David Beck has been many things: a wharf rat; diver; daredevil sports enthusiast; folk artist; survivor of childhood sexual, alcohol and prescription drug abuse; and—after learning to read and write in his senior years—author. Screaming of the Gulls is the story of a young boy raised in a loving household in small-town Nova Scotia, where being poor and unable to read brought bullying and shame.

Teachers called him stupid, instead of helping him cope with dyslexia and ADHD. He took his first drink at age 12, and was soon addicted to alcohol and the pills prescribed to deal with a torment he could only speak of to his closest friends, children also singled out for every shade of abuse.

Yet David's book is filled with life, rich with childhood adventures and misadventures that will make you laugh out loud. It is a memoir of growing up an outsider in Nova Scotia's richest fishing town, Lunenburg.

But it's also a story of resilience and redemption. Screaming of the Gulls is a book everyone should read, for the remarkable stories it tells and the joy and humour in the telling.

This book was written in part to encourage anyone with a learning disability to persevere, and to show the deadly toll sexual abuse takes on children. .