Ain't No Mountain High Enough: From Disability to Possibility

by Hanneke Boot

Overview

When she is eighteen, Hanneke Boot discovers that painting with her mouth is easier for her than painting with her hands. Born with a muscle disease, she’s experienced a host of challenges. But she’s found her calling in art and paints everything: views, landscapes, mills, and portraits. In Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, she shares her story. Boot narrates how being born with a physical disability guarantees you will run into obstacles for life. But she tells how those obstacles become challenges, and they can be overcome through humor and by exploiting your strongest talent. Beginning in January of 2015 and running through June of 2018, Boot documents her feelings, thoughts, and activities in a diary format which she shares in Ain’t No Mountain High Enough. It offers insight into one woman’s challenges with a disability while giving inspiration to others facing the same difficulties.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781728398792
Publisher:	AuthorHouse
Publication date:	02/14/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	132
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Hanneke Boot was born in 1962 with a congenital muscle and joint disorder that required several surgeries. She studied social sciences in university. Boot is a writer and talented artist who publishes art cards, diaries, calendars, and reproductions via publishing houses.

Editorial Reviews

2020-08-07
In this debut memoir, a young woman with a congenital muscle disorder embarks on an energetic career when she learns to mouth paint.

Born in 1962, Boot was 18 years old when she discovered that because of her physical disability, it was easier for her to paint by holding a brush in her mouth. Over time, she took courses to develop her talent and joined the International Association of Mouth and Foot Painters in Liechtenstein. Here, the author’s inspirational story is presented diary-style, beginning in January 2015—when she was painfully waiting to find out if she needed to have yet another surgery—and ending in June 2018—when she was given a new vehicle. There are colorful photographs sprinkled throughout—showing Boot’s lovely artwork—and the book concludes with several of what appear to be the author’s simple, heartfelt poems. Boot also discusses a variety of entertaining topics—like her service dog, Luigi, and the exciting blind date she had with a trucker. But her most memorable diary entries describe how she kept going despite intense pain, including during rehabilitation. In one poignant passage, she recalls volunteering to visit prisoners (they loved her), and she compares her physical challenges to being incarcerated. Though honest about the difficulties she faced, Boot remains optimistic and full of good humor. But one weakness of the book is its awkward prose. For example, a description of problems with Luigi at the hospital is difficult to decipher: “Hopefully fellow invalidates will come to mind a little when they hear that through them, it isolates me to get no problems and that I just don’t want to leave my dog alone.” Still, not all of the diary entries are problematic and, with a little patience, many readers will embrace the uplifting message found here.

A sweet, upbeat account with a bumpy presentation.

Kirkus Reviews