After her daughter contracts a fatal disease, Charlotte O'Keefe must confront some serious questions that ultimately lead to one final epiphany: what constitutes a valuable life.

"In Far from the Tree, Andrew Solomon tells the stories of parents who not only learn to deal with their exceptional children but also find profound meaning in doing so. His proposition is that diversity is what unites us all. He writes about families coping with deafness, dwarfism, Down syndrome, autism, schizophrenia, multiple severe disabilities, with children who are prodigies, who are conceived in rape, who become criminals, who are transgender....

"In her new novel, Danielle Steel tells a riveting story of the dark side of motherhood. Zoe Morgan's childhood was marked by her younger sister's tragic illness, watching as her parents dedicated themselves completely to her final days and then divorced. As a young woman driven by these painful memories, Zoe sets the bar high for herself, studying hard and pursuing a career in the nonprofit world, where her deep compassion for disadvantaged children...

Finalist for a Books for a Better Life Award A pediatric neuropsychologist presents strategies to help parents of special-needs children navigate the emotional challenges they face. As diagnosis rates continue to rise for autism, ADHD, learning disabilities, and other developmental differences, parents face a maze of medical, psychological, and educational choices - and a great deal of emotional stress. Many books address children's learning or behavior...

"Kramer, author of a 1997 book (also titled Uncommon Voyage) that recounts her struggles to find alternative therapies to treat her son's cerebral palsy, returns with a guidebook to help parents cope with the burdens and joys of raising a special-needs child. As she explains to new readers, after her son, Seth, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, she found herself dissatisfied with what conventional medicine was offering and thus sought out new treatments....

After Mary Poppins departed London, Jane and Michael Banks grew up into loving and responsible adults. When Michael becomes a single father of three children after the death of his wife, Mary Poppins revisits the Cherry Tree Lane home again to try to help Michael and his family cope and move beyond their grief. Time passes quickly for most normal mortals. Mary Poppins has never been normal. Although it's now the 1930s, she looks exactly the same....

"Like any new mother, Emily is thrilled when her first child, a daughter, is born. The baby, Sadie, is healthy and stunningly beautiful, with snow white hair and fair skin. Even the doctors and nurses can't help a second look at this magical child. But soon a darker current begins to emerge -- something is amiss. After three months of testing, Sadie is diagnosed with albinism, a rare genetic condition. Emily, a folklore scholar and an award-winning...

"Robert Hoge was born with a tumor the size of a tennis ball in the middle of his face and short, twisted legs, but he refused to let what made him different stand in the way of leading a happy, successful life. This is the true story of how he embraced his circumstances and never let his "ugly" stop him from focusing on what truly mattered."--

"Liza Long is the single mother of a child with an undiagnosed mental disorder. When she heard about the Newtown shooting her first thought was, 'What if my son does that someday?' She wrote an emotional response to the tragedy, which the Boise State University online journal posted as 'I am Adam Lanza's mother.' The post went viral, receiving 1.2 million Facebook likes, nearly 17,000 tweets, and 30,000 emails. Now ... she takes a ... look at how...

Ian Brown's son, Walker, was born with a genetic mutation so rare that doctors call in an orphan syndrome: at most, three hundred people around the world live with it. At thirteen, Walker is still in diapers: he is globally delayed, he can't speak, and he has to wear cuffs on both arms so he won't constantly hit himself. He will require constant care for the rest of his life. The boy in the moon tells the story of one frail boy and the tiny constellation...