Raisin' Brains: Surviving My Smart Family

I found this book wonderfully informative and refreshingly written in a conversational format with lots of personal experience and humor thrown in. It was not what I was expecting, however. After reading the reviews, I was disappointed to not laugh out loud until several chapters into the book. Despite this, I enjoyed it enough that I did recommend it to several friends and bought copies to give to my siblings for Christmas. (Maybe now we will understand my brother blowing himself up with rocket fuel he had made with his chemistry set at age 13....) The easy format doesn't require the concentration of some of the more sterile books on parenting a gifted child, but seemed to have almost as much information. There were many excerpts that made me smile but only a few parts where I laughed so hard that I thought I would cry. The best part of this book was that it helped me to understand my own family - both past and present - and realize that what we often take to be ADHD or ordinary weirdness, is just a normal symptom of having a differently wired brain, intense concentration and an amazing imagination. Another feature of this book that I appreciated was its lack of glorifying giftedness. Instead of describing it as a trait to aspire to, it talks about it clearly as the strength and curse that it is for those that are born with it. It talks about the different needs of a gifted child in education and life with detail and many zany examples. It emphasizes throughout the differences in giftedness levels as well as giftedness in many different areas. She talked about her 5 children and their varying strengths and interests. She gave her five children and 4 siblings interesting names to protect their identities; names like Myron, Pandora, Stanley, Magnolia and Otto. As she teaches through conversation and silly examples, she "keeps it real", reminding us that all parents ask themselves often why they chose to have children, but always know the real reason deep inside. The ability to laugh at oneself and enjoy our situation and gifted children is one that is often overlooked and a much needed trait for surviving this path of raising gifted children. This book is very refreshing and should be a definite addition to any gifted library. I highly recommend it for gifted parents, educators and older gifted children. For most of us, this will be the copy that is most worn and most lent out....

Thanks to Karen Isaacson, we won't need standardized tests to see if children, or their entire families, belong in a gifted program. All we have to do is have them read this book, and wait. If, within minutes, the parent is on the floor hysterically laughing, "I'm not the only one! I'm not the only one!".. her kid gets in the program. As I read this thoroughly enjoyable book I kept wondering how she managed to hide the surveillance equipment she must have installed in my house while MY kids were growing up. Her relaxed, delightful point of view is a gem in this over stressed,what-if-my-kid-isn't-president, panic stricken world of education and parenting. Run, don't walk, to buy this book. Even before you wipe the two pounds of peanut butter off the carpet the kids used in their anti-friction experiment.Especially before you find out which kid did it this time.

I really enjoyed this book. Once you pick it up, you'll find it difficult to put down. This book is helpful and humorous at the same time. It raises the awareness of the dilemas that gifted children (and their parents) often face in school and at home, in an engaging way. Ms. Isaacson has the uncanny ability to make any parent reflect on the uniqueness of their own children. Reading this book gave me a greater appreciation for my own children. Parents and teachers alike, would benefit from reading this laugh-out-loud book.

... Because you're going to laugh out loud! Issacson offers a hilarious look at life in a gifted family, with five kids, each as different yet challanging as the one before. From cleaning the kitchen to playing with their food, these kids manage to find fun whatever they do. My husband accused me of "having entirely too much fun" while reading this book. And he's right - it's great fun! But don't let the kids read it... they might get even more "good" ideas of tricks to play on you!

This book was not only hilarious, but gave me a greater appreciation for my own smart yet nutty family. The authors descriptive words puts you right into her world of gifted characters and lets you laugh right along with her.