Critical Praise

"The funniest part of this book is not the fact that several of Melissa Fay Greene’s nine children were once Ethiopian goat herders. The funniest part is that she has nine children. She not only loves and appreciates every one, she brings them all to vivid life with affection, exasperation, candor, and (indispensable, under the circumstances) humor. I went from Are you kidding? to I love these people! in four pages flat."

—Marilyn Johnson, author of This Book Is Overdue!

"With four children of their own, Atlanta journalist Greene and her husband gradually adopted five more…to create a roiling, large hearted family unit. In her whimsical, hilarious account, she pokes fun at her own initial cluelessness regarding the adoption process…Despite periods of tension and strife, Greene captures the family’s triumphant shared delight in one another’s differences."

—Publishers Weekly

"Brimming with humor and love, the story of Greene’s ever-expanding family is both unique and universal. Not everyone watches a son spear a Frisbee in mid-flight or weave a bullwhip out of the suburban shrubbery. But everyone at some point asks what it means to be a parent, a sibling, a family. Greene answers these questions with wit and wisdom. I finished her book with a renewed conviction that it is possible to shrink this wide world and begin to bridge the chasms that have opened between us."

—Geraldine Brooks, author of People of the Book

"About every five years, we get a book from Melissa Fay Greene. I’ve learned to wait for them eagerly, always excited to know what this thoughtful, sensitive writer is going to do next. Now --- No Biking in the House Without a Helmet. That title tells you in no uncertain terms that you will laugh, but there’s a lot more in these pages than humor, including Melissa’s trademark generosity, optimism, winning self-deprecation, and high spirits."

—David Guterson, author of The Other