MIM CHIMPSKY: THE CHIMP WHO WOULD BE HUMAN by Elizabeth Hess

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HES
Part of an experiment to determine whether non-humans could acquire language, the chimpanzee named Mim was raised as a human child in a family, wore clothers and was taught American sign language. Nim became a celebrity in t he early 1970's, appearing on talk shows and as the subject of magazine articles. When the funding ran out, however, he was shipped back to the chimp breeders facility in Oklahoma where he was born. He was then shunted from place to place, (including a facility which used animals for medical experimentation) before ending his days at Cleveland Armory's Black Beauty Ranch in Texas.

BLACK and WHITE by Dani Shapiro

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SHAPIRO

Clara Brodeur is an adult now but has spent most of her life rebelling against her famous mother, photographer Ruth Dunne. She has been estranged from Ruth for 14 years, living in Maine with her husband and daughter.

One day she receives a phone call from her sister informing her of her mother's imminent death. Clara reluctantly returns to Manhattan to find her mother surrounded protectively by adoring interns and assistants. She realizes that she must come to terms with the past for the sake of her daughter and her own sanity.

The emotional scars of Ruth's questionable photographs of Clara, taken throughout her childhood, are slowly healed with the help of her family and the maturity that comes with age.

LIFE, DEATH AND BIALYS: A FATHER/SON BAKING STORY by Dylan Schaffer

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Schaffer
Schaffer, an attorney and author of two legal thrillers, receives a call from his father, Flip, asking him to participate in a bread baking class. Flip is dying of cancer and the class is seven months away. Schaffer has doubts whether his father will live long enough to attend, yet agrees to sign up. Flip had abandoned Schaffer and his brothers thirty years before to life with a mentally unstable mother; there had been little contact since. Throughout the week-long class Schaffer realizes his father is asking for forgiveness. Schaffer has to work through years of pain and rejection , accepting his father’s flaws before it is too late.
This is a humorous, touching memoir, an honest account of a complicated relationship.

BEE SEASON by Myla Goldberg

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GOLDBERG

Eliza Naumann, usually an indifferent student, wins the 5th grade spelling bee, surprising her somewhat dysfunctional family and herself.
There are many themes in this amazing book, including parents' expectations of their children, mental illness, and the search for God.

A surprising twist in the plot will have readers going back in the text to search for clues.

THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME by Mark Haddon

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HADDON

Christopher Boone is an exceptional 15-year. He is blessed with a genius for math and an exceptionally logical mind, but is autistic and has no understanding of human emotions. As the narrator of this story his world begins to fall apart after finding the neighbor's dog impaled by a garden fork. He makes it his mission to find the murderer, modeling his investigation after his favorite character, Sherlock Holmes. Christopher embarks upon a journey that forces him to deal with his parents' divorce and his father's lies. The novel, told in the format of a murder mystery, is the honest and sometimes funny account of what might go on in the mind of an autistic child.

ELLEN FOSTER by Kaye Gibbons

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GIBBONS
Ellen's heart-wrenching descriptions of life in her very dysfunctional family would make unbearably depressing reading if they were not interspersed with revelations of her present life with her delightful new foster family.
Until she arrived at her "new mother's" home, Ellen had suffered the suicide of her mother, threats of murder, sexual abuse, and a variety of dreadful homes.
Her only respite was a brief stint living with her art teacher and visits to her African American friend's family. Fortunately, Ellen's sturdy good sense and strong spirit carry her through to a decent life.

WHEN MADELINE WAS YOUNG by Jane Hamilton

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HAMILTON

This novel is set in 1950's Chicago with Aaron and Julia McIver and their two children, Timothy (Mac) and Louise. What sets their family apart is the presence of Madeline who has the mental capacity of a seven-year-old since a bicycle accident left her with a traumatic brain injury. Mac gradually becomes aware that Madeline, his adult "sister," is actually his father''s first wife.

Mac tells the story looking back from middle age and a life spent in medicine. Preparing to attend the funeral of a cousin's son, killed in combat, Mac reflects on the complexities and tensions, the relationships, rivalries and regrets within his own family.

This is a fascinating book about a family dynamic that is intriguing and unusual.