Children's Book Review - The Push

The Push : a story of friendship

By Patrick Gray

Illustrated by Justin Skeesuck & Matt Waresak

2018 Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Reviewed by Diane Busch

This is a wonderful book for all children between the ages of about 6 and 12. 

The friendship that is portrayed between these 2 boys is more intimate than we are used to reading about for boys. 

John is a quadriplegic in a wheel chair and Marcus helps him eat, dress, get around, etc. After a few years John feels bad that their friendship is so one-sided; that Marcus is always helping John, but John can not help Marcus. Then Marcus reminds John of all the ways he helps him, such as making him laugh, helping him with math, helping him learn patience, etc. 

I was reading this book out loud to my grandchildren, and as I got near the end (page 26), I was in tears and had to take a momentary break because I couldn’t read without crying. The story is so touching and teaches a great lesson for children and adults. 

A copy of this book was provided for review.