Written by Tana Fye
Chancer: How One Good Boy Saved Another
This was a sweet and sad memoir. If you want a good cry, there are scenes that will help you with that. But the subject matter of the book is the author’s experience adopting two children from overseas, one of whom has severe behavioral problems and is later diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. The author convinces her husband to adopt a dog and have it trained as a service dog for her son, which ends up being the salvation for her son in terms of helping him to realize his potential and be successful in getting through his day to day struggles. The author talks a lot about training Chancer and service dogs. This was really interesting to me, I think more so because my juvenile law work often means that I deal with children with past trauma, developmental delays, behavioral problems, and even FAS.