Giant Steps: A Story of One Boy's Struggle to Walk

Pulitzer Prize-winning Philadelphia Inquirer journalist Gaul here beautifully tells the story of raising his son Cary, who was born in 1986 with the crippling disorder spina bifida. He takes the reader step by step, from the first instant in the delivery room when the Gauls realized that something was terribly wrong with their newborn son. There is much to learn from his account--about medicine, marriage, parenting and the resilience of children. The spirited, well-loved Cary is now in elementary school, is able to walk with braces, is above average in intelligence and is enjoying an active, happy childhood. The memoir is poetic and often moving, as when Gaul first holds his infant son, who is encumbered by IVs in the neonatal ICU, and ``swims in his magnificent blue eyes.'' (Jan.)