By Kailyn Huynh and Vy Nguyen
On Friday, March 10, about 400 students shuffled into Fountain Valley High School’s (FVHS) gym, with chatter echoing through the room and anticipation hanging in the air. Traveled all the way from Washington, multi-talented author Devon Raney prepared to tell his story. Beyond his already extraordinary talents, Raney has an even greater ability: he manages to do it all with only 15% of his eyesight.
Courtesy to local reading program Huntington Beach Reads One Book (HBReads) and district librarian Elizabeth Taireh, who brought back in-person author visits after two years of being virtual, Raney received the opportunity to present his bestselling book, “Still Sideways.”
Formed in 2006, the HBReads program strives to inspire the community and students while promoting literacy and diversity. As an annual event, the program chooses one author to share their life experiences, with this year’s audience seated at FVHS.
In the previous year, the book selected was a memoir by Reyna Grande, titled, “The Distance Between Us,” which described Grande’s experience of immigration, poverty, education, and much more.
In order for a piece to be nominated and selected for this program, it must include themes of diversity. For every book chosen, HBReads has committed to purchasing and providing copies to each of the high schools in Huntington Beach Union High School District, as an effort to promote reading, diversity and art.
This year, Raney was just the person to go to, as his book, “Still Sideways,” tackled the topic of overcoming barriers as a visually impaired person, while he provided an optimistic perspective and also promoted his love of reading.
When Raney was in his 30s, a surfing accident took away his eyesight. Having lived a life of adventure before—athlete, owner of his own construction business, a father and husband—Raney talks about the highs and lows as he adapts to a new life in “Still Sideways.”
Flashing between his adult life, family life and narratives from his childhood, “Still Sideways” is a testimony to not only Raney’s courage after losing his eyesight but his character as a whole, showing that his life could not be defined by one accident.
As Raney delves into the contents of “Still Sideways,” he also opened up about the writing process of the book as a visually impaired person, as he relied on a friend to transcribe to him as he wrote. Throughout the event, Raney has one takeaway for students: the power of showing up.
“‘Still Sideways’ is [essentially] a love story of Rebecca and I, and a story of the power of showing up,” Raney said. “Everybody’s got a challenge. If you don’t show up and be a part of the result, nothing’s going to happen.”
Though he lives in Washington, Raney was born in California. Growing up, he described much of his childhood as being raised with little technology. Raney loved books, as they were a way of escape.
“Much of what I knew of the world was through books,” Raney said.
In love with the simplicity and form of a book, Raney is proud to be sharing his story through this medium today.
