“Since Joel is beautifully written, wise, sad, and hopeful. Julie Schwartz takes us to the depths of grief and allows us to understand its power and the courage that it takes to face it. Anyone who has ever lost a loved one will see the honesty in every line and will appreciate how Schwartz has put such raw emotions into words.”
“As a parent of a son with autism, it was obviously an emotional rollercoaster—and her words were very relevant to the day-to-day experiences we ‘special’ parents share.”
“Since Joel is told with brutal honesty about what it’s like to raise a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder. It is a story about bullying, harassment, humiliation, and ostracism. Any parent with a challenged child should be interested and could relate to the experiences recounted in this book. There are different ways in which to process grief and this book provides a learning opportunity for anyone coping with life altering difficulties and loss.”
“Since Joel is an affecting and affectionate remembrance of a mother yearning still for her different from all the rest and gone too soon and too painfully son. It’s one mother’s story, yet it belongs to every mother—Joel Schwartz was that memorable, and his mother Julie that good a writer.”
