Synopses & Reviews
“This is an important, cutting-edge work by the premier specialist in his field. If you watch sports, or if you have a young athlete in your family, you need to read this book.” —Dan Shaughnessy, author of The Curse of the Bambino
From Washington to Quebec, from offices at the NFL to the New York Times, from the NHL players’ union to the soccer fields of Anytown, U.S.A., people are talking about concussions. At the center of this crisis—and one of the key reasons for this increased awareness—is Dr. Robert Cantu, the country’s leading expert on athletic brain trauma and a pioneer in the study of the link between concussions and progressive brain disease in athletes.
Concussions and Our Kids is the first prescriptive book of its kind to address the issue of head trauma in sports and to offer guidelines for playing sports safely. Described as “the single most important issue in sports today,” concussions are widespread and devastating. Dr. Cantu has treated thousands of patients, from pro athletes to peewee players, and his groundbreaking research is changing how sports are played. Parents, coaches, and players can learn from this combination manifesto/manual, helping to reduce concussions now and prevent more brain trauma down the road.
“A well-researched, riveting story that every coach and parent of a young athlete should read.” —Christine Brennan, USA Today sports columnist and author of Best Seat in the House
Review
A New York Times Notable BookAn NPR Best Book of 2013
One of New York Magazines 10 Best Books of the Year
A Chicago Tribune Noteworthy Best Book of 2013
Boston Globe Top Nonfiction of 2013
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2013
A 2014 ALA Notable Book
"A triumph of narrative reporting and storytelling, as well as a thorough and nuanced analysis of an American institution deeply in need of reform. . . . Beam writes about social outcasts without stereotyping them. She gives them a much-needed voice and does what too many adults in the foster-care system can't, or won't: She advocates for them."
—New York Times Book Reivew
"Beam invites the reader inside the system for sometimes uncomfortably close but always compassionate visits with parents, children and workers. . . .She takes comfort in the 'countless academics and organizers and families with countless good ideas.' Its this conclusion—rather than the admission that she doesnt have the answer, even with her many lenses on the system both inside and out—that makes this a challenging and refreshing read."
—Chicago Tribune
"Heart-rending and tentatively hopeful"
—Salon
"Informative, poignant, passionate, and persuasive . . . Almost certain to generate a sense of urgency in readers to fix a broken system that has sometimes managed to fly beneath the radar."
—Huffington Post
"Beam's intimate immersion into this system, as both a parent and an author, has brought great empathy and insight into a world most people never contemplate. Beam's book will likely change hearts and minds, and hopefully social policy."—Bay Area Reporter
"In this compassionate, rigorous book, Beam describes the failures of foster care, often by way of the moments of light and hope that are inscribed in its brokenness. It is her largeness of heart, manifest on every page, that makes her arguments impossible to ignore, and that informs the deeply engaging stories she so eloquently narrates."
—Andrew Solomon, author of Far From the Tree
"Packed with messy humanity, To the End of June is an urgent and necessary book. It would break your heart were it not for the recurring tales of good people trying to do the right thing, and an undercurrent of rage at what life has served up these kids. Cris Beam brings careful listening, unflinching poise, and her own experience as a foster mother to this account of how the state tries to step up when parents can't."
—Ted Conover, author of Pulitzer-finalist Newjack and Coyotes
"To the End of June is a clear-eyed and heartfelt look at foster care in America. It will astound you and appall you. Cris Beam has written an extraordinary book about ordinary people trying to save kids' lives. She has cast a ray of light into a dark and hidden place."
—Tim Weiner, National Book Award-winning author of Legacy of Ashes
Synopsis
An intimate, authoritative look at the foster care system that examines why it is failing the kids it is supposed to protect and what can be done to change it.
Synopsis
A New York Times Notable Book "Casts a searing eye on the labyrinth that is the American foster care system." -- NPR's On Point
Who are the children of foster care? What, as a country, do we owe them? Cris Beam, a foster mother herself, spent five years immersed in the world of foster care looking into these questions and tracing firsthand stories. The result is To the End of June, an unforgettable portrait that takes us deep inside the lives of foster children in their search for a stable, loving family.
Beam shows us the intricacies of growing up in the system--the back-and-forth with agencies, the rootless shuffling between homes, the emotionally charged tug between foster and birth parents, the terrifying push out of foster care and into adulthood. Humanizing and challenging a broken system, To the End of June offers a tribute to resiliency and hope for real change.
