My wife received this book as a gift from a student at the
school years end.  She read it and told me I had to read it.  I picked it
up and could not put it down!  Never has a book captured my thoughts like
this book did.  It was masterful in how it was written.  I agree with what
some of the reviewers of the book have said.  It should be required
reading for our High Schoolers.  If I was in charge of the United States
for a day, one of the first things I would do is make it a law that if you
drop out of High School you must go directly into a branch of service.  No
doubt in my mind the Navy played a big part in your success.  Great book,
I just can't wait on the sequel with all of the information about what
happened to your family and how you ended up in Winder!

Tim Albritton

July 2, 2008

Often when searching for our heroes, we explore through history or the stand out performers in the fields to which we, ourselves, aspire. What is most compelling is when we aren't seeking out a hero at all and one happens to appear on our path in the course of doing our job, organizing our own list of goals and priorities, or simply reflecting on our life. We just never know where angels dare to tread. I have just found a new hero in a book.

When I meet Paul Miller, he is an eight year old boy. He seized my hand in his own and embarked on a trip that was to last nine years. In those years, I never let go of his hand. Not once. It was a harrowing journey, not through the nostalgia of penny candy, nickel ice-cream cones, and pea-green Hudsons, but through the character forging of a man. It was through locked doors, dark alleys, blackened eyes, and pain. It was through an anguish and a solitude no young boy should know about.

Paul's journey propelled him through the innocence of a child into an adulthood that was a lifetime ahead of itself. It carried him through experiences some only think about and then shudder at the thought. He groped through the murky tunnel of innumerable questions no young mind should have to ask, his only clues coming from an old black man with a 'jiggy' pole by the name of Noah. Paul emerged from that tunnel with an inner wisdom that would be envied by most at seventy. He was only seventeen.

Susan Haley

Susan is a published author of two books, several articles on networking, an award-winning poet, and the copy editor and book reviewer for Pepper Tree Press Publishing. She is a columnist for the "The Florida Writer." She was recently awarded runner-up Finalist in the 2008 Indie Excellence National Book Awards.

Read 175 times. There are good books, and there are bad books, sometimes you even tumble upon a great book. In my world there is one more level, and you find it very rarely, it transcends the 'great' designation.' A Place To Belong, belongs in that place! A book that cannot be put down, a book that commands you to keep tuming the pages.

This is a kid that is not permitted to be a kid, he goes from toddler to adult almost overnight. One of the most poignant moments in the narrativeis Paul's return to Detroit at age 11 and being reunited with his friends," They were still little kids, playing pretend games. So, as it turned out, I didn't want to spend time with them. I think they were just as baffled as I was.

How many 14-year-olds do you know that have hitch-hiked their way across the states twice? With no money, no real destination, Paul lives day by day. Mostly it is the kiindness of others that provide the guiding light, but not everyone has such high principals. Surprising acts of kindness come from unlikely sources. Truckers, Motel Desk Clerks, and maybe the kindest of all, an old black man named Noah. He offered no money, he offered no  food, he didn't even offer shelter. But what he did offer was hope, and hope likely is what got Paul Miller to adulthood. Others that cross Paul's path have different plans, plans that I care not to even think about.

I work with the homeless, and I have met 'Paul' more times than I care to recall.

This is a most disturbing book. It bothered me so much that I broke my rule on reviewing, I actually read a couple of other reviews. 'It should be mandatory reading in High School' one said. I have to disagree, Paul Miller survived his ordeal, most kids do not. They just become a statistic.

A Place to Belong is a gripping tale, and I applaud Paul Miller for having the guts to write it. There is humor in it, but is of the dark and mirthless type.

Simon Barrett

  This is quite a story. An ideal read for teenagers who might be headed in the wrong direction. 

  Paul, a young boy, travels all over the country, scales the outside of buildings, jumps trains and hitch hikes across the country a couple of times. With each stop, he becomes involved with seedier characters and sinks further into delinquency. But in the end, with great effort, he pulls himself out of it. It is a memorable read, one that will stick with me for a long time. 

  A Place to Belong, Paul Miller's poignant story of a young man growing up in the post WWII United States might well be to Parenting what Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is to racial prejudice. Young Paul is only eight years old when...

  The character of Noah is a classic. A Place to Belong, belongs on every high school and college reading list; especially sociology majors. If I were Governor Sonny Perdue of Georgia, this book would be required reading for every employee in the Department of Juvenile Justice.

  I was one of the fortunate folks to read Paul's Book, A Place to Belong, well before it even received a title. I've known and worked with Paul for (shhhh...) many, many years. When Paul asked me to read his manuscript while it was still a work in progress, I was flattered. Then, I was flabbergasted! I couldn't believe the man I knew had been this child. The book is a wonderful account of coming into one's own, of finding and making a place in the world...a place to belong.

  I hope to one day see this book on the required reading list for High School students. I think many troubled kids will relate to Paul, the child, and will benefit from his success story.

  I commend and applaud the telling of this story and the man who told it. I love the finished product and have two copies proudly displayed in my real estate office for all the world (or at least all of our town and its visitors) to see.