Synopses & Reviews
Rachel Adamsand#8217;s life had always gone according to plan. She had an adoring husband, a beautiful two-year-old son, a sunny Manhattan apartment, and a position as a tenured professor at Columbia University. Everything changed with the birth of her second child, Henry. Just minutes after he was born, doctors told her that Henry had Down syndrome, and she knew that her life would never be the same. and#160; In this honest, self-critical, and surprisingly funny book, Adams chronicles the first three years of Henryand#8217;s life and her own transformative experience of unexpectedly becoming the mother of a disabled child. A highly personal story of one familyand#8217;s encounter with disability, Raising Henry is also an insightful exploration of todayand#8217;s knotty terrain of social prejudice, disability policy, genetics, prenatal testing, medical training, and inclusive education. Adams untangles the contradictions of living in a society that is more enlightened and supportive of people with disabilities than ever before, yet is racing to perfect prenatal tests to prevent children like Henry from being born. Her book is gripping, beautifully written, and nearly impossible to put down. Once read, her familyand#8217;s story is impossible to forget.
Review
“This is a terrific book—gorgeously written, beautifully realized.”—Michael Bérubé, author of Life as We Know It: A Father, a Family, and an Exceptional Child New York Review of Books
Review
andldquo;andhellip;this book is a composite of the challenges and enjoyments of the first few years of a child with special needs and the family.andhellip;very useful for parents, family members, but also professionals including physicians, nurses, therapists, and genetic counselors.andrdquo;andmdash;Fran Hickey, M.D., Director of the Sie Center for Down Syndrome, Colorado Childrenandrsquo;s Hospital
Review
and#8220;Adams succeeds in the difficult task of rendering intensely personal material in a way that makes any reader reflect on larger cultural questionsand#8230;This book should be mandatory reading for all medical students, especially those entering the fields of obstetrics and gynecology.and#8221;and#8212;Georgina Kleege, author of Sight Unseen and Blind Rage: Letters to Helen Keller
Review
"Rachel Adamsand#8217; Raising Henry: A Memoir of Motherhood, Disability, and Discovery is a must-read, moving, thought-provoking, important. I highly recommend."and#8212;Jon Colman, President, National Down Syndrome Society
Review
"Raising Henry is not just a forthright and poetic family chronicle; it is a provocative exploration of Down syndrome, disability, and what it means to be human. Adams is feisty, compassionate, and brilliant."and#8212;Penny Wolfson, author of Moonrise: One Family, Genetic Identity and Muscular Dystrophy
Review
"With extraordinary eloquence and breathtaking honesty, Rachel Adams has allowed us to share every intimate moment of the profound journey of parenting her son Henry. I found myself savoring every beautifully chosen word. This is a remarkable memoir!"and#8212;Emily Perl Kingsley, author of "Welcome to Holland" and Writer, Sesame Street
Review
"Characterized by a poignant honesty and great integrity, probing intelligence and nuanced thinking, this is a wise, admirable, illuminating book."and#8212;Priscilla Gilman, author of The Anti-Romantic Child: A Story of Unexpected Joy
Review
and#8220;Rachel Adams brings us along on her personal journey, and, along the way, we all discover that exceptionality is not ultimately defined by our genetic beginnings.and#8221;and#8212;Brian Skotko, M.D., M.P.P., Co-Director, Down Syndrome Program, Massachusetts General Hospital
Review
"We learn from Adams what it means to have a son very different from most others in mind and body, whose future is uncertain, but whose life is infused with love and so worth living."and#8212;Jerome Groopman, New York Review of Books
Review
"Rachel Adams has a novelist's eye for story and a scholar's contextual insight. She's not afraid to document how she changes as events in her life take place, and thus, as her son grows, we see her grow as well."and#8212;Marie Myung-Ok Lee, author ofand#160;Somebodyand#8217;s Daughter
Review
"Powerful, poignant, and persuasive."and#8212;Glenn Altschuler, Psychology Today: This is America blog
Review
"In this quietly moving memoir, Adams writes about coming to terms with her son's diagnosis, education, limitations, and identity. . . .Generous and honest, Adams politely rejects some of the frames others want to put on her family. Henry isn't an angel, she isn't a saint."—Boston Globe Glenn Altschuler - Psychology Today, This is America blog
Review
"In her luminous memoir . . . Adams writes about how the birth of her son changed everything, and, at the same time, brought her back to the beginnings of a journey that had been long in the making."and#8212;Sarah Torretta Klock, New York Family Magazine
Review
"An important, hopeful book."—Susannah Meadows, New York Times Sarah Torretta Klock - New York Family Magazine
Review
"An important, hopeful book."and#8212;Susannah Meadows, New York Times
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"In this quietly moving memoir, Adams writes about coming to terms with her son's diagnosis, education, limitations, and identity. . . . Generous and honest."and#8212;Boston Globe
Review
andldquo;This is a terrific bookandmdash;gorgeously written, beautifully realized.andrdquo;andmdash;Michael Bandeacute;rubandeacute;, author of Life as We Know It: A Father, a Family, and an Exceptional Child
Review
Winner of the 2014 Delta Kappa Gamma Society's Educator's Award.
