The Box is a true coming of age moment, meant to promote mentorship. The setting is inner-city Chicago, where it's both then and now a dangerous and violent place to live. This is two boys' journey through streets filled with crime, drugs, and almost certain death. To avoid being bullied and to up his gear game, the author, who was twelve years old at the time, began selling contraband at school. By sixteen he had turned his spare change operation into an effective hustle and gained a little personal respect as a result. The other boy had his life end suddenly; just as the veil of uncertainty was being lifted. This is a dramatic, compelling story full of deep insight, and was written for one reason. Because without it, many young men will continue to get sucked into a place from which few ever emerge. "The Box" shows how a single spark of light can illuminate even the darkest existence. When times get tough, most people teach their kids to circle the wagons and hunker down into a safe and cozy, "way it's always been" space. Unfortunately, life isn't designed to be cozy or safe. Times change, people change, places changes, and methodology changes. Life rewards those who take risks and venture forth in hustle mode. This book tells its readers how to embrace hustle mode when it is necessary. Antone warns through a personal account, the danger in allowing fear to stop us from taking steps and moving toward our dreams. THE BOX draws on aspects of the author's past: both as a hustler and businessman. It is set at a time when he was a mentor to a wayward teen. Like most others, he bombarded him with advice on how to achieve an ideal life, but it wasn't until he actually talked about his idea of an ideal life did he have a breakthrough. The story will offer hope to young adult readers with displaced futures who are now trying to reconnect with their passions. In style, it will resonate like Nas' Illmatic twisted into Ken Blanchet's "Who moved my Cheese". Moreover, this book offers significant potential to reduce the adverse effects of father absence and serves as an important tool to promote responsible actions by supporting and encouraging caring adults to become actively involved in the lives of children and youth.
About the Author: Teens can smell authenticity. When you have it, and when you believe deep down in what you are pitching before ever asking for someone else too, an entirely new world of opportunity opens up. The author, my name is Demarcus Burnett, but I compose under the pen Antone Ade. I am new to writing but have developed quite a catalog of work. I lived and matured in what the news or media calls the urban ghetto. I've spent over 20 years in Sales and I'm an MBA candidate with a degree in Marketing. I am the oldest of seven and my counsel guided all of them into the calm of a successful life. I sermonized over and over again; failure is just another step on the road to success. Instead of shying away from failure, they should embrace their misses, learn, adapt and try again. This book and the others in the series have been written to: -Improve young people's attitudes towards their parents, peers, and teachers -Encourage students to stay motivated and focused on their education and provides a positive way for young people to spend free time -Help young people face daily challenges and offer opportunities for youth to consider new career paths and get much-needed economic skills and knowledge I have written this series of short books as practical parables; which are a type of analogy. I use practical parables because they are condensed, concise and easier for my intended audience to follow. More famous parables are The One Minute Manager and Who moved my Cheese by Dr. Spenser Johnson. These books are classified as Quick Reads. They set out to challenge beliefs and to show that books and reading can be for everyone. "Quick Reads" titles are simply shorter and easier to tackle for people who are busy or less certain in their reading skills.