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Annelie Geissler
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I LEFT MY HOMEWORK IN THE HAMPTONS

Blythe Grossberg

What I Learned Teaching the Children of One Percent

A captivating memoir about tutoring for Manhattan's elite, revealing how a life of extreme wealth both helps and harms the children of the one percent.
Ben orders daily room service while living in a five-star hotel. Olivia collects luxury brand sneakers worn by celebrities. Dakota jets off to Rome when she needs to avoid drama at school. Welcome to the inner circle of New York's richest families, where academia is an obsession, wealth does nothing to soothe status anxiety and parents will try just about anything to gain a competitive edge in the college admissions rat race. When Blythe Grossberg first started as a tutor and learning specialist, she had no idea what awaited her inside the high-end apartments of Fifth Avenue. Children are expected to be as efficient and driven as CEOs, starting their days with 5:00 a.m. squash practice and ending them with late-night tutoring sessions. Meanwhile, their powerful parents will do anything to secure one of the precious few spots at the Ivy Leagues, whatever the cost to them or their kids. Through stories of the children she tutors that are both funny and shocking, Grossberg shows us the privileged world of America's wealthiest families and the systems in place that help them stay on top. BLYTHE GROSSBERG, PsyD, is a learning specialist who has more than fifteen years of experience helping children and adults with ADHD and learning differences become more effective at school and at work. She has published several books, including Asperger's Rules!, Focused: ADHD & ADD Parenting Strategies for Children with Attention Deficit Disorder and Making ADD Work: On-the-Job Strategies for Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder.
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Published 2021-08-17 by Hanover Square

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With compassion and humor, Grossberg details the cutthroat ways the elite try to catapult their children to the top no matter the monetary (or emotional) cost. Despite the glittering exterior of this lifestyle, Grossberg explores an underbelly of insecurity, pain, and dysfunction.

Blythe Grossberg's illuminating memoir, I Left My Homework in the Hamptons, offers a riveting and heartfelt look into her time tutoring the children of some of the wealthiest families in New York City. With clarity and compassion, Grossberg illustrates how, in so many instances, just beneath the surface of these families' gilded social media images are much more complex stories that too often involve dysfunction, loneliness and heartbreak. Like all of the best memoirs, Grossberg's compelling personal story is unique, but includes elements that will resonate with all readers. I highly recommend it!

Grossberg's fascinating book offers a rare glimpse into the school struggles of the wealthiest kids in New York, reading The Great Gatsby and living through it at the same time.

China: Citic ; Taiwan: Waves Press

Grossberg interweaves memoir, psychology, and exposé in this juicy yet sympathetic account... This nuanced chronicle humanizes an oft-caricatured world.

A sobering close-up of parental wealth and power.