Imagine yourself a thirteen-year-old hundreds of miles away from home, in a strange city, and your mom leaves you at a bus station parking lot and drives off into the night with her lover. That’s the real life story of country music star Jimmy Wayne. It’s a miracle that Jimmy survived being hungry and homeless, bouncing in and out of the foster care system, and sleeping in the streets. But he … streets. But he didn’t just overcome great adversity in his life; he now uses his country music platform to help children everywhere, especially teenagers in foster care who are about to age out of the system.
Walk to Beautiful is the powerfully emotive account of Jimmy’s horrendous childhood and the love shown him by Russell and Bea Costner, the elderly couple who gave him a stable home and provided the chance to complete his education. Jimmy says of Bea, “She changed every cell in my body.”
It also chronicles Jimmy’s rise to fame in the music industry and his Meet Me Halfway campaign: his walk halfway across America, 1,700 miles from Nashville to Phoenix, to raise awareness for foster kids.
Join Jimmy on his walk to beautiful and see how one person really can make a difference.
ENDORSEMENTS
“If your story could use a better chapter, take inspiration from Jimmy’s.”-Max Lucado, New York Times Best-Selling Author
“It reads like a movie to me, and if so, I’ll be the first one in a seat to see it.”-Dolly Parton
“Walk to Beautiful will open your eyes to the hurting people around you.”-Frank Harrison, Chairman and CEO, Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated; Chairman and Cofounder, With Open Eyes
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This book will stay with you days after reading it. I have recommended it to several of my friends and to the on line book club I belong to. I would like a sequel to this book please Jimmy Wayne.
A story everyone should read. It’s an eye opener and provides a reality check
I found this book to be informative. I was a teacher for thirty years and I worked with all kinds of students. I often wondered what they were thinking in their little minds. I found it quite interesting because the main character would tell you what he was thinking and why he responded the way he did. It helped me see why certain kids acted …
AMAZING!!!
With such an incredibly tragic childhood, Jimmy Wayne should have been a statistic of either suicide or prison. Yet he found a strength that allowed him not only to overcome such a horrible upbringing, but to strive for and reach success in both career and life. His testimony sheds a light on how a few key individuals in his life kept that hope …
This book is an amazing true life biography that many people + teens can benefit from reading to appreciate a good family life or have lots of hope if their journey is a very rough road.
Great.
opened my eyes to the plight of the foster kid program.
What a REMARKABLE kid, who grows up to be a truly inspirational young man! If I could only use 3 words to articulate the spirit of the book and of Jimmy Wayne they would be Endurance, Faith and Love.
I hope that Jimmy Wayne will sell MILLIONS of copies of this book and inspire readers to positive actions of their own!
Hearing the realities that some children, many children, have to endure is heart breaking. Jimmy opened my eyes through the telling of his life story and it gives hope that with the right support kids can survive and thrive!
This is an outstanding book! A young boy’s resilience serves him well growing up poor, without stable parents, to become a country music star. Heart wrenching with a good outcome.
Very interesting! Reminds me of The Glass Castle.
I’ve shared it with several people already. Moving story. Loved it. Was captivating. Thanks.
Very inspirational story. This book is a true story of both the good and the bad that can be in people. Horrify and redeeming all at the same time. So happy that the author had good people in his life that saved him his circumstances.
Amazing how Jimmy accomplished what he did with all the adversity in his life.
I picked up this book because the cover was attractive. I knew nothing about Jimmy Wayne, his life, or his music. What I found was both a boy and a man who had vast reserves of hope and compassion, while using his instincts for survival and guts to keep moving every day.
This is an excellent book, well written. Jimmy’s life was very turbulent, but he still came out a winner and helped make positive changes to the foster care system. He inspired me to participate in a local walk sponsored by a radio station to raise awareness of foster care youth.
Wish I could have liked it more. I admire the person but the writing was cliched and boring.
Thought provoking story. Glad I read this book.
This book was more of a whine than a story. Not worth the time.