Review: ACCELERATED by Bronwen Hruska

  4 of 5 stars

How far would you go to help your child get ahead at school? This is the question being put to Sean Benning. His son Toby is in third grade at the prestigious Bradley School. The outrageous tuition is being paid his wife's parents. When the wife takes off, Sean is left to pick up the pieces and take care of everything to do with Toby's education.  When the school starts pressuring Sean to put Toby on ADHD medication, he balks at the idea, but reluctantly he gives in. He mistakenly believes that the school has only Toby's best interests at heart. When a near-tragedy strikes, Sean uncovers a more sinister reason why so many of Toby's classmates and for that matter, most of the students at Bradly, are on ADD/ADHD medication.

This book is timely especially in light of the rapid rise in ADD/ADHD diagnosis' being made for today's grade school kids. Why are there so many more kids being diagnosed with this condition and is a subjective impression by a health care professional really enough evidence to accurately diagnosis this? I found the beginning of the book a bit slow, but there is no doubt that Sean has only the best interests of his son at heart. The difficulty of being a single parent will ring true for a great many readers. This story highlights many of those difficulties especially making life-changing decisions. I did find the whole "in crowd" social parties a bit over the top with Bruce Springsteen and former President Bill Clinton making appearances. I don't think they were needed to highlight the differences between the wealthy elite and Sean's humble circumstances. Readers who struggle with their own family issues of ADD/ADHD will certainly find ACCELERATED an enlightening read. Recommended.

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. My disclosure policy can be found here: http://twoendsofthepen.blogspot.com/p/review-policy.html