Six String Rocketeer: Holding Life Together When Your Parents Split Apart

by Jesse Butterworth

The painful, scary, but sometimes hilarious true story of how one guy survived his parents' divorce. And lived to sing about it. The teenage years are tough as it is, but throw in the fact that your... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1578568846
• ISBN13: 9781578568840
• Release Date: September 2005
• Publisher: Waterbrook Press
• Length: 123 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.6" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Inspiring!

Being from a Christian family and having my parents divorce when I was an adult, no one understood the impact that it had on me. Reading Jesse's book opened my eyes to the fact that I wasn't alone and that my feelings were normal! THANK YOU JESSE!

Six String Rocketeer is fantastic

I loved it, this is a great book not only for youth but for parents to understand the dynamics of their children. I my suggestion don't hesitate. Snap this book up, it is a fantastic resource.

Very insightful

Having known the Butterworth family many years ago, I found Jesse's insights and sense of humor very much like his father's. After reading it, I passed it along to my daughter-in-law (an adult child of divorce) and to a high school senior in our Christian school whose parents recently separated. Both found it to be very helpful with their individual struggles concerning their broken families. Great job, Jesse!

Quick, read - engaging, inspiring and downright side-splitting...

OK, maybe it's not that funny, but Jesse's humor certainly makes the painful story of a teenager's life in the midst of divorce much easier to read. I could hardly put the book down, and as soon as I did my teenage daughter picked it up and read it in two days! From the perspective of an adult who went through divorce at a young age, this book will help young people understand the complexities of divorce and help them cope. Whether you are a teen going through the upheaval of divorce in your own life, or you have friends whose parents are divorcing, this book is a must read. Since we all have been touched by the effects of divorce, that should put this book on the best sellers list in no time! Read it for yourself and find out how passion in the midst of pain can transform a young mans broken heart into a whole heart overflowing with joy. BTW, Happy Late October Birthday, Jesse!

A humorous and refreshing read for today's youth

It's estimated that since 1970, more than one million children a year have been directly impacted by divorce. Jesse Butterworth is one of those kids. In SIX STRING ROCKETEER, Butterworth candidly shares what it was like to discover that his parents were separating and eventually ending their marriage. Butterworth's book reads like a high school memoir. It's filled with funny stories of growing up as a Christian with all its ironies and rather bizarre spiritual-meets-secular moments. He describes being part of the "God Squad" in school and the struggles and heartache of being a slightly overweight kid with the name Butterworth. (And in case you're wondering, yes, he has already heard all the jokes.) His personal stories are delivered in a humorous, deprecating manner that is both engaging and relatable. He writes, "We were often referred to as the "God Squad" because we were all church kids. But it wasn't our deep love for the unlovely, our hours donated to charity, or our total abandonment to Jesus that set us apart. It was that we didn't cuss. We avoided every forbidden four-letter word by substituting words like frigging and schista and using phrases such as 'What the crap!' Also, if we ever said something negative about a person, we began by saying, 'Bless her heart,' and then followed it up with something like, 'but Janet is truly the most repulsive girl in the whole school.'" Barely crossing 100 pages, the actual allusions to the breakup of his family are late in coming. In many ways, this isn't really a book about divorce --- it's a book about growing up as a Christian kid in a secular world and having your world rocked by an all-too-common reality. The actual moment where Butterworth finds out the gruesome news that his parents are separating doesn't hit until page 57. That's when readers discover his response of shock and grief. For the last half of the book, we learn of his emotional shutdown and recovery. We also learn how the tender gift of his father --- an old guitar --- provided a much-needed path for healing. Throughout, Butterworth acknowledges God and communicates vulnerably without being preachy. Within the chapters, the author adds little pieces of trivia and humor. The book is packed with sidebars and inserts. There's a reference to a babysitter who wouldn't let the kids watch "The Smurfs" and a respelling of a "Pines" neighborhood sign to something far more amusing. There's also a lots of random trivia, like the "Special Secret Mario Message" that reads: "Defeat Koopaling at the end of an Airshop (Worlds 1-7) while wearing either the Frog, Tanooki, or Hammer Brothers suit and receive a special message from the King." While only Super Mario fans will truly appreciate this, it adds color to the text and is a welcome addition for short attention span readers. Throughout the book, Butterworth does a masterful job of keeping off-color humor and references to a G-rating. He hints and alludes without crossing any lines. Overa