Underprivileged Overachiever

A Crenshaw Story

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Pub Date 31 Aug 2020 | Archive Date 31 Jan 2021
Geospatial Q & A Inc. | Telemachus Press

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Description

My name is Yohancé.
It rhymes with Beyoncé, starts with a Y.
YOH-HON-SAY.

          Like too many young people, I grew up amid poverty, homelessness, gang violence and drugs. But unlike many others, I found success. I reached for the skies – literally – and became a multi-decorated graduate of the famed Air Force Academy.

          At age fourteen, I ran away, but not from home—because I never had one to begin with. At school I participated in every sport, club, and after-school activity, so that when the other kids finally left, I could settle in for the night by my locker. I spent my childhood dealing with gangs, drugs, violence, and my mother's mental illness, but the real enemy was always poverty.

          This is The Blind Side meets The Pursuit of Happyness, except this time the father is just a boy. I drag my little brother through hell with me, ready to sacrifice myself to keep him alive. Now that the story is complete, I have written it all down in this memoir: Underprivileged Overachiever: A Crenshaw Story.

           My memoir tells a unique story with candor, irreverent humor, bad jokes, and open-hearted sentiment. I recall the colorful people – both good and bad – who played important roles in my life. I explain how a child was forced very quickly to become an adult – and learned it the hard way.

           My life story has been the subject of several media stories, including The Los Angeles Times. But Underprivileged Overachiever: A Crenshaw Story gives me the opportunity in 250 pages to share the deepest details of my life that I have never shared before.

My name is Yohancé.
It rhymes with Beyoncé, starts with a Y.
YOH-HON-SAY.

Like too many young people, I grew up amid poverty, homelessness, gang violence and drugs. But unlike many others...


Advance Praise

"OMG. This story...might need a warning label before..." 

—Eric Sondheimer
Los Angeles Times

"OMG. This story...might need a warning label before..." 

—Eric Sondheimer
Los Angeles Times


Marketing Plan

The plan is to release the book in all formats on all major platforms. UNDERPRIVILEGED OVERACHIEVER is available from Ingram at the 55% discount for retailers.

It is also already in several libraries.

LCCN: 2020916454

There will also be a music video and robust marketing plan as I bolster my platform as a public speaker.


It's a ways away, but I am coming for the #1 spot.


Publisher’s Cataloging-In-Publication Data

(Prepared by The Donohue Group, Inc.)

Names: Salimu, Y. A. (Yohancé A.), author.

Title: Underprivileged overachiever : a Crenshaw story / by Y.A. Salimu.

Description: Dublin, Ohio : Telemachus Press, [2020] | Includes index. |

Interest age level: 014-018. | Summary: The true story of an African

American man who grew up amid poverty, homelessness, gang violence and

drugs. But unlike many others, he found success. He reached for the

skies and became a multi-decorated graduate of the Air Force Academy.

Identifiers: ISBN 9781951744328 (paperback) | ISBN 9781951744335

(hardback) | ISBN 9781951744311 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Salimu, Y. A. (Yohancé A.) | Homeless youth--California--

Los Angeles--Biography. | African American military cadets--California-

-Los Angeles--Biography. | Crenshaw High School (Los Angeles, Calif.)--

Students--Biography. | Brothers--California--Los Angeles. | FIRST

Robotics Competition (2009) | Success. | CYAC: Salimu, Y. A. (Yohancé

A.) | Homeless youth--California--Los Angeles--Biography. | African

American military cadets--California--Los Angeles--Biography. |

Crenshaw High School (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Students--Biography. |

Brothers--California--Los Angeles. | FIRST Robotics Competition (2009)

| Success. | LCGFT: Autobiographies. | BISAC: YOUNG ADULT NONFICTION /

Biography & Autobiography / General.

Classification: LCC E185.97.S24 A3 2020 (print) | LCC E185.97.S24 (ebook)

| DDC 979.49400496073092 B--dc23



The plan is to release the book in all formats on all major platforms. UNDERPRIVILEGED OVERACHIEVER is available from Ingram at the 55% discount for retailers.

It is also already in several libraries.

...


Available Editions

EDITION Ebook
ISBN 9781951744311
PRICE $8.30 (USD)

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Average rating from 21 members


Featured Reviews

Underprivileged Overachiever is an honest and inspiring read, filled with hardships but ultimately shows the human spirit and the will to succeed.

Was this review helpful?

I could not stop reading from chapter to chapter. I was engaged in every minute of the memoir's descriptions of each challenge and obstacle and Yohance's consistent frame of mind during each. Since I personally had the honor of being Efia, Yohance and Kumasi's science teacher at Audubon Middle School, I was especially touched to know that somehow they knew education was the key to success - they were the best students in my classes, despite their hurdles, which they did not share publicly. I also turn to my own upbringing as others who read this should....to remind us all how we truly have no excuses for not achieving our goals. Thank you for this contribution!!!

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3 out of 5 stars - It was ok

Don't get me wrong, this was an interesting story. I just had troubles following some of the details and some of the graphic content was a bit much for me.

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This is such an honest memoir of a homeless teen with buckets of drive, determination, and dreams. His humor as he navigates his complex life helps him survive and makes it easier for "us" to access his environment. This is an important book that will stay with me and Yohance is a remarkable man. I look forward to the next installment.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

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This book is filled with emotion and pain so have a box of tissues handy as you read this. However, the author didn’t write this so that people would despair because there is also success and humor for the reader to grasp on to. This is a truly inspiring book about one man’s journey from childhood to manhood. Although no-one, no child should have to live through abuse and poverty this author not only survived but he decided to use it to help educate others about the horrors that are occurring in our society. This book is also a testament to the author’s determination to not allow his past determine his future, he refused to become another victim, another statistic, he chose to use his life to inspire anyone and everyone who he could reach.

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