" A] powerful . . . and refreshing read." -- Chicago Tribune
"A sharp critique of foster-care policies and a searching exploration of the meaning of family." -- Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Heart-rending and tentatively hopeful." -- Salon
Synopsis
A New York Times Notable Book
"Casts a searing eye on the labyrinth that is the American foster care system." -- NPR's On Point
Who are the children of foster care? What, as a country, do we owe them? Cris Beam, a foster mother herself, spent five years immersed in the world of foster care looking into these questions and tracing firsthand stories. The result is To the End of June, an unforgettable portrait that takes us deep inside the lives of foster children in their search for a stable, loving family.
Beam shows us the intricacies of growing up in the system--the back-and-forth with agencies, the rootless shuffling between homes, the emotionally charged tug between foster and birth parents, the terrifying push out of foster care and into adulthood. Humanizing and challenging a broken system, To the End of June offers a tribute to resiliency and hope for real change.
" A] powerful . . . and refreshing read." -- Chicago Tribune
"A sharp critique of foster-care policies and a searching exploration of the meaning of family." -- Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Heart-rending and tentatively hopeful." -- Salon
Synopsis
A New York Times Notable Book, this intimate, authoritative look at the foster care system examines why it is failing the kids it is supposed to protect and what can be done to change it.
Who are the children of foster care? What, as a country, do we owe them?
Cris Beam, a foster mother herself, spent five years immersed in the world of foster care looking into these questions and tracing firsthand stories. The result is To the End of June, an unforgettable portrait that takes us deep inside the lives of foster children in their search for a stable, loving family.
Beam shows us the intricacies of growing up in the system -- the back-and-forth with agencies, the rootless shuffling between homes, the emotionally charged tug between foster and birth parents, the terrifying push out of foster care and into adulthood. Humanizing and challenging a broken system, To the End of June offers a tribute to resiliency and hope for real change.
" A] powerful . . . and refreshing read." -- Chicago Tribune
"A sharp critique of foster-care policies and a searching exploration of the meaning of family." -- Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Heart-rending and tentatively hopeful." -- Salon
Synopsis
A New York Times Notable Book “Casts a searing eye on the labyrinth that is the American foster care system.” — NPR’s On Point
Who are the children of foster care? What, as a country, do we owe them? Cris Beam, a foster mother herself, spent five years immersed in the world of foster care looking into these questions and tracing firsthand stories. The result is To the End of June, an unforgettable portrait that takes us deep inside the lives of foster children in their search for a stable, loving family.
Beam shows us the intricacies of growing up in the system—the back-and-forth with agencies, the rootless shuffling between homes, the emotionally charged tug between foster and birth parents, the terrifying push out of foster care and into adulthood. Humanizing and challenging a broken system, To the End of June offers a tribute to resiliency and hope for real change.
“[A] powerful . . . and refreshing read.” — Chicago Tribune
“A sharp critique of foster-care policies and a searching exploration of the meaning of family.” — Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Heart-rending and tentatively hopeful.” — Salon
Synopsis
“An eye-opening account of life in Chinas orphanages. Kay Bratt vividly details the conditions and realities faced by Chinese orphans in an easy-to-read manner that draws the reader in to the heart-wrenching moments she has experienced in her work to bring hope to these children.”—Dan Cruver, cofounder and director of Together for Adoption
When her family relocated to rural China in 2003, Kay Bratt was thrust into a new world, one where boys were considered more valuable than girls and poverty and the one-child policy had created an epidemic of abandoned infants. As a volunteer at a local orphanage, Bratt witnessed conditions that were unfathomable to a middle-class mother of two from South Carolina.
Based on Bratts diary of her four years working at the orphanage, Silent Tears offers a searing account of young lives rendered disposable. In the face of an implacable system, Bratt found ways to work within (and around) the rules to make a better future for the children, whom she came to love. Her story balances the sadness and struggles of life in the orphanage with moments of joy, optimism, faith, and victory. It is the story of hundreds of children—and one woman who never planned on becoming a hero but became one anyway.
Synopsis
The brain trauma crisis in sports and what must be done to protect young athletes.
About the Author
Kay Bratt grew up in the Midwest as the child of a broken home and later, a survivor of abuse. Facing these obstacles in her own life instilled in Kay a passionate drive to fight for those that had been dealt an unfair hand. Upon arriving in China on an expatriate assignment with her husband in 2003, she was immediately drawn to the cause of China's forgotten orphans. Moved beyond tears by the stories of these children, she promised to give them the voice they did not have. In 2008, she self-published her memoir Silent Tears: A Journey of Hope in a Chinese Orphanage to do just that.
With the help of her readers, Kay continues to raise awareness and advocate for at-risk children. In China, she was honored with the 2006 Pride of the City award for her humanitarian work. She is the founder of the Mifan Mommy Club, an online organization which provides rice for children in China's orphanages, and is also an active volunteer with Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) for abused and neglected children. Kay currently resides in Georgia with her husband and daughter.