583,145 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

You may have seen Ronda on "Don't Forget the Lyrics" with Wayne Brady. She did not know the third verse of "Sweet Home Alabama!" Who knew there was a third verse? But she did remember Tommy James and the Shondell's "I Think We're Alone Now."
When not appearing on game shows, Dr. Ronda Beaman is Chief Creative Officer at PEAK Learning and a Clinical Professor at The Graduate School of Business, California Polytechnic University.
Additionally, Dr. Beaman serves on the Board of Directors for the national Pay It Forward Foundation.She is mother to USA Today's Most Creative Family, an internationally honored speaker and educator, fitness coach and a many badged former Girl Scout.
Her award-winning book, You're Only Young Twice, has been printed in five languages. Her newly released memoir, Little Miss Merit Badge is a humorous account of her achievement addiction and the childhood hijinks employed to thrive in an unusual family.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Ah, yes...The Patterns of Childhood Revisited January 18, 2012

By Grady Harp HALL OF FAMETOP 50 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Ronda Beaman is likely one of the finest teachers around - though teaching is not at the head of her long list of credentials all dealing with learning. She happens to be a superlative writer, one who is able to re-visit the mind of a child and speak and develop thoughts in the manner of the various ages through which she accompanies us in her mesmerizing and entertaining book LITTLE MISS MERIT BADGE.

One of the primary joys of picking up this book and settling into it is the opportunity to either read it as a novel of high comedy - the trials and fantasies and tribulations and encounters of a little girl whose need of acceptance and for being significant leads her into the strange world of Girl Scouts with all the steps to achieving notice and honors through the earning of merit badges that suggests - or as a treatise on childhood addiction. Her stories range from 'adorable' to goofy to warmhearted to strange: she seems to want to emphasize the role of addiction as it is seen in early development and in this case the compulsion is to win as many merit badges and concomitant honors and notice as possible. As she calls it 'accomplishment addiction.' Viewing the book in those terms creates the need to re-read the book from the beginning and examining the story as a case study. Both ways of approaching Ronda Beaman are worthy and we can only hope she offers more book metaphors and scientific exercises in this same vein! She is a delight to read. Grady Harp, January 12

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Treat Yourself to This Book! December 27, 2011

By Carol Becker (Chicago, IL)

Format:Paperback

The indefatigible heart of the narrator will inspire you to take on life's challenges with the courage, humor, and grace with which she tackles hers. Little Miss Merit Badge is wise (and funny!) beyond her years, and her years are a deft balance of hilarious antics and heartbreaking encounters. Her pluck and determination are challenged at every turn, but her resilience shines throughout this fast-paced book as she earns merit badge after merit badge, all the while longing for the singular recognition that eludes her. The real charm of this story is the dual gift of a fearless, funny, and sensitive child's spirited account interwoven with the insights of an articulate, resilient, and formidable woman. The child has earned her merit badges, and the woman has earned her life. When I reached the end of this touching memoir I appreciated the symbiotic relationship of growth and adversity. This is my favorite kind of book, one that tells me a compelling story while shining a light on my own life as well as the author's.
I'll be giving this book as gifts to all the people I love.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Thin Mints of Reads! January 21, 2012

By Kelly

Format:Paperback

I laughed, I cried...no really, I did. This heartfelt memoir expertly balances the humor and hardships of a childhood literally spent on the move:

- From house to house to house - too frequently within the same school year - year after year after year;
- As a target for her parents' dismissals and criticisms;
- In a race with her siblings for love;
- In a race with herself to grow up and escape -- but escape what and to what;
- To find acceptance in the form of merit badges, hard proof to herself and the world that she had merit.

Well constructed and beautifully told, the author's story pulls at the heart, the mind, and the funny bone. Her family portrait, while woefully underdeveloped, allows the reader to see along with the author the confusion, frustration, and shame that eventually transforms to her own understanding and acceptance.

Along the way, I found myself remembering and exploring my own childhood, my family, my responses, my life. Not a tale of woe nor a place for blame, this book is an opportunity to see how one exceptional woman found a way not to just survive a dysfunctional upbringing in suburban America, but inspire - herself, her family, her friends, her students, and now you, the lucky reader. While this book may not seem a badge of honor in itself, the life explored certainly deserves two sashes filled with them.