Mike Godwin on Oddly Normal

Just as the real test of civil liberties may be what happens when an individual citizen meets a bad policeman, the real test of education policy is what happens when a profoundly unusual individual student runs up against a school system designed for "most" kids. In Oddly Normal, John Schwartz describes his multi-year, wearying struggle to help a brilliant, learning-disabled, and gay son navigate the New Jersey public schools. The personal narrative is affecting, Mike Godwin reports, but it is Schwartz's skills as a journalist that make the book shine.