When Roger Bechan was six, his mother packed his suitcase and 
told him they were going to Oklahoma City to visit an uncle. 
Instead, she took him to the Oklahoma Society for the Friendless, 
where he began a long journey through three orphanages and 
several foster homes. With all the color of the 1930s, this is a story 
of survival within an impersonal child-care system, a story filled 
with vivid characters, pathos, surprising humor, and the tenacity of 
a young boy who longs for a normal home and can't understand 
why his mother abandoned him or who his father is. No wonder he 
and his orphan friends omit the tenth commandment: to "honor 
your father and mother."

    As a teenager, the boy finds a home with a supportive couple in 
a small Oklahoma oil town. Roger Bechan becomes William 
Holman, who obtains degrees from two universities, marries and 
raises three sons, and becomes the youngest director of the San 
Francisco Public Library and an award-winning book designer. 
Late in life, he discovers the identity of his father—and a new 
family.

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WILLIAM HOLMAN served as Head Librarian, Pan American 
University; Director of the Rosenberg Library in Galveston; Director 
of the San Francisco Library; and Professor, The Harry Ransom 
Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas. He is a 
mentor for the Orphan Foundation of America and has represented 
the group on national television.