Raising Cubby

John Elder Robison wasn't a model child. He was awkward in school; he ran away from home; he threatened people with knives. As an adult, he learned he had Asperger's syndrome, which explained a lot, and his youthful shenanigans made for riotous stories. But it wasn't so funny when his son, Cubby, started having trouble in school and seemed like he might be headed the same way. Not that John was a model dad, either. When Cubby asked, "Where did I come from?" John said he'd bought him at the Kid Store--and that the salesman had cheated him by promising Cubby would do chores. He ditched Good Night, Moon for stories he made up about nuclear-powered horses. Cubby turned out to have his father's intelligence but also some of his resistance to authority. At seventeen he was brilliant enough in chemistry to make military-grade explosives, which led to a raid by law enforcement officers. That woke John up to another thing he and Cubby shared: Asperger's syndrome.

This is an unforgettable memoir about a different boy being raised by a different father--and learning to cope with, even celebrate, the difference.