The book portrays the memories of a couple, with alternating chapters of each other, giving a very interesting perspective of how they both experienced, in a different way, different moments of their lives.

Their memories are focused on an event that would end up being a dominant factor in these lives: the birth and growth of their twins diagnosed with disorders on the autism spectrum, from the painful diagnosis to the difficulties of everyday life, to the impact on family life and even on the mental health of the remaining family members.


Having a person with Asperger's syndrome in my close relationships, this memoir was, for me, a moment of learning and awareness, not only about autism but more importantly about the experiences of those who deal with it.


I strongly recommend it.

Curt Warner made a name for himself as a running back for Penn State and the Seattle Seahawks. (He should not be confused for Kurt Warner, the quarterback who won a Super Bowl with the Rams.) Curt Warner and his wife Anna have two children with autism. In The Warner Boys: Our Family's Story of Autism and Hope they tell their story of the struggles they endured raising their twins.



Without going into a lot of detail about autism itself, their goal is simply to chronicle their experiences. As people who know autism can tell you, the range of effects varies widely. As they say, "If you've met one child with autism, you have met one child with autism." The Warner's twins behaviors and manifestations will not bring much encouragement to parents whose young children have been recently diagnosed. But the grace and perseverance with which Curt and Ana have lived their lives as parents certainly gives inspiration.



I would suspect most children with autism are not quite as violent and destructive as the Warner boys were. Among other things, they would continually kick holes in the walls. One of them went on a stabbing attack on the sofa (He imagined it was a dragon from a Disney movie.). Later he burnt down the house. (He imagined that he was Pinocchio in the whale, and need to start a fire to escape.) The boys required a high level of vigilance so that they would not hurt themselves or others.



The Warners are nothing if not honest. What you get here is an honest look. "This is what our kids did. This is how we responded. These are the medical, environmental, and dietary solutions we tried." The book is by no means prescriptive, but descriptive. The "hope" in the subtitle is the fact that the boys are adults, living independently from Curt and Ana in a group home setting, and seem to have a good relationship with the rest of the family.



I enjoyed meeting the Warners via their book. They have an important, supportive voice from which other parents of children with autism can learn and be encouraged.





Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Quite an interesting story. I did watch the documentary on these boys but as always the book is better.

I have started and stopped this review more than once. The depth to which this story touched my heart and soul doesn't lend itself easily to a meaningful review. How do you assign only 5 stars to a book that should be in the hands of every human being on the face of the Earth, particularly our educators and other parents? We are parents to a son on the autism spectrum and our hearts hurt for the struggles he faces everyday. Yes there are struggles, but would we trade our sons for anything? NO. Would we change the personality and abilities our sons have? NO. Do we wish that there was a way that we could take the world into one classroom and tell them all not to judge when you hear what you think is a temper tantrum but is actually a child on the autism spectrum trying as best they can to adjust to a disruption in their sensory perception of the world? YES. What we learn from our sons, who just happen to have autism, is how to see the world through new eyes, with a different perspective. (If people look at themselves closely enough, I think we all have quirks in our personality...Wouldn't it be boring if we were all the same?

**Thank you to Curt and Ana Warner for sharing their story. One thing I have learned on our journey with my son is just have faith. Really, its that simple. Its our job as parents to fight as hard as we can to make people have the patience and find the tools to put in the hands of our kids. We all need to remember that people with autism have the abilities to do EVERYTHING others do. They just go about it in their own way. Imagine that.. being an individual...pretty cool way to be to my way of thinking....

I received this book "The Warner Boys" from NetGalley and all opinions expressed are my own. Although I did not finish this book (that is why it is a one star) I did find the beginning informative. As the book went on I just could not keep reading as the day to day activities went on. I just could not keep interested.

This is an interesting and touching story of former Seattle Seahawks player Curt Warner, his wife Ana, and their four children, two of whom are twins diagnosed with autism when they were young. The story traces Curt's career, his meeting and marrying Ana, their devastating loss of a first child, and then the challenges they faced with raising a not-so-"normal" family.

The Warner family's strength through many years of love, turbulence and chaos is inspirational. The writing was ok, but it was obvious that someone else wrote the book, as it was written almost in magazine article style, as if the couple were being interviewed. I would have liked to have heard more about the impact of the twins' autism on the other two children in the family; this was touched on, but never explored in depth. Overall, although the story was interesting and somewhat informative on autism and the impact on a family, I think there were a lot of additional layers that could have been uncovered.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little A publishers for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

3 stars

This book was awesome! Curt and Ana really opened my eyes to ASD and made me more aware and understanding of what both people with ASD and their families go through. I loved hearing from both Curt and Ana's perspectives and truly felt like they brought me into their lives and their struggles. They are so unbelievably caring, compassionate, and patient and it shows in how they care for Christian and Austin. Definitely a must read for anyone, as ASD is becoming more and more prevalent and it's important that we understand as much as we can.