The Green Monster (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781462871674)

Michael E. Oppitz is a native Kansan who has spent his adult life working in the Horticulture and teaching fields throughout the central and eastern parts of the state. Along with being self employed in the lawn/landscape business in the Kansas City area, he also has experience with nurseries, garden centers, teaching at Vocational Technical Schools, lawn care sales and service, the Boy Scouts of America as an Exploring Executive, and as a substitute teacher. Mr. Oppitz has always had a calling to working with youth and in the public service area. With a strong science background, he has a keen eye for being detail-oriented. After purchasing his first reel push mower, Mr. Oppitz came across the idea for his book while mowing his lawn one Saturday afternoon. Some of the youth at the schools where he substitutes have problems with attention spans, staying on task or simple making good choices when it comes to their time in school. The physical workout the reel mower provides when the grass gets too long reminded him of the workouts he looked forward to in his younger days, and he was wondering how he could apply that same type of physical exertion, determining and hard work in a book directed towards youth with the same type of problems he sees in school all the time.