LESSONS OF LOVE FROM A BOY WHO NEVER SPOKE
ABOUT THE BOOK
Graham Hale Gardner died before turning twenty-three and never learned to walk or speak due to severe cerebral palsy complicated by epilepsy. Yet, he left a legacy of love and compassion that deeply moved scores of people from widely different backgrounds.
On the bucolic island of Martha’s Vineyard, at a pioneering summer camp for the disabled, a place “where hope flourishes,” Graham and his father become camper and camp doctor. There, they encounter an eclectic group of people who eat, work and create together.
Camp Jabberwocky, as it is widely known, embraces the boy and his father and they become part of a passionate and zany extended family that will forever change how they see the world.
Can we imagine living in a parallel universe known as “Jabberwocky,” where people open their hearts and minds to those who are different and nobody is left behind?
“The story of a beautiful boy who showed us a life without limits and embodied the power of love.”
—Katie Couric, Journalist
“This is an unusually moving and inspirational book, a clear-eyed and loving portrait of a son and his too-short but transcendent life. Graham‘s story is a tribute to the human spirit and the invisible bonds which connect us to each other. ”
— Ken Burns, Documentary Filmmaker
'“To what lengths would the loving parents of a severely disabled child go to enrich his life? And in return, what profound lessons would that child teach all who nurtured him? Readers of "Jabberwocky" will be pondering those questions long after they finish this remarkable story.”
— Joseph P. Kahn, Boston Globe Journalist
"This is a holy book."
—Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, Author of Invisible Lines of Connection
"How lucky we are that Steven and Cynthia were chosen to receive the gift of Graham and that they knew he was meant to be shared. In Graham's world-including a madcap summer camp called Jabberwocky-something wondrous and beyond us is at play..."
—Robin Young, NPR host
Available Now
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Steven Gardner is an internist at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. As a member of the MGH Global Disaster Response Team he has served in Haiti and the Philippines with Project Hope. He has been a volunteer physician at the Martha’s Vineyard Cerebral Palsy Camp (“Camp Jabberwocky”) for 25 years, caring for children and adults with a wide range of challenges. He is a passionate photographer whose images focus on the resilience of people facing adversity and the compassion of the people who assist them. He is a past winner of the Harvard Medical School Humanism in Medicine Award.