"Today, I recognize that being human is the greatest adventure of all. And being a parent is the best part of that adventure," David Gerrold writes in the afterward of the Kindle edition of The Martian Child - an autobiographical piece about his adoptive son. "[A]nyone who hasn't experienced that hasn't finished the job of learning how to be human."

I caught the film adaptation Thursday morning, staying up until three to watch it - after baking pies all Wednesday night for Thanksgiving, I needed some quiet time with the TV and my eyes were too heavy for book reading. The film stars John Cusack as science fiction writer David Gordon - the straight version of David Gerrold, the author of the novelette turned novel turned film (not really sure which order that falls in, though). And like with most movies I fall in love with, I instantly wonder whether or not there was a book before hand. Even before the film was rolling its credits, I had downloaded the novelette to my Kindle - one can never be sure if you'll like the writer's style, so I opted for the novelette rather than the novel. The fact that it was under $4 also didn't hurt.

David Gerrold's writer, as I learned, is marvelous. There's a certain wit that most writers lack these days - whatever happened to them, I wonder. The story's a great, short read and I do look forward to purchasing the novel the moment I have placed this story behind me - if it's too familiar, I tend to lose interest in a story. Also, I'd want a hard copy of the book so I can lug it around to show people what I'm reading.

As a soon-to-be father, I feel that I can relate - sort of. Aren't all children aliens to new parents? And while I hope my little bundle of joy doesn't grow up to think she's a Martian, I do hope she is blessed with such a wonderful imagination, one that puts my childhood antics to shame.

It's a must read for all parents, new, old and adoptive. And I hope to learn as much from my child that David Gerrold learned from his. ( )

What was supposed to be a random book picked up from the cheap pile to be read during a particularly tedious train trip turned out to be an honest, heartwarming, and heartfelt account of two people fighting tooth and nail to create and sustain a human connection in a cold and confusing world.

David has been preparing to adopt a child for over a year. He has read countless books, watched countless videos, talked to countless people, and even redecorated his house. When he sees Dennis’ picture and hears his story, sci-fi author David knows he has finally found his son, and is prepared to do anything not to be the next one in the line of adults who have disappointed and abandoned the eight-year-old.

In the process of trying to be a good father to abused, mistrustful, and emotionally unstable Dennis, who claims to be a Martian who must one day return to his home planet, David has to come to terms with his own childhood, identity, fears, with all he has lost and all he hopes to gain by loving somebody again.

This short read brilliantly explores what forms the basis of human interaction, and our capacity to understand each other’s pain and find the best way to be there for each other. It manages to be deep, emotional, and clever, without ever once seeming pathetic, forced, or clichéd, and is one of those books that will make you laugh out loud right before moving you to tears. ( )

Stunning book

This reads like a memoir; it's marketed as a novella. I suspect that means that the details are made up, but I feel that the emotional through-line is real. This book is the emotional journey of a man adopting a child, and of the child learning to trust the man. The Martian question is addressed as if it might be real, but this is not really a science fiction story. It is a story set in the science-fiction milieu within the real world. It is raw. It is real. ( )

This is a fictionalized account of David Gerrold's adoption of his son, at the time an eight-year-old boy who had been "in the system" since birth, and had averaged one placement a year over that time.

Having decided to adopt a child, and having cleared the first challenging hurdle of being approved as a potential adopter, Gerrold attends an event that sounds rather like a setting he's more familiar with--a science fiction convention, but with a really, really different focus, both in programming and in the "dealers' room." It's not a dealers' room, of course, or a an exhibit hall, as those from different hobby or professional backgrounds might label it, but an opportunity to meet with representatives of various agencies, and find out something about the children they are trying to place.

At one of these tables he sees a picture of Dennis, and makes the fateful decision that this boy--ADHD, possible fetal alcohol syndrome, considered "difficult to place"--is the boy he wants to adopt.

One of the first things that Dennis's case worker tells him is that Dennis thinks he's a Martian.

The process of adoption is slow and deliberate, starting with regular visits to Dennis's current group home, leading to day visits at Gerrold's house and outing together.

The next step is supposed to be an overnight visit, but just days before what should be their first overnight, Dennis's case worker calls David and tells him, essentially, that he has to decide Right Now, because the group home the boy is currently in is closing, and a new placement has to be found for him. And there are no new placements for this very difficult child; his next stop is an institution.

Gerrold has been delaying a formal decision, but he's committed, and after a few moments of hesitation he says so. The exciting, challenging, stressful, alarming, rewarding process of convincing a scared little boy so alienated he thinks he's from another planet that he has a home, a family, a place to belong has begun.

I found this a charming, touching story. Recommended.

I borrowed this book from the library. ( )

a beautiful story of transformation and the birth of a father. David Gerrold ushers us through the story of how he adopted a wonderful little boy that told everyone he was a Martian. A must read. Compassionate, smart, and witty, Gerrold was the perfect man for the job. ( )