Book Nook: Forever Boy - A Mother's Memoir of Autism and Finding Joy

 I recently received the following information about a new book from the publisher!

Approximately 1 in 54 children is diagnosed with autism in this country, making Autism Awareness Month each April ever more crucial to spread awareness, knowledge, and most importantly, compassion for those with autism in their lives. One of those people is Kate Swenson, whose world stopped when her then-toddler, Cooper, was diagnosed with severe, nonverbal autism. Cooper is now eleven, with three younger siblings, and Kate shares posts and videos of their day-to-day life in the community of 700K+ that she’s built across her blog, Finding Cooper’s Voice, and Facebook page (more below).  Now in Forever Boy: A Mother's Memoir of Autism and Finding Joy, Kate shares her family’s story, raw, honest, and uplifting. The book is already resonating with people: when Kate shared her book cover on Facebook Live, it quickly shot to #26 on Amazon, and stayed in the top 100 for days.

Forever Boy will speak to all audiences: it’s not only an honest, inspiring journey relatable to any family with autism in their lives, it’s also an eye-opening look for those who don’t. Kate’s love for her family is abundant, as she writes about the years-long path to diagnosis, her fighting for Cooper to get the same opportunities at school as other kids, the isolation, the planning, those precious moments of affection, and how she and her husband divorced and remarried two years later. She explores the existing resources for families like hers, and how she constantly has to advocate for her oldest son. When it comes to books about autism, there are many prescriptive guides, but very few memoirs. There are even fewer personal stories that don’t shy away from the realities of raising a child with autism, even as it celebrates the joys. Forever Boy helps fill that gap.

Kate Swenson is the mother of four children, including her eleven-year-old son Cooper, who has severe nonverbal autism.  Over the last decade, she’s built a huge community across her blog, Finding Cooper’s Voice, Facebook (672K followers), Instagram (120K followers), creating a safe space for families of children and teens with special needs to come together and laugh, cry, and support each other. Her world stopped when Cooper was diagnosed, and she experienced the grief of broken dreams, of releasing the life she’d imagined for her son, and then dealt with the pain, frustration, and exhaustion that comes with having to fight for your child in a world that is stacked against them. But through hard work, resilience, and personal growth, she eventually found acceptance—and ultimately joy. In her upcoming. She lives in Minnesota with her family of six.

 

She notes in her book, “I can say for certain that the beginning of my journey into autism would have been entirely different if I had found someone who I could relate to. This book will do that for you. As you read, I hope you find yourself nodding along, finally feeling understood in something that can feel so isolating. But also seeing hope and joy in a little boy and a misunderstood diagnosis.”