The Anti-Romantic Child by Priscilla Gilman

The Anti-Romantic Child by Priscilla Gilman

"The Anti-Romantic Child is remarkable. This haunting and lyrical memoir will be an invaluable and heartening guide to all who find themselves in similar situations and indeed anyone confronting an unforeseen challenge." --Marie Brenner, writer for Vanity Fair and author of Apples and Oranges

With an emotionally resonant combination of memoir and literature, Wordsworth scholar Priscilla Gilman recounts the challenges of raising a son with hyperlexia, a developmental disorder neurologically counterpoint to dyslexia. Gilman explores the complexities of our hopes and expectations for our children and ourselves. With luminous prose and a searing, personal story evocative of A Year of Magical Thinking and A Year of Reading Proust, Gilman's The Anti-Romantic Child is an unforgettable exploration of what happens when we lean to embrace the unexpected.

What happens when a Wordsworth scholar, steeped in the romantic ideal of childhood, has a son who is profoundly anti-romantic?

• A Mother's Journey with Hyperlexia: Follows Priscilla Gilman's story from the first signs of her son Benj's developmental differences through diagnosis and the search for understanding and support.
• Wordsworth and Parenthood: Explores how the author, a scholar of Romantic poetry, uses literature to navigate the complex emotions of parenting a child with special needs and find a new definition of joy.
• Parenting a Child with Special Needs: An honest and luminous account of the challenges, frustrations, and profound rewards of raising a child who experiences the world differently.
• Redefining Expectations: A deeply moving look at letting go of the child you expected in order to embrace the extraordinary, loving, and unforgettable child you have.

Priscilla Gilman grew up in New York City and is a former professor of English literature at Yale University and Vassar College. She has taught poetry appreciation to inmates in a restorative justice program and to New York City public school students. The Anti-Romantic Child, her first book, was excerpted in Newsweek magazine and featured on the cover of its international edition; it was an NPR Morning Edition Must-Read, Slate's Book of the Week, and selected as one the Best Books of 2011 by the Leonard Lopate Show. Gilman writes regularly for publications including the Daily Beast, the New York Times, and the Huffington Post, speaks frequently at schools, conferences, and organizations about parenting, education, and the arts, and is a Scholar/Facilitator for the New York Council for the Humanities. She lives in New York City with her family. The Anti-Romantic Child has been nominated for a Books for a Better Life Award for Best First Book.