Connection Blog 

Book Review: Count It All Joy

Cathleen Small

A book review from Cathleen Small on Count It All Joy: Life's Lesson's From a Child With Special Needs. This book is available in our Lending Library.

So much good reading getting done this summer! Last week, in addition to reading Am I Invisible?, I read Count It All Joy: Life’s Lesson’s From a Child With Special Needs.

Okay, I’m going to be honest: I was a little leery because this books deals a lot in faith, with each vignette having an associated passage from the Bible to go with it. And although I certainly have my own faith and beliefs, I am typically not drawn to faith-based books. But I was pleasantly surprised: Count It All Joyis not at all heavy-handed in its connection to faith. The Biblical passages are a nice touch for those who want to read them, but those who are simply interested in the disability aspect of the book can skip over the passages and not really miss anything.

This book is a quick, easy read because it’s set up as a series of short vignettes (most just a couple of pages) about various aspects of the author’s experience raising her son. The vignettes are generally sweet and touching, and I enjoyed reading them.

I think this book would appeal to many parents of children with special needs—whether that special need is Down syndrome or something else. The author’s son, Christian, actually has a dual diagnosis of Down syndrome and autism, as well as a congenital heart defect. In scanning the customer reviews on Amazon, I noted that one reviewer who enjoyed the book said she could “relate to every word” because she has a great-granddaughter with autism.

If you want a fairly quick, feel-good read, Count It All Joy is well worth your time.

Read more of Cathleen's writings on her blog: foursmalls.com