Two Rules

By: Guy Herman

Narrated by: Benjamin Allen

This audiobook is a coming of age story set in juvenile detention, with seven boys, manacled and in leg irons, learning the two rules required for playing chess and succeeding in life. In the process, they find their way out of prison and back to freedom.

Two Rules unravels the dilemma of forgotten children, an abandoned education system, and the man who changes the rules of the game for his underprivileged students. In the walls of the classroom in the inner city and a juvenile detention facility, Dr. Dempsey guides his students through the rules and orientation of the game of chess, ultimately altering the course of their lives and his.

On a daily rotation from juvenile detention lockup to a nearby school and back, Two Rules opens with seven teenage boys on the first day of meeting their new teacher and friend, Dr. Jack Dempsey. Each boy soon discovers the rules of chess, a learning strategy, and roadmap that will leave each student empowered in ways they have never before experienced.

After running a permanent new hire out of their classroom and cycling through a string of substitute teachers, a class of special education students embarks on a journey that will end up significantly altering the course of their lives.

Each student learns from the example set by their teacher who extends a bridge for each student to rewire each of their destinies. Dempsey's understanding of his students’ perceived behavioral and learning challenges as inherent strengths allow the worthy old man to powerfully capture the attention of his students and provide tools for their eventual success.

The boys discover a glimpse of a future that transcends the rough but fragile cocoon insulating each of the student's harsh realities in the hopeless setting of their detention facility outside of their safe sanctuary of a classroom.

Dempsey transforms a once simple exercise of trust-building into a powerful lesson in the two rules of life: know your opponent and never give up trying to win what must be won.

©2018 Guy Herman (P)2018 Guy Herman