“One of the most of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read.” -Jenna Bush Hager, Today with Jenna and Sheinelle
“Absorbing … [Block] writes with the phenomenological precision and narrative verve of a novelist…[and] succeeds at the near-impossible task of narrating from a child’s perspective without sounding like an adult in miniature….He manages to capture his frightening, formidable mother in all her ambivalent glory … Her love for Block is scalding in its intensity, and she is tragic precisely because she is so eminently understandable.” —Becca Rothfeld, Washington Post
“A highly unorthodox homeschooling experience is the subject of this precisely rendered memoir, written by a novelist…Written largely in the present tense, the book sustains an almost unnerving intimacy as it relates the story of how Block’s childhood and adolescence became “a sometimes scary quicksand of time.” - The New Yorker
“a revealing and deeply empathetic portrait of a complex relationship between mother and son … [Block] emerged having learned some enduring lessons about the surpassing power of grace, forgiveness and love” —BookPage, Starred Review
“Harrowing … astonishing” —Raquel Laneri, New York Post
"Block’s memoir — he’s also a novelist, and it shows — isn’t exactly a takedown of homeschooling itself, but it does show how the anti-system can render children especially vulnerable.” —Emma Alpern, Vulture/New York Magazine
““With an empathetic depth and a sharp sense of humor, [Block] gracefully places his experience within the bounds of the country, city, and family history that shaped it, while keeping tight narrative reins on his autobiographical account … [A] compassionately funny, thoughtfully constructed memoir.” - Caroline Drew, The Austin Chronicle
“What sets it apart is the compassionate perspective … complicated characters (ones you root for, and against) make for gripping reading, and this is a book you’ll be eager to discuss after finishing.”—Lindsay Powers, Amazon Editor, in Amazon’s Top Ten Books of January 2026
“Block’s story offers readers an intimate glimpse into a lesser-known era of the homeschool movement and the lasting impact of a mother who never wanted her son to grow up.” —Book Riot, “7 of the Best New Nonfiction Books of January 2026”
“a clear-eyed, emotionally precise voice… Block’s memoir reflects a lifelong negotiation between independence and community, rendered with intelligence, humor, and hard-earned compassion.”—Chronogram
“Stefan Merrill Block has penned a coming-of-age saga for the ages. A smart, deep boy growing up in the suicide capital of Texas, Block was taken hostage by a needy mother under the guise of homeschooling. His escape into high school, college, and a literary life in New York is a moving page-turner, in turns hilarious and compassionate, furious and faithful. Anybody with a mama needs to read this. Bravo!”—Mary Karr, New York Times bestselling author of The Liars’ Club
"Homeschooled unlocks the door to a private universe in a carpeted house in Plano, Texas, occupied for years by just middle-school-aged Stefan and his mother. Block is unflinching in both his honesty about his unhappiness and his profound love for the mother who didn't want to let him grow up. An important book for our current world, Block's brave story will help a lot of people feel less alone. An instant classic."—Emma Straub, New York Times bestselling author of This Time Tomorrow
"Stefan Merrill Block's Homeschooled is an often touching, often disturbing, but always engrossing examination of a mother's love and the ever-shifting ways in which we view our own histories. Clearly told with the steadiness of a masterful writer, Block guides us through the complications of going from being a cloistered, homeschooled child to a parent himself, and how the complexities of his own upbringing shifted his world. Told in tight, confident prose, Block pulls readers into a childhood where education and control intertwine in unsettling ways, a confounding life oscillating between affection and oppression. This is an urgent, wrenching, fantastically told tale that is also filled with hope, much the same way a heart can both break and hold fast under the weight of a mother’s touch."—Isaac Fitzgerald, New York Times bestselling author of Dirtbag, Massachusetts
“Stefan Merrill Block’s Homeschooled is a love story and a domestic horror story, so insightfully written that you can’t always separate its loving aspects from its horrifying ones. Its depiction of familial terrors, all inflicted in the name of devotion, driven by the all-too-human need for more devotion, and yet more, raised the hairs on the back of my neck. I didn’t fully realize I’d read it in a single sitting until it became clear that dusk had fallen, and it was time to turn the lights on.”—Michael Cunningham, Pulitzer Prize-winning author
"Block presents his boyhood without vanity or fear or illusions and paints his broken, delusional mother with nothing but love. Painful, funny, honest, heartbreaking. Nothing less than a sensational book."—Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Less and Less Is Lost
“Novelist Block delivers a wrenching account of his traumatic homeschooling in suburban Texas… Lyrical, harrowing, and politically pointed, this is both a moving coming-of-age story and a clarion call for reform.” –Publishers Weekly
“Like Tara Westover’s Educated, a compelling and horrifying account, leavened with flashes of rueful humor.” –Kirkus Reviews
“Through this poignant memoir that seamlessly blends humor, anger, and sadness, readers will appreciate Block’s journey from homeschooling to adulthood.” –Booklist