What Else But Home: Seven Boys and an American Journey Between the Projects and the Penthouse

by Michael Rosen

Michael Rosen's seven-year-old son Ripton one day decided to join a pick-up game of baseball with some older kids in the park. At the end of the game Ripton asked his new friends if they wanted to come back to his house for snacks and Nintendo. Over time, five of the boys—all black and Hispanic, from the impoverished neighborhood across the park—became a fixture in the Rosens' home and eventually started referring to Michael and his wife Leslie as their parents. The boys began to see the Rosens as more than just an arcade of middle-class creature comforts; the Rosens began to learn the full stories of the boys' fractured lives. Soon Michael and Leslie decided that their responsibility, like that of parents everywhere, was to help all their boys get a start in life. So began a turbulent learning experience all round, beautifully and movingly depicted in What Else But Home . It's a quest to escape the previously inevitable, a test of the resilience of a newly assembled family, a love story unlike any other, and a celebration of the fact that, whatever our differences, baseball and commitment can help us bridge them.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Fostering, Adoption, Education

384 pages, Hardcover

First published June 30, 2009

About the author

Michael Rosen, a recent British Children’s Laureate, has written many acclaimed books for children, including WE'RE GOING ON A BEAR HUNT, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury, and I’M NUMBER ONE and THIS IS OUR HOUSE, both illustrated by Bob Graham. Michael Rosen lives in London.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Eira Hawthorn · Rating 5 out of 5]

What Else But Home is the kind of book that sneaks up on your heart. What begins as a simple childhood moment, in game of baseball unfolds into a profound story about chosen family, responsibility, and love that refuses to stay within neat boundaries. Michael Rosen doesn’t present himself as a hero; instead, he invites us into the messy, uncertain reality of opening your home and your life to children whose worlds look nothing like your own.
This book aches with honesty. It shows how good intentions are tested, how love stretches, and how commitment becomes an act of courage. The boys’ stories are heartbreaking, hopeful, and deeply human, and the Rosens’ journey reminds us that “home” isn’t defined by walls or privilege, but by showing up again and again.

[AJ Payne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book because it outlines kind of what I've always pictured for my family - some adopted kids, and helping out others, and having kind of an open door policy for people who need anything.

That's essentially what this family did for some boys in New York City. They adopted two boys at birth, and then became pseudo adoptive parents to five (and sometimes more) others when their older son befriended them at a park baseball game. None of the other boys were ever officially or legally adopted, but for all intents and purposes, these two became their parents and the boys lived with them, went on their family vacations, and the parents solved most of their problems.

It was an interesting book. While it didn't ever seem like the parents ever got through to the kids, over time it seemed they did at least influence all of their lives for the better. To me, they seemed far too permissive, but I suppose they had to be if they wanted even a chance to influence the boys - too strict and they would just leave for the permissive lives they had growing up. But, it did annoy me at times! I don't really agree with more, or probably even many, of the choices they made, but the spirit is admirable and I really liked that. I particularly disliked the permissiveness and undermining nature of the mother, but she definitely had her good points, too. But, it was also told through the eyes of the father, so getting all sides of the story is doubtful anyway.

As for the book itself, I found it to be pretty poorly written. Many of the sentences didn't make much sense and needed more/different punctuation and different tone. The story seemed to jump timelines sometimes, even though it was clearly laid out at the beginning of every chapter.

There is supposed to be a website with more information and pictures (as noted in the book) but that is not the case any longer, for which I was very disappointed.

Overall decent, and an inspiration for me, and it gave me a lot to think about regarding whether my picture of how I want my family to be is realistic.

Edited to add: My favorite quote from the book. “If you’re gonna let them be here,” he waved around the apartment, “it has to be unconditional. They’ll test it because the way things work, disadvantaged kids are always screwed over. Teachers start nice, social workers, their mom’s new boyfriends all start nice, get tired and walk away. These kids don’t know it, but they’re fighting for their lives. It’s a matter of life and death. Especially for boys, the street kills them early, one way or another. If you let them into your family, it has to be forever.”

[Steph | bookedinsaigon · Rating 3 out of 5]

So Rosen writes the way he parents: often too caught up in the emotional "rightness" of the moment to consider basic principles, or the long-term implications of his immediate decisions. The story is there, obviously; what could make for a more tear-inducing premise than the tale of 5 inner-city black and Latino boys whose lives are changed by, and who change the lives of, a wealthy white New York couple? It's quite sad, then, that the writing doesn't do the reality justice. I have heard Michael Rosen speak and he is very eloquent, very forthcoming with his shortcomings and mistakes as a sort of adoptive parent to the boys.

