Orphans' Nine Commandments (Hardcover)

by William Roger Holman (Author), Ted Blevins (Foreword)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
When Roger Bechan was six, his mother packed his suitcase and told him they were going to Oklahoma City to visit an uncle. Instead, she took him to the Oklahoma Society for the Friendless, where he began a long journey through three orphanages and several foster homes. With all the color of the 1930s, this is a story of survival within an impersonal child-care system, a story filled with vivid characters, pathos, surprising humor, and the tenacity of a young boy who longs for a normal home and can't understand why his mother abandoned him or who his father is. No wonder he and his orphan friends omit the tenth commandment: to "honor your father and mother."

As a teenager, the boy finds a home with a supportive couple in a small Oklahoma oil town. Roger Bechan becomes William Holman, who obtains degrees from two universities, marries and raises three sons, and becomes the youngest director of the San Francisco Public Library and an award-winning book designer. Late in life, he discovers the identity of his father--and a new family.

About the Author
WILLIAM HOLMAN served as Head Librarian, Pan American University; Director of the Rosenberg Library in Galveston; Director of the San Francisco Library; and Professor, The Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas. He is a mentor for the Orphan Foundation of America and has represented the group on national television.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 238 pages
• Publisher: Texas Christian University Press (September 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0875653553
• ISBN-13: 978-0875653556
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #961,205 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Life and Times of an Oklahoma Orphan, October 31, 2007

By	Verlyn Griffin (Fort Worth, TX) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Reading Bill Holman's book brought me great personal pleasure. I am an Oklahoman who also lived in Drumright and Oklahoma City. As he described places and events in both cities, the sights and sounds became alive and I traveled with him on his journey as a young boy trying to survive in a world that he did not choose. He enjoyed great adventures and endured times of great sadness. His story makes you feel every emotion imaginable as he grows up from that child that was abandoned by his mother to the young man that he becomes. This book is an easy read that keeps the reader engaged. It made me laugh and made me cry. What more could you want?

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Unforgettable Orphan , October 27, 2007

By	Harold Billings (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Upfront alert: this commentator watched this book grow from original Ms. to finished publication--a rare treat that works on several levels--as a literary success, a sociological record of orphanage life in 1930s Oklahoma, and the quest for a mother and father whose trails have been carefully hidden. These are no "princes of Oklahoma," but children who struggle for food and affection, who steal their own Christmas tree, play in a cast-off coffin, assist the town madam bury her pet dog, with a boy who fights a system that markets in orphans and who uses Juicy Fruit gum to prove his worth. As readable as a colorful novel, this (as Larry McMurtry says) is an important book, the story of a small boy who overcomes five different names, a succession of "homes," and all his bad angels to achieve national success and solve at least a part of his quest. A truly unforgettable story.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Orphans' Nine Commandments, November 29, 2007

By	R. Beale - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Orphans' Nine Commandments by William Roger Holman. Mr. Holman was brave to share this very personal and I'm sure emotionally and physically painful childhood with the reader. It is written with such attention to detail that the reader feels as if he is going through young Holman's life with him. The book moved me greatly to the extent of tears on more that one occasion. This is one chapter of American history which is not found in the school text books. Thank you William Roger Holman for sharing your journey with us.