num_pages: 384
description: The slyly funny sweetly moving memoir of an unconventional dads relationship with his equally offbeat soncomplete with fast cars tall tales homemade explosives and a whole lot of fun and trouble Misfit truant delinquent. John Robison was never a model child and he wasnt a model dad either. Diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome at the age of forty he approached fatherhood as a series of logic puzzles and practical jokes. When his son Cubby asked Where did I come from? John said hed bought him at the Kid Store and that the salesman had cheated him by promising Cubby would do all chores. He read electrical engineering manuals to Cubby at bedtime. He told Cubby that wizards turned children into stone when they misbehaved. Still John got the basics right. He made sure Cubby never drank diesel fuel at the automobile repair shop he owns. And he gave him a life of adventure: By the time Cubby was ten hed steered a Coast Guard cutter driven a freight locomotive and run an antique Rolls Royce into a fence.The one thing John couldnt figure out was what to do when school authorities decided that Cubby was dumb and stubbornthe very same thing he had been told as a child. Did Cubby have Aspergers too? The answer was unclear. One thing was clear though: By the time he turned seventeen Cubby had become a brilliant chemistsmart enough to make military-grade explosives and bring state and federal agents calling. Afterward with Cubby facing up to sixty years in prison both father and son were forced to take stock of their lives finally coming to terms with being on the spectrum as both a challenge and a unique gift. By turns tender suspenseful and hilarious this is more than just the story of raising Cubby. Its the story of a father and son who grow up together. Praise for John Robison's first book Look Me In the Eye:Lean powerful in its descriptive accuracy and engaging in its understated humor...Emotionally gripping. --Chicago TribuneA fantastic life story told with grace humor and a bracing lack of sentimentality. --Entertainment WeeklyEndearing...Robison is a natural storyteller. --Boston Globe
language: English
title: Raising Cubby: A Father and Son's Adventures with Asperger's, Trains, Tractors, and High Explosives
publisher: Crown