Review
“Compassionate, clear-headed, reliable, and funny. If a book could be the best man at my wedding, I’d choose this one.”—Dinty W. Moore, author of Dear Mister Essay Writer Guy
Review
“Curious yet compassionate, deft yet relentlessly frank, Joey Franklin explores the inner lives of men, reveals the intimacies and complexities of marriage and fatherhood, and dignifies the lives of ordinary people—all in utterly lucid and graceful prose.”—Lia Purpura, author of Rough Likeness: Essays
Review
“Traversing the distance between the love notes penned in middle school and Shakespearean sonnets, Joey Franklin’s essays are marvels of balance and surprise, ordinary life and soulful loving, careful listening and the drive to connect. . . . If the culture is awash in hyperbole, as Franklin suspects, this book—graceful and disarming—is our antidote.”—Mary Cappello author of Awkward: A Detour and Called Back
Synopsis
A mother's deeply moving account of raising a son with Down syndrome in a world crowded with contradictory attitudes toward disabilities Rachel Adams's life had always gone according to plan. She had an adoring husband, a beautiful two-year-old son, a sunny Manhattan apartment, and a position as a tenured professor at Columbia University. Everything changed with the birth of her second child, Henry. Just minutes after he was born, doctors told her that Henry had Down syndrome, and she knew that her life would never be the same. In this honest, self-critical, and surprisingly funny book, Adams chronicles the first three years of Henry's life and her own transformative experience of unexpectedly becoming the mother of a disabled child. A highly personal story of one family's encounter with disability, Raising Henry is also an insightful exploration of today's knotty terrain of social prejudice, disability policy, genetics, prenatal testing, medical training, and inclusive education. Adams untangles the contradictions of living in a society that is more enlightened and supportive of people with disabilities than ever before, yet is racing to perfect prenatal tests to prevent children like Henry from being born. Her book is gripping, beautifully written, and nearly impossible to put down. Once read, her family's story is impossible to forget.
Synopsis
A motherand#8217;s deeply moving account of raising a son with Down syndrome in a world crowded with contradictory attitudes toward disabilities
Synopsis
Modern manhood is confusing and complicated, but Joey Franklin, a thirtysomething father of three, is determined to make the best of it. In My Wife Wants You to Know I’m Happily Married, he offers frank, self-deprecating meditations on everything from male-pattern baldness and the balm of blues harmonica to Grand Theft Auto and the staying power of first kisses. He riffs on cockroaches, hockey, romance novels, Boy Scout hikes, and the challenge of parenting a child through high-stakes Texas T-ball. With honesty and wit, Franklin explores what it takes to raise three boys, succeed in a relationship, and survive as a modern man. My Wife Wants You to Know I’m Happily Married is an uplifting rumination on learning from the past and living for the present, a hopeful take on being a man without being a menace to society.
About the Author
A conversation with Rachel Adams
Q: What motivated you to write Raising Henry?
A: Iand#8217;m a literary critic by training, and when my son Henry was born, I immediately turned to literature to try to understand my circumstances. I was dismayed by the lack of reliable, informative reading material about raising a child with Down syndrome, as well as the quantity of misinformation I found in mainstream pregnancy guides and child-rearing books. I saw the need for a story told from a motherand#8217;s perspective.
Q: Can you tell us some positive things you have discovered or experienced as the mother of a disabled child?
A: The best lesson Iand#8217;ve learned from Henry is that the world is full of people who have devoted their lives and careers to helping others. I've seen my share of predictable ignorance and prejudice, but I was gratified by the more unexpected discovery of people with a genuine commitment to the rights and well-being of individuals with intellectual disabilities. My list includes doctors and other health care professionals, social workers, teachers, therapists, service coordinators, caregivers, and many, many others who have given their time and energy to helping Henry develop to his full potential and securing the happiness and health of our family.
Q: What changes do you hope to see in the medical establishment and educational system with regard to treatment and services offered for people with disabilities?
A: I would like to see doctors receive better training to help prospective parents make decisions about what it might mean to have a person with a disability in the family. And I look forward to educators learning more about how to enable students with Down syndrome to develop to their full potential.