In a Heartbeat: Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving

Those familiar with the film The Blind Side, or Michael Lewis's best-selling book, will likely already know the inspiring story of how the Tuohys took future-NFL star Michael Oher into their home and adopted him. For anyone wondering what more there might be to say about it, the answer is: plenty. In a Heartbeat finds the Tuohys attempting to determine what it was that made them reach out to the homeless African-American boy they saw walking down the street in a t-shirt and shorts on a winter's day. Leigh Anne and Sean had known tough times themselves and had put themselves on the lookout for troubled kids in need of help. As a white, southern, church-going family, they defy red-state/blue-state stereotypes (for instance, by sending their teen-age daughter to a seminar fostering racial and social justice); though Leigh Anne has been described as a "gun-toting Republican Christian," and admits to carrying weapons, she also claims to cross "party lines all the time." With Jenkins's help they write with humor about their quirks and the joy that Michael brought to their family, finally arriving at the belief that "we can all change people's lives by investing time in individuals." (July)