Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity

Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for IdentityWinner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, a Books for a Better Life Award, and one of The New York Times Book Review's Ten Best Books of 2012, this masterpiece by the National Book Award winning author of The Noonday Demon features stories of parents who not only learn to deal with their exceptional children, but also find profound meaning in doing so "a brave, beautiful book that will expand your humanity" (People). Solomon's startling

Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, a Books for a Better Life Award, and one of The New York Times Book Review's Ten Best Books of 2012, this masterpiece by the National Book Award-winning author of The Noonday Demon features stories of parents who not only learn to deal with their exceptional children, but also find profound meaning in doing so--"a brave, beautiful book that will expand your humanity" (People).

Solomon's startling proposition in Far from the Tree is that being exceptional is at the core of the human condition--that difference is what unites us. He writes about families coping with deafness, dwarfism, Down syndrome, autism, schizophrenia, or multiple severe disabilities; with children who are prodigies, who are conceived in rape, who become criminals, who are transgender. While each of these characteristics is potentially isolating, the experience of difference within families is universal, and Solomon documents triumphs of love over prejudice in every chapter.

All parenting turns on a crucial question: to what extent should parents accept their children for who they are, and to what extent they should help them become their best selves. Drawing on ten years of research and interviews with more than three hundred families, Solomon mines the eloquence of ordinary people facing extreme challenges.

Elegantly reported by a spectacularly original and compassionate thinker, Far from the Tree explores how people who love each other must struggle to accept each other--a theme in every family's life.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Scribner Book Company
Published: 10/01/2013
ISBN: 9780743236720
Pages: 962
Weight: 2.30lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.10w x 1.90d

Review Citations: New York Times Book Review 11/03/2013 pg. 28

Accelerated Reader Quiz #/Name: 192973 / Far from the Tree: Young Adult Edition: How Children and Their Parents Learn to Accept One Another..
Reading Level: 8.3 / Interest Level: Upper Grade / Point Value: 22