Friends of the Harrison Public Library Present Priscilla Gilman discussing her book "The Anti-Romantic Child: A Journey of Unexpected Joy" on April 18, 2012 at 7pm

Ms. Gilman’s book is a memoir about her experience raising her older son, Benj, who was diagnosed with a variety of special needs—including a rare disorder called hyperlexia—when he was around three years old. It's about how Benj rebuffed and defied every expectation Ms. Gilman had about children and parenting but ultimately both restored her to her essential self and profoundly changed her and her life for the better.

It's a book about loss—all sorts of loss, literal and figurative—the loss of her nuclear family when she was 10, the loss of ideals and dreams, the loss of her father when her parents split and again to cancer, the loss of her romantic vision of childhood, the loss of her marriage, the loss of her career plan and her dream for her child's future. But it's also and more importantly about recovery, redemption, and recompense. Her editor once said, "The book isn't only about a special needs child or even parenting per se but rather about the curve balls thrown by life and how we respond to them."