This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.
Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite
In Jennifer Gay Summers’s memoir, Chasing Lee, Summers recounts becoming a mother through adoption after years of trying to have a child. Lee arrives from Texas as an infant, and Summers discovers that motherhood begins to take a form she never expected. As Lee moves from toddlerhood into school, her constant motion begins to raise questions that eventually lead to an ADHD diagnosis. Further testing identifies sensory processing disorder, followed by learning disabilities that change what Lee needs from teachers as school becomes harder to manage. Summers finds herself learning how to advocate for her daughter through IEP meetings as she protects their close bond at home. The memoir follows mother and daughter into adolescence as anxiety begins to affect Lee’s education and the family searches for ways to help her move forward.
Jennifer Gay Summers’s Chasing Lee is an exceptional memoir, and Summers writes about her daughter with such affection that Lee herself grew on me as a reader. I loved how well Summers captures the way Lee participates on her own terms, like during circle time at Brookside when she listens from the play kitchen, her fingers snapping along with the song. Summers is very good at showing the joy that comes when Lee’s abilities are recognized, as when former teacher Mrs. Rose invites her back years later to teach second-graders how to draw a dragon. At school, that advocacy is especially important when she asks Lee’s occupational therapist to attend the 504 meeting. She then confronts a teacher who dismisses ADHD, insisting that Lee needs special support. Summers brings readers close to the relationship between Lee and her mother, with Lee herself at the heart of the book. Well written and heartfelt, readers who are looking for memoirs about raising a neurodivergent child, and those who are raising one themselves, will embrace this.
