MOONRISE: A Family's Journey Through Muscular Dystrophy

In this heartfelt memoir, Wolfson employs expressive and skillful writing to convey how Ansel, her 17-year-old son, struggles to live with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). In spare, honest prose Wolfson describes how she and her husband, Joe, could not believe that there was anything wrong with their cheerful son, until it became clear that his motor abilities and language skills were far below those of the other children in his preschool. Interspersed with anecdotes about how family members, as well as Ansel, cope with his deteriorating condition is medical information about DMD, an inherited condition that is passed to males by female carriers. Although Wolfson, her husband and children have a warm family life, there is obvious tension among the three siblings, frequently sparked by Ansel's anger at his illness. He has also been isolated socially by his peers because of his disability and sometimes acts out in school, causing problems with teachers. Wolfson and her husband have been overwhelmed emotionally by all the physical adjustments that demand time and money. Despite DMD, Ansel emerges as a smart, brave teenager with a sense of humor; especially moving is Wolfson's description of his bar mitzvah. (Mar.)

Forecast:A section of this memoir has already appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, and has won a National Magazine Award.