Use this alphabetical index to find books that have been reviewed for the Harried Parent's Book Club.
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J-L | M-N | O | P-Q | R | S | T | U-V | W-Z
Facing Bipolar
Cover image courtesy of New Harbinger
By Russ Federman, Ph.D., and J. Anderson Thomson, Jr., M.D.; 160 pages. Subtitle: "The Young Adult's Guide to Dealing With Bipolar Disorder."
Bottom Line: A child's diagnosis is a project for parents, but when a diagnosis comes just at the time when a young adult is branching off into college plans and new jobs and roommates and independent living, Mom and Dad have a lot less control. Passing a book like this to your young person may be the best way to help out when you can't take over.
The Facts of Life ... and More
Cover image courtesy of Brookes Publishing Company
By Leslie Walker-Hirsch; 298 pages. Subtitle: Sexuality and Intimacy for People With Intellectual Disabilities.
Bottom Line: What sort of life do you see for your child with intellectual disabilities? If it involves lifelong chastity and childishness, the authors of the essays in this book want you to know that you're probably dreaming. They argue -- on behalf of people with disabilities, and against well-meaning families and staff who think otherwise -- that sexuality is a part of life that should not be denied, and that denial will be circumvented in dangerous ways.
Bottom Line: What sort of life do you see for your child with intellectual disabilities? If it involves lifelong chastity and childishness, the authors of the essays in this book want you to know that you're probably dreaming. They argue -- on behalf of people with disabilities, and against well-meaning families and staff who think otherwise -- that sexuality is a part of life that should not be denied, and that denial will be circumvented in dangerous ways.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Fetal Alcohol Effects
Cover image courtesy of PriceGrabber
By Diane Malbin, MSW; 43 pages. Subtitle: Strategies for Professionals.
Bottom Line: Don't let the subtitle fool you -- this booklet may have been written for chemical dependency professionals, but it's a topnotch resource for parents as well. Short, cheap and easy to read, it goes beyond a basic description of FAS to provide useful ways of thinking about and dealing with its challenges. Amazing how such a slim volume makes so much sense out of such a confounding disorder.
Bottom Line: Don't let the subtitle fool you -- this booklet may have been written for chemical dependency professionals, but it's a topnotch resource for parents as well. Short, cheap and easy to read, it goes beyond a basic description of FAS to provide useful ways of thinking about and dealing with its challenges. Amazing how such a slim volume makes so much sense out of such a confounding disorder.
Finding Kansas
Image courtesy of Perigee
By Aaron Likens; 212 pages. Subtitle: Living and Decoding Asperger's Syndrome.
Bottom Line: In an insightful memoir, a young man with Asperger's explains how he experiences the world, providing useful metaphors for helping you figure your own child out.
Bottom Line: In an insightful memoir, a young man with Asperger's explains how he experiences the world, providing useful metaphors for helping you figure your own child out.
Finding Perspective: Raising Successful Children Affected by FASD
Cover image courtesy of Liz Lawryk
By Liz Lawryk; 238 pages. Subtitle: A Parent's Guide to Creating Prevention Strategies and Intervention Techniques Using the OBD (Organic Brain Dysfunction) 3 Step Plan of Action.
Bottom Line: With so many sad, downbeat, hopeless books about parenting children with fetal alcohol exposure on the shelves, any volume that remains upbeat and provides a useful course of action gets a thumbs-up from me. The three-step plan is pretty good advice for other behavioral challenges, too.
Bottom Line: With so many sad, downbeat, hopeless books about parenting children with fetal alcohol exposure on the shelves, any volume that remains upbeat and provides a useful course of action gets a thumbs-up from me. The three-step plan is pretty good advice for other behavioral challenges, too.
The Floppy Sleep Game Book
Cover image courtesy of Patti Teel
By Patti Teel; 305 pages. Subtitle: A Proven 4-Week Plan to Get Your Child to Sleep.
Bottom Line: When your child can't sleep, it's hard on your child and hard on you. You don't want to refuse all help and support, but you also don't want to constantly respond to the pitter-patter of little feet tripping down the hall. This four-week plan will give you something constructive to do about the problem.
Bottom Line: When your child can't sleep, it's hard on your child and hard on you. You don't want to refuse all help and support, but you also don't want to constantly respond to the pitter-patter of little feet tripping down the hall. This four-week plan will give you something constructive to do about the problem.
Forced Exit
Cover image courtesy of Random House
By Wesley J. Smith; 291 pages. Subtitle: The Slippery Slope from Assisted Suicide to Legalized Murder.
Bottom Line: Those advocating euthanasia promote it as a way to help someone who no longer wishes to live find release -- but does that help ever come in the form of a push? Wesley Smith presents disturbing evidence that what may start out as a humanitarian impulse can quickly turn into survival of the fittest.
Bottom Line: Those advocating euthanasia promote it as a way to help someone who no longer wishes to live find release -- but does that help ever come in the form of a push? Wesley Smith presents disturbing evidence that what may start out as a humanitarian impulse can quickly turn into survival of the fittest.
For the Love of Rachel
Cover image courtesy of David Loewenstein
By David Loewenstein, PhD; 157 pages. Subtitle: A Father's Story.
Bottom Line: There are special-needs memoirs that specialize in endless detail, or black humor, or grief-tinged reflection, or fervent fact-finding. This isn't one of those. It's just a simple telling of one family's experience with premature birth, early health struggles, and long-term perseverance. If you're inspired by stories of how other families have handled their challenges, this book offers one in a quick-reading, heartfelt, and straightforward format.
Bottom Line: There are special-needs memoirs that specialize in endless detail, or black humor, or grief-tinged reflection, or fervent fact-finding. This isn't one of those. It's just a simple telling of one family's experience with premature birth, early health struggles, and long-term perseverance. If you're inspired by stories of how other families have handled their challenges, this book offers one in a quick-reading, heartfelt, and straightforward format.
The Four Walls of My Freedom
Cover image courtesy of McArthur & Company
By Donna Thomson; 263 pages.
Bottom Line: The Four Walls of My Freedom starts out like a straightforward memoir of parenting a child with cerebral palsy, but it quickly develops into a much more philosophical look at what makes human beings human, how that understanding needs to be tweaked for individuals with severe disabilities, and how society can best accommodate them and also extend a lifeline to the parents who unexpectedly become 24/7 caregivers.
Bottom Line: The Four Walls of My Freedom starts out like a straightforward memoir of parenting a child with cerebral palsy, but it quickly develops into a much more philosophical look at what makes human beings human, how that understanding needs to be tweaked for individuals with severe disabilities, and how society can best accommodate them and also extend a lifeline to the parents who unexpectedly become 24/7 caregivers.
Freaks, Geeks and Asperger Syndrome: A User Guide to Adolescence
Cover image courtesy of Jessica Kingsley Publishers
By Luke Jackson; 275 pages. From the Book Cover: "To those of you who feel that you don't belong, always remember that different is cool!"
Bottom Line: Temple Grandin and others have written eloquently about what it's like to grow up on the autism spectrum, but they've generally written from the perspective of a grown-up. Here's an account from a kid right in the thick of it, an adolescent with Asperger's who wants parents to know what it feels like, and other kids to know they're not the only ones who feel that way.
Bottom Line: Temple Grandin and others have written eloquently about what it's like to grow up on the autism spectrum, but they've generally written from the perspective of a grown-up. Here's an account from a kid right in the thick of it, an adolescent with Asperger's who wants parents to know what it feels like, and other kids to know they're not the only ones who feel that way.
