The Unbreakable Boy is a remarkable true story about Austin LeRette. He loves to talk and share everything to everyone. He loves hats and dripping everything in ranch dressing. He was born with a condition called osteogenesis imperfecta. This causes his bones to break very easily. He has autism and he would organize some of his toys and movies. Most of the book is written from the dad’s perceptive, Scott. He begins the book by explaining how he met Teresa and at a shop and they wound up going on a date. He admitted how he didn’t even know her last name after meeting up a few times. Then he received the dreaded shocking phone call that she was pregnant. She realized she was pregnant when she was hurting and had to go to the emergency room. They found a benign tumor in her ovaries. They had to take it out. She thought about getting an abortion and ended up canceling the appointment. He explained how he told his parents and how they reacted. There was an awkward moment when he told her that he loved her. The book covered how she later told him that she had been divorced twice. They did eventually get married but their struggles were just beginning. Scott had a drinking problem and this led to issues in their marriage.
Austin suffered abuse from and had to be taken to the hospital with broken ribs. He fell off the changing table when a sixteen-year-old was filling in helping. They tried to blame it on the parents and say his injury happened before he was brought there and they used lawyers to protect them. The place lied and covered up until the truth come out and they were cited with over 70 violations. This was just the tip of the iceberg of injuries he would face. He broke his leg once after falling off a table while Scott was supposed to be watching him. Later, he went into detail about how he accidently knocked him over while swinging on a swing and he broken even more bones.
The book shared some of the stories from his younger brother, Logan. One of these was about he gave away his own candy for Easter to a bully. He knew he didn’t get anything and he did this to show the boy kindness even though he was mean to him every day. Another powerful one was how his brother discovered that Austin was messaging other kids on Facebook inviting them over to his house. He wanted them to come play and hang out but he didn’t know them all that well. One of the kids was a former drug user and had trouble with the law. Austin tried to explain to his day that the kid needed friends and a lot of this was he wanted to accepted and liked. Logan tried to explain how he own had two or three true friends and we can’t invite strangers over.
This book is an inspiring read and it was interesting to read about their hope and how their faith increased. I enjoyed this book and learning more about Austin and the challenges he faced. The book is also being made into a film which is just as great as the book is. I recently watched the movie and then read the book. There are a few differences such as the easter candy that was turned into a toy for the movie version.
If you would like to purchase a copy, check it out on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Unbreakable-Boy-Fathers-Courage-Unconditional-ebook/dp/B00KQ2G55Q/
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