Down Syndrome Parenting: A true story to encourage and inspire you

Read how the Special Needs rollercoaster took the Belnap family for a ride that was harrowing and hilarious, joyful and tragic.
 

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What are readers saying about Down to the Sea?

‘Down to the Sea’ has been very well received by readers, and with the proceeds of sale so far Ty has been able to move into supported accommodation in Cairns and furnish his personal quarters. $20 from every copy sold goes directly to the Belnap family to help cover Ty’s living costs.

“I’m sitting here at my computer trying to recover from finishing the last chapters of Mike Belnap and Candy Lawrence’s book Down to the Sea.

I love reading but I must say that books that affect me like this one are few and far between. I’m trying to untangle in my mind, the reasons this is so. I want to be able to tell you exactly why you should read this but I need to own up to the fact that I’m not just an unbiased reader about to hand in his book report. I feel like having lived through forty plus years of association with the Belnap family, in close or distant proximity, it’s hard to objectively divorce myself from the characters I’ve learned to love over a significant portion of my life and just tell you why this is a good book. I want you to understand that reading this may be a really worthwhile use of the time and resources it will extract from you – neither of which is very onerous, I might add! Still, we are all busy people and too oft wedded to our little screens so spending the money to purchase this and then sitting down with a physical book may not be the norm anymore for all of us.

“If I told you Down to the Sea was fiction you would probably read it and tell me that the plot wasn’t entirely believable. That’s why I have to tell you it is most definitely non-fiction. This amazing tale of this extraordinary family is 100% true. That I can vouch for.

“If you ask ‘what makes any book good?’ then you will hear criteria like these:

Characters you can identify with.

You can’t put it down.

Can’t wait to find out what happens next.

Clear, unambiguous speech.

Honesty. Does the author confide in you and make you part of the story?

Are there emotional triggers in the book that can change your view of the world or spark behaviour change?

Is the language beautiful?

Is there a good sense of time and progression?

Is there a satisfying ending?

“Down to the Sea ticks all these boxes for me and I have every faith it will do the same for you. Just remember to pack the tissues along with your sailing and adventure gear. One further warning: this book may well remove a word from your vocabulary…..disability.”

– Mike Roberts

“Besides being a groundbreaking
testimonial about how to challenge and nurture a child with a
disability, it’s an amazing to read of your experiences in traveling in
the South Pacific.

Your description of how you and the family, working
together, saved your boat- and your lives – when the forestay failed is
great reading…

“…Congratulations on several fronts including being a super writer and
thinking and living totally out of the box in raising Ty.”

– Michael Rounds

“I am in awe of your life adventure and your attitude.”

– Cappy Goodell

“It’s a brilliant book, I believe, one that will far outlast our lives and
inspire people around the globe,

especially if they know English well enough to
appreciate Aussie talk and their special take on life generally. In addition to
being a story about abilities and disabilities, it’s a very remarkable
one about values and rising to challenges both physical and psychological…

“A word about Candy. I don’t know how much she moved around your own words,
Mike, but whether she did or didn’t, the narrative skills and vigorous speech and
casual wit are totally Mike Belnap. I felt I was listening to you directly all the time.
I’ve only felt that twice in my life — this is true — reading David McCullough the
American history writer and … get ready for it, Winston Churchill! Go Winston!”

– Richard Regan

“I sat down to read the first page and just kept going.

The book is great, Mike!”

– Janine Hill

“I have finished the book and what a read!!

“I remember reading R L Stevenson’s ‘Kidnapped’ when I was in primary school and I felt great compassion for the David Balfour character. I had the same feeling for your cast of real-life characters, and from quite early in the book, I felt that I had been ‘Belnapped’.

“You are an exceptional person and you have an exceptional family and the book is a really good read from a lot of different perspectives.

“At all levels, it is a rollicking yarn which reflects your deep passion and conviction and it has a gritty genuineness which is rare but very engaging. For that reason it is the sort of ‘yarn’ which would be enjoyed by a lot of people…”

– Derek Robertson

 

 

About the authors

Mike Belnap is an American expat who came to Australia in his twenties to teach high school and liked it enough to stay for most of his life. He quickly became a leading educator and mentor working with disadvantaged and disruptive students and, after his son Ty was born with Down syndrome, added Special Education to his portfolio. An incorrigible surfer and sailor in his spare time, he is now retired and fighting terminal cancer. He is the co-author with Nelle Frances of the additional needs educational handbook, Sustainable Social Skills.

Candy Lawrence is an Australian educator and author who has taken to publishing her work only since retiring; previously she taught and mentored children from birth to 18 years of age. She is the co-founder of MonkeyRead.me Publishing with her business partner, Brenden Prazner. She writes and illustrates picture books designed to assist children with social skills and to fight prejudice, but has also written several longer works for adults which are in her publishing queue. She was the winner of the Sydney Morning Herald’s ‘Great Sonnet Competition’ in 2000.

Candy has written this memoir from Mike’s extensive notes and further interviews with his family.

By the same authors

Sustainable Social Skills, by Mike Belnap and Nelle Frances
Being Friends with Bodie Finch, by Candy Lawrence
I Won’t, said Willow, by Candy Lawrence