If school psychologist and educator Debra Sanders had never crashed her pickup through the Bluff, Utah, welcome sign, she could still have written an engaging memoir.  Years spent working with special education students in remote Alaskan villages, on the reservation lands of southeastern Utah, and at an Army post in Colorado provide plenty of memorable experiences, both humorous and sublime, recounted in A Matter of Panache.

But Debra’s adventure became one of the mind when she suffered a traumatic brain injury. The fearless, energetic woman who had been so successful intervening with “difficult” kids was forced to fight for proper care for herself while trying to understand the changes she was experiencing and reestablish her career.

One learns quickly that one of the talents the author hasn’t lost is an ability to write riveting prose seldom found in this genre. Combine this with her thirst for the wilder corners of the country and her desire to help the children other teachers have difficulty dealing with, and you have a fascinating life story.

Historical anecdotes and whimsical descriptions of townspeople enhance the tale. Educators, bush pilots, parents and, in particular, students are empathetically rendered, warts and all. Whether or not they are likable, one gets a sense of their personality and motivations, sometimes at surprising moments.

And you can’t help but fall for the author herself, who struggles to maintain her sense of personal worth after the TBI, even while she continues to teach using all “the basic tenants of current brain research.” This includes keeping a group of middle school boys focused on lessons by occupying their hands with a ball of yarn and chopsticks: just the sort of novel, forward-thinking practice that seems imminently lacking in her own treatment regimen.

After breezing through the physically tough demands of working in the remote regions of the Far North, the author struggles with the mental gymnastics of negotiating a medical bureaucracy entrenched in the status quo. Similarly, she finds it increasingly difficult to do the work that still gives her immense satisfaction, but is no longer manageable.

The irony is that someone who was so capable solving difficult personality puzzles in her classrooms would find no one able to assist her with her own needs after her brain injury, a reality that is all too prevalent in modern society.

Add to that the rigors of everyday life, including poignant reminisces of a dying friend, and you have an utterly compelling tale. This meaty story, a finalist for the Indie Book Awards, is an excellent read for anyone touched by traumatic brain injury. Families, therapists, educators and more will appreciate a tome that is both down-to-earth and complex, a story that reaches beyond its subject to reveal the human spirit.

A Matter of Panache, by Debra Sanders. Outskirts Press, 2008. 348 pp. ISBN-10: 1432728164.