Canaries Among Us: A Mother's Quest to Honor her Child's Individuality in a Culture Determined to Negate It

For those drawn to both Tara Westover's candid view into a difficult childhood and Susan Cain's research on undervalued traits . . . Canaries Among Us encourages us to reconsider and appreciate kids who learn and think differently.

"The courage to put this story on paper should not be overlooked . . . Taylor addresses so many noteworthy things . . . includ[ing] the importance of inclusion, diversity, and how to protect children who are vulnerable. Overall, I would highly recommend this book to all parents [and] educators. Everyone can benefit from a better understanding of [each] other's differences."
—San Francisco Book Review,5/5 STARS

Canaries Among Us explores one of the most widespread threats to children's well-being: a lack of acceptance. Kayla Taylor starts her day as an ordinary parent at a respected school, but her family's life turns upside-down when her child becomes the prime target of bullying. Taylor assumes the school will partner with her to solve the problem but is confounded when she finds the opposite: officials not only turn a blind eye to cruelty but also ostracize and attack anyone who speaks up against it.

Frustrated by this failure to protect vulnerable students, Taylor researches the challenges those in charge are most unwilling to discuss with her—like bullying, learning differences, and anxiety. She then digs deeper to study empowering responses that are woefully absent from many parenting books and teaching curricula—including validation, empathy, apologies, forgiveness, healing, and belonging. These concepts end up providing the guideposts Taylor needs to navigate both the exquisite joy and raw heartache inherent in raising a child who doesn't fit society's definition of "normal."
Canaries Among Us is both a heart-rending exposé of the ways we mistreat unique children and a searing indictment of society's tendency to revictimize people in their times of greatest need. Throughout, Canaries Among Us points to an alternative: supporting, and even celebrating, the dazzling variety of our humanity.