THE RAVES ARE COMING IN:
"Powerful new memoir … a very honest and entertaining look at the realities of living with a serious disability." – The Daily Beast
"Incredibly powerful." – David Greene, NPR's "Morning Edition"
"Fantastic! Funny ... interesting ... beautifully done!" -- Jolie Mason, "Access Unlimited," KPFK-FM
"Quite delicious ... Mattlin's timing is perfect, never over-analyzing or dwelling too long on any one subject. ... A compelling writer... poetic without being sentimental." -- Roxanne Furlong, New Mobility magazine
"Often funny and always eye-opening … he spares no details of the sometimes gruesome, occasionally scary and always extraordinary events of his life. You will learn things you probably never even thought about about life for the wheelchair bound from this book, including sex, parenting, being in a relationship with a non-disabled partner, and much more. You will also learn about the discrimination that existed … Miracle Boy Grows Up is a fascinating read that will suit anyone who enjoys true stories about other people's lives." -- Rhetta Akamatsu, Seattle Post Intelligencer (via blogcritics.org)
"Mattlin is candid about his challenges (e.g., finding a job, hiring attendants) but he isn't looking for pity, just understanding. ... Those who do pick up this memoir will find a unique perspective that compares with Harriet McBryde Johnson's Too Late to Die Young." -- Library Journal
"Born with a severe neuromuscular condition, writer and NPR commentator Mattlin pens the story of his life so far... While most people with this illness are unlikely to live to adulthood, Mattlin's story is filled with details of how he managed to beat the odds." -- Kirkus Reviews
"In Miracle Boy, Ben Mattlin pulls off a nearly miraculous feat: creating an insightful, poignant, light-hearted and often hilarious memoir about life as a paraplegic. Mattlin's resilience, his curiosity, and his steadfast refusal to see himself as a victim are inspiring; his prose is deft, wry and self-aware. Like many of the best memoirs, this one brings you inside a beautiful mind." – Jay McInerney
"In Miracle Boy Grows Up, Ben Mattlin tells the fascinating twin stories of his own life and the history of the disability rights movement, in a voice that is deeply intelligent, utterly honest, funny, irritable, raunchy, companionable--a life story both extraordinary and absolutely ordinary. It is a love story, the story of a son, a father, and writer. This book is a pleasure." – Elizabeth McCracken
"Ben Mattlin could be called many things: iconoclastic, sidesplitting, and wise, among them. In Miracle Boy Grows Up, Mattlin demonstrates perhaps his greatest skill—as a master storyteller. Integrating his own story with humor, insight, and considerable aplomb into the larger cultural and political tapestry of the disability-rights movement is no small feat. Doing so in ways that never fail to both enlighten and entertain displays an attention to craft that righfully sets his book apart." – Lawrence Carter-Long, National Council on Disability
“In Miracle Boy Grows Up, Ben Mattlin spins the limitations of his genetic disease into literary gold. He tells his story with grace and candor, each beautifully crafted sentence illuminating not only his rich inner life but also the complex history of the disability-rights movement.” – Hamilton Cain, author of This Boy’s Faith