That being said, I return to the fact of the matter that the book is just not that well written. It didn't move me to tears, though I thought it should've, and was expecting it to. Scenes play out in a jerky manner; dialogue spills all over the place, confusingly and seemingly purposelessly other than being a vague attempt to grasp the boys' vernacular; and admittedly sometimes everyone behaves in abominable ways. I note this here not to criticize their mistakes and poor decisions, for, fiction or nonfiction, it is not the reader's right to question the decisions of the "characters." Poorly written, however, a character may not garner my sympathy, and then I really am just annoyed at the whole lot of them, which happened a lot when I was reading this book.

All in all, this book had good intentions but did not carry them out in the best way it could have. This is one of the rare cases where I'd recommend keeping very adamantly in mind the fact that this is based on a true story. Thinking of the characters, especially the boys, as real people makes the clumsy translation from life to paper more forgivable.

[Nette · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wealthy white couple with two kids befriends a ragtag bunch of project kids on the playground. So far, so good. A little pizza, a new baseball glove, that's very sweet and generous of them. Within a week the couple invites the kids to stay at their home more or less 24-7 (without checking with any of their parents), showering them with expensive clothes, restaurant trips, limo rides, and other treats. This goes on for years, even though their marriage is falling apart and their oldest son has learning and behavior problems; they continue to focus on the other kids, most of whom, frankly, sound like schemers who know a good thing when they see it. After about the fifth time Rosen very, very gently chides the kids for calling each other "homo" and "faggot" because it's, you know, hurtful -- instead of kicking their butts back home and concentrating on his own family's issues -- I stopped reading.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really kept me wanting to read another page, then another page. Partly I was drawn to the hope of improving the lives of these boys from the projects. Another part of the attraction was the same thing that compels people to slow down and look at the car accident in the opposite lane.
The author did a great job of capturing the scenes in detail and also recreating dialogue. The dialogue was often disturbing. Sometimes the truth hurts. The boys' slang was disturbing. The mispronounciation of "with" and "month" as "wif" and "momf" was sad.
But the shining greatness was the upper class family making a decision to give to these boys. They gave and gave. Was that love reciprocated? Not a whole lot at first. Even if the Mike and Leslie have their shortcomings and frailties, they also performed saintly deeds.
Great book. I am a better person for reading it.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just finished this book today, at first I hated it, all the author talked about was how much he bought the kids, it seemed like it was just him complaining how much money he spent on things that were stolen or for these poor project kids, but about 2/3 of the way through the book I realized that he and his wife really did care for the boys well being. Also how much the boys loved the Rosen family even if they couldn't show it on the traditional way. I do wish we knew more about what happens to the boys as it does leave us with most of them in college and I wish I knew how many were sucessful in and after getting a higher education. I would not recomend this book unless you are intrested in how the "other half" of those who moved in the LES after gentrification live, that was eye opening to know how people living just blocks from where I grew up live.

[Molly Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a story that needed to be told. I felt that I better understood the author's style when I discovered his background in ethnography. This explained his focus on exactly what was said, what it looked like, and how people reacted. Still, I wish he had explained more of his feelings, his thoughts and fears, and his intuitive sense of what was going on in certain situations. Because of the author's choice to leave these assumptions and reactions out of the picture, I was left feeling like I was missing key pieces of the puzzle. Regardless, the story here moved me. I still wish the author had brought more of his voice to the table, but I thank him for sharing what he did. To share so much of one's life and love, with honesty, requires bravery.

[Kelly Norton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not enjoy the book, but gave it 3 stars b/c it's a great story. I bought this book b/c I heard Rosen's interview on NPR and was intrigued. The love he showed for these kids was amazing. So I read the book, and while I'm still impressed with how he and his wife opened their hearts and home to these kids, I didn't enjoy the book. The writing was not great, and I was irritated with how much they spoiled the kids (eating out all the time, buying them most things they wanted, etc.). And they did all of this for them w/o knowing much about their lives when they weren't around. Weird.

[Geneva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two giving adults, realizing the importance of love and education, change the lives, forever, of their two adopted sons who in-turn "adopt" five more brothers from poverty and project-like homes. These seven brothers and their parents represent how stable families and education bring change and hope. Sales-wise this book did not flourish. To me, however, this BESTSELLER, shows our country how we can change lives with love and good education.

[Susan Heisel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fabulous, realistic account of a unique couple who decided to "take in" a number of boys from the projects. It opened my eyes not only to the way many children are growing up in the "projects," but also how wealthier people live in New York. Interesting read that I couldn't put down.

[Tara]

I heard the author interviewed on the Diane Rehm show the other day and was so captivated by his story.

[Rachael]

I didn't get more than 10 pages into this book because of all the swearing. I think it would be a great book if I could block out all the bad words.

[Miriam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Imperfect people cobbling together an imperfect life. Very much an American story that points out the cultural walls we have erected between people from different sociological background.

[Karrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad read. I found myself disagreeing with much of the parenting style that the author used, but I admire what they've done for these kids.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

My only real complaint is that the sentence structure was a bit hard to follow at times.