The Side-Yard Superhero (Life in Degraff: An Automythography) (Hardcover)

~ Rick Niece (Author)
Key Phrases: The Side-Yard Superhero, Miss Lizzie, Bernie Jones (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

'I know where Bernie Jones is.'With one late-night phone call, Rick Niece is transported back over forty years to cherished childhood memories of small town DeGraff, Ohio. His daily newspaper route, the sights and wonders of a traveling carnival, the sounds of Christmas caroling-the idyllic memories all circle back to one special relationship.To Rickie, being friends with Bernie Jones was no different than being friends with any other boy in town. Bernie's physical world was confined to a wheelchair, but that didn't stop him from being an intrepid daydreamer, adventurer, and hero to Rickie. The unique friendship the boys forged defined an era in both their lives. When he left for college, Rickie promised Bernie they would meet again. Now, decades later, he is making the pilgrimage back to Ohio to fulfill that promise.

About the Author

When he was four, Rick Niece's family moved to DeGraff, Ohio, a town of 900 citizens. Life in DeGraff was good, and the lessons learned from treasured friendships still inspire him today. As president of the University of the Ozarks in Clarksville, Arkansas, Dr. Niece and his wife, Sherée, are the proud parents of 675 students.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Synergy Books (March 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 098154620X
• ISBN-13: 978-0981546209
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #367,689 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Life is in the little moments...., June 1, 2009

By	G. Marlow (Arkansas) - See all my reviews

(In the interest of full disclosure, I'm going to tell you that Rick Niece is my boss at the University of the Ozarks. However, I'm not writing this review to suck up (lol); if I didn't like the book, I would just fall back on the nice, vague, noncommittal smile whenever anyone mentioned it....)

There's a song I enjoy by Rob Thomas with lyrics that include "Our lives are made in these small hours/ These little wonders, these twists and turns of fate/ Time falls away but these small hours/ These small hours still remain." As I finished reading The Side-Yard Superhero, those lyrics came to mind, because this book is a celebration of the "small hours" that make up our lives and of how memory keeps those small hours with us.

Nothing all that extraordinary happened to the author when he was young, and that's exactly what makes this story extraordinary. Niece is a good storyteller with a talent for observing the little details. He uses those details to frame truths about life, sometimes stated, sometimes implicit. My favorite chapters in the book were the ones about the carnival that came to DeGraff. There are several small stories imbedded in that larger story, including a very touching account of how Rickie and his friends tried to help Bernie Jones experience the carnival - in some ways, they succeeded, but in other ways, they failed. I also liked but was sort of saddened by the story of Rickie's trip to the "Nature's Oddities" tent. My favorite bit, though, was Niece's description of watching his parents ride the merry-go-round together: "It's nice when your parents are in love and not afraid to show it." Again, he's hit on one of those unimportant little moments in life that mean everything.

The story of Rickie's relationship with Bernie underscores the importance of the small moments in life. Toward the end of the story, as Rickie is maturing, we come to see through his eyes that those moments we all take for granted were monumental for Bernie, restricted as he was by the physical limitations he faced.

The book has brief chapters that would be just right for a read-aloud experience, and Niece has a distinctive and sincere voice. At the end, I did have a feeling similar to one I had at the end of the "Return of the King" movie -- several times I thought the story had come to an end, only to find there was a little more.

Happy I am that I can sincerely recommend this book -- with no sucking up involved!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring and entertaining, February 25, 2009

By	Civil War Buff "Civil War Buff" - See all my reviews

I laughed. I cried. I did not want to put it down. An extraordinary story by an incredible writer.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful memoir, June 29, 2009

By	Library Girl Reads - See all my reviews

Rick D. Niece recounts his time growing up in DeGraff, Ohio in The Side-Yard Superhero. In this first book of a trilogy, readers are introduced to some of the colorful characters of Niece's childhood, including a young man named Bernie Jones who is wheelchair bound due to cerebral palsy. Rick and Bernie become friends when Rick takes time on his paper route to really get to know Bernie.

I very much enjoyed getting to know the people of DeGraff through Rick Niece's memories. Each of the people that the reader meets along the way had some sort of impact on Niece's life and helped shape him into the man he is today. The stories flow easily, as if the reader is actually listening to Niece remember. He easily conveys the warm feelings that he continues to carry for these people and this town.

Interspersed with the stories are poems. These poems demonstrate strongly how large of an impact these people had on Niece's life as he searches for some universal truths or meanings in the experiences they shared.

The Side-Yard Superhero is a wonderfully written memoir and a fantastic beginning to a trilogy. I am looking forward to the next two installments and learning more about the folks in DeGraff.