Falling: A Daughter, a Father, and a Journey Back

Elisha Cooper spends his mornings creating children's books and his afternoons playing with his two daughters. But when he discovers a lump in five-year-old Zo 's midsection as she sits on his lap at a Chicago Cubs game, everything changes. Surgery, sleepless nights, months of treatment, a drumbeat of worry. Even as the family moves to New York and Zo starts kindergarten, they must navigate a new normal: school and soccer and hot chocolate at the local caf , inter-rupted by visits to the hospital. Elisha and his wife help their daughters maintain a sense of stability and joy in their family life. And he tries to understand this new world--how it changes art and language and laughter--as he holds on to the protective love he feels for his child.

With the observant eye of an artist and a remarkable sense of humor, Cooper captures this emotional journey back to health.

ELISHA COOPER is the author of many children’s books, including Train, Farm, Homer, and 8: An Animal Alphabet. Beach received a Society of Illustrators Gold Medal in 2006 and Dance! was a 2001 New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year. He was awarded a Sendak Fellowship in 2016. Cooper’s books for adults include A Year in New York and the memoir Crawling: A Father’s First Year. He lives with his family in New York City.