Piece by Piece: A Memoir of Survival, Resilience, and the Power of Creativity

What happens when life doesn’t just break—it begins in pieces? Dark humor, tough truths, and the audacity to keep going. From a childhood that overlapped Barack Obama’s in Hawai’i—both shaped by the island’s rhythms, and the spirit of ‘ohana—Sheryl Hauk takes readers through fragments of her story. Secrets, medical storms, broken LEGO models, missing pets, suspicious train rides, and classroom chaos. As she turns from the podium to the page, she shares a layered story of survival, resilience, and the power of creativity. With honesty, dark humor, and hope, she reflects on her journey through courtrooms, choir rooms, hospital rooms, and state capitols. Even in the darkest places, her wit refuses to be silent, making room for resilience and healing through teaching, advocacy, creativity and music. This story is for survivors, parents, teachers, dreamers—and for anyone who has ever tried to understand silence, rebuild their own story, or stand by someone piecing their life back together. It offers hope, meaning, and proves how the most mismatched pieces can be snapped together into something meaningful.