Title: Do Your Best
Author: Patricia Kloehn
Publisher: ‎ Pen Culture Solutions
ISBN: ‎ 1638123551
Pages: ‎ 56
Genre: Children’s / Self-Improvement
Reviewed by: David Allen

Read Book Review

Ostensibly a children’s book, Do Your Best is actually suitable for readers and listeners of all ages. This true story, deeply moving and inspirational, is all about the best in us: courage and resilience and humor in the face of daunting adversity.

Tragedy, defined by Aristotle in his Poetics, is a ritual re-enactment on the stage, or in a book of humanity; humanity at the whim of greater forces – time, mortality, illness. The story of Negus Kloehn, an Ethiopian boy adopted by a loving American family, absolutely meets that criterion – and much more. Negus is a hero, a champion: for a time, he has what it takes to survive…and to thrive.  The story is narrated in the first person, by Negus, in a direct and powerfully appealing voice that makes short work of impermanence and loss.

Negus and his two sisters and younger brother mostly fend for themselves; they have to do the best they can under extremely difficult circumstances. They live in a one room hut, and often don’t have enough to eat. Dad is gone, and mom is out in the field, picking coffee beans in order to barely scrape by. Despite the constraints of extreme poverty, of having to make do, Negus manages to enjoy his life, caring for his younger siblings while relishing his youth and his love of soccer.

Push comes to shove. His mother, left with no other alternative, places Negus and his sister Elita in an orphanage. They have the good fortune to be adopted by a caring American family (the author, and her partner, an American doctor, who live in Vail, Colorado.) Negus bears up to his new life admirably, relishing the advantages of school, sports, and always having enough to eat. Tragedy arrives, in the form of epileptic attacks – seizures – that would have been a deal-breaker for many others…but not for Negus.

For years, he co-exists with these, as his adoptive parents take him from one doctor and clinic to the next, in search of definitive treatment. Turns out Negus’ seizures are intractable: ultimately untreatable, ultimately the cause of his death.  Negus is stymied by the medication he must take to control the convulsions. At the same time, his essential good nature and cheer shine through. He makes the best of things, making the most of his life and appreciating his sweet, caring family.

His love of soccer, expressed in his wish to play professional soccer and to bring nets and balls to African children, survives his time in this world. Negus succumbs to his ultimately untreatable illness; but he leaves the world in better shape than he found it, by grace of the shining example of his persistent courage and bravura.

You will have many thoughts and feelings as you read this book. Negus’ story, captured in simple, direct prose by his adoptive mother, is a bellwether for the innocence, courage, and strength in each of us as we rise to the challenge of our lives. Negus does his personal best, and that comes across in every paragraph, illustration, and photo in this remarkable and stirring book.