Kristine Barnett

Kristine Barnett's son Jacob has an IQ higher than Einstein's. When Jake was two, experts said he would never be able to tie his own shoes. At age nine, he started working on an original theory in astrophysics that experts believe may someday put him in line for a Nobel Prize. He is presently pursuing a PhD in physics at the age of 14.

Barnett wrote The Spark: A Mother's Story of Nurturing Genius, the powerful story of one mother's love and her stubborn refusal to give up on her child. A remarkable memoir of a woman who followed her maternal instincts - even when those instincts ran contrary to her own husband, and the advice of all the professionals who told her it was hopeless - and even as Jake withdrew further into his own silent world.

Barnett pulled Jake out of special ed and began preparing him for mainstream kindergarten on her own. Relying on the insights she developed at the daycare center she ran out of her garage, she resolved to follow and fuel Jacob's "spark" - his passionate interests, even if she could not make sense of them. Why concentrate on what he couldn't do? Why not focus on what he could? This basic philosophy, along with her belief in the power of ordinary childhood experiences (softball, picnics, s'mores) and the importance of play, helped Barnett overcome "impossible" odds. Only years later would she - and the experts - realize that Jake's intense preoccupation with things like shadows on the wall and plaid fabric had been young Jake's gateway to math, astronomy, and physics.

Dramatic and inspiring, Kristine Barnett's story will transform how you think about children and parenting. It shows the power of love and courage in the face of overwhelming obstacles, and reveals the dazzling possibilities that can occur when we learn how to tap the true potential that lies within every child, and in all of us.

In 1996, Barnett founded Acorn Hill Academy, a daycare serving local families. She and her husband, Michael, currently run a charitable community center for autistic and special-needs children and their families called Jacob's Place.