Marvin's Book: The Story of a Professor and a Promise

Have you ever made a promise that dogged you through years, nagging you silently? Melissa Soldani Lemon did in 2000 when her student, Marvin Mark Scott, died in a single-car accident on the way to school. In her grief, she reached out to the young man's family and promised to write a book for Marvin and start a scholarship in his honor. Ten years, two children and many semesters of teaching college history later, Melissa had amassed a growing following of readers for the hilarious stories on her blog, but no book had yet emerged. She finally sat down to fulfill her promise—only to find herself facing new raw grief in the unexpected deaths of a colleague and another student, both of whom had encouraged her to fulfill her promise. Now she was really stuck. How could she write Marvin's book when she only wrote stories with happy endings? Melissa’s journey to answer that question takes us on a roller coaster ride as she interweaves inspirational stories about family, students and friends with outrageously funny bloopers taken from real student exams. In the end, it is a student veteran "exiled" in a VA nursing home who leads her to find a bright and hopeful ending to this story. You will laugh, cry and rekindle your belief in the power of intention as Melissa turns the promise of a book for Marvin into "Marvin's Book: The Story of a Professor and a Promise."