The managing editor of the Phoenix New Times hosts a launch party for her debut book, a memoir of raising a daughter with Down Syndrome. More info.

Amy Silverman bravely looks at her life, before and after her daughter Sophie was born, and reflects on her transformation from "a spoiled, self-centered brat," — who used words like "retard" and switched lines at the Safeway to avoid a bagger with special needs — into the mother of a kid with Down Syndrome and all that her new identity entails. She describes her evolution as gradual — one built by processing her fears and facing questions both big and small about Sophie, Down Syndrome, and her place in the world. Funny, touching, and honest, this book looks at a daughter and her power to change minds and fill hearts with love so deep that, as Sophie once remarked to her mom, "I love you so much my heart can't even believe it!"