Okay, so they're not exactly bodice-rippers. No one will mistake them for the latest glossy-covered mass-market paperback best-sellers. There's nothing mindless about them. And since you may want to save them for reference or inspiration, you'll want to be careful about handling them with sunblock-coated fingertips.
But if you're a parent who usually reads scholarly disability tomes intended for professionals, or how-to books on tackling behavioral or developmental challenges, or self-help books full of ambitious plans and stern suggestions for strengthening your child and family, these 15 special-needs memoirs -- written by parents, siblings, professionals, and people with special needs -- will be a walk in the park. Most offer enough love to shame a romance novelist, mysteries as good as anything by Grafton or Parker, inspiration sufficient to fill a library of Chicken Soup books, plus tragedy and triumph of Oprah-Book-Club-like proportions.
Lest you feel guilty for putting those more serious books aside, these will also teach you a thing or two about the disabilities they deal with. Toss a couple in your beach bag or carry-on for some summer reading that will stay with you long after the sunburn fades.
An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales
by Oliver Sacks
Neurologist Sacks tells the tales of a child artist with autism, a surgeon with Tourette's, and autistic author Temple Grandin, among others. One of the essays, about a blind man regaining his sight with mixed emotions, was made into the movie romance "At First Sight."
Anything But a Dog!
by Lisa Saunders
For any family, finding a pet that fits can be an adventure. But when one of your kids is nonverbal and immobile, the concerns skyrocket. Follow one family's sweet and funny odyssey to find the kind of canine companion parents dream of.
Gravity Pulls You In
edited by Kyra Anderson and Vicki Forman
Essays and poems about the experience of parenting kids on the autism spectrum cover everything from early childhood to adult issues, from resilient hope to resigned acceptance, without ever giving in to anger and despair -- or maudlin heartstring-tugging, either.
Hurry Down Sunshine
by Michael Greenberg
The line past which creativity and brilliance and energy become mania and psychosis and a danger to others is the one Greenberg's 15-year-old daughter crosses one summer day, sending her to a psychiatric hospital and her family into a dark period of doubt and fear.
Little People: Learning to See the World Through My Daughter's Eyes
by Dan Kennedy
A dad does some research into dwarfism to figure out his daughter's place in the world, and his place in her life. For readers who like popular science and history books, Little People strikes a nice balance between a good nonfiction read and a book on special-needs parenting.
Miracle Run
by Corrine Morgan-Thomas with Gary Prozek
If you saw the Lifetime TV movie of the same name from a few years back, starring a pre-High School Musical Zac Efron as an autistic runner and Mary-Louise Parker as his mom, you know the basic outlines of the story told in this book. As is usually the case with real life, though, the full story is more complex and messy.
Not Even Wrong: Adventures in Autism
by Paul Collins
As young Morgan's parents realize that the things they find quirky and endearing about their son are seen as warning signs and symptoms by professionals, his dad looks into the history of autism and finds some interesting characters.
Schuyler's Monster: A Father's Journey with His Wordless Daughter
by Robert Rummel-Hudson
Schuyler may be wordless, but that should never be confused with an inability to communicate. Whether she's laughing at her dad or growling at a playground bully, she makes herself heard. Her parents' effort to get the right diagnosis and the right communication technology form the basis of this sometimes moving, sometimes snarky memoir.
Send in the Idiots: Stories from the Other Side of Autism
by Kamran Nazeer
This is the book that started my summer off, an autistic man's revisiting of classmates from an early childhood autism class. An engaging read, it's fascinating both for the stories it tells and for its first-person view of autistic traits and eccentricities.
The Short Bus: A Journey Beyond Normal
by Jonathan Mooney
On a 35,000 round-trip across the U.S. in one of those stubby special-ed buses, Mooney meets people who vary from society's ideal of "normal," from a deaf-blind child in Virginia to a to a young woman with Down syndrome in Ohio -- all of whom have in common difficult school experiences, and more comfort in their own skins than Mooney's been able to muster.
Sixtyfive Roses: A Sister's Memoir
By Heather Summerhayes Cariou
Virtually from the time that Pam Summerhayes was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at age four, her family braced for her death. That she lived to age 26 was an amazing achievement, but as her sister chronicles in this tough memoir, the family's unending focus on the health and well-being of one child left deep scars on the life of her three siblings.
A Smile as Big as the Moon: A Teacher, His Class, and Their Unforgettable Journey
by Mike Kersjes with Joe Layden
There are plenty of books that focus on the battles parents fight for their children, and they're worth celebrating. But let's hear it, too, for the special education teachers who work small miracles, unsung. In Kersjes' case, the miracle's as big as the moon.
Tiny Titan
by Ann Yurcek
At 470 pages, it's a little bulky for a beach bag, but you'll be turning those pages quickly. It's the kind of read where you strap yourself in and hang on for dear life as it pulls you through episodes of incredible grief, struggle, challenge, triumph, tragedy, risk and reward.
To the Left of Inspiration: Adventures in Living with Disabilities
by Katherine Schneider
This "honest, funny book about living with disabilities," by a woman who has been blind since birth but seems to have a pretty well-developed sense of humor, is not only a lot of fun to read, it has another thing I like in a "beach read": It's slender, with short chapters.
Will's Choice: A Suicidal Teen, a Desperate Mother, and a Chronicle of Recovery
by Gail Griffith
Why would a boy with so much going for him try to end it all? His frantic mother tries to find the clues. Not a feel-good book about overcoming tragedy, this is more of a feel-uneasy book about managed care, psychiatric uncertainty, and the mysterious workings of the teenage mind.
