Jenna Bush Hager says she was “so enthralled” by “Upward Bound,” her April 2026 book club pick, that she read it on a single airplane ride, “unable to tear myself away from the beauty in its pages.”
“Upward Bound” is Woody Brown’s debut novel. Brown is autistic and nonverbal. With the help of his mom, Mary Brown, he uses a letter board to communicate and write.
“He has written an extraordinary story about what becomes possible when even one person believes in you. Set in an adult day care center called Upward Bound, we meet an unforgettable cast of characters — Carlos, Mariana, Jorge, Tom, Ann, and, at the heart of it all, Walter, who is only truly understood by his mother,” Jenna says.
“This is a love story about mothers and sons — a window into a world so often misunderstood. I am confident it will open hearts and change minds,” she continues.
Looking ahead to the release of his first novel, Brown, sitting next to his mother Mary Brown, tells TODAY.com he feels “nervous and excited.”
“I knew that this story needed to be told, and thanks to my education and excellent mentors, I was in a uniquely apt position to tell it the right way,” he says.
“How many like me are trapped in bodies, locked in silence, and yearning for education and true connection?”
In a taped interview with Jenna that aired on TODAY with Jenna and Sheinelle on March 31, Mary Brown said she was told her son was intellectually disabled and would never graduate high school.
Instead of accepting that, Mary Brown learned how to use a letter board. Together, they followed his high school curriculum through to his graduation in 2017. When she realized his next step was adult day care, Mary Brown quit her job so they could both attend UCLA.
“To finally be in the room where the learning was happening … I felt like I was in heaven,” Woody Brown told Jenna.
“We came to realize that he had real potential for a productive and happy life,” Mary Brown said.
“Upward Bound” is the start, but not the end, of Woody Brown’s writing ambitions — he’s already on Chapter 6 of his next book.
Woody Brown tells TODAY.com he hopes readers take away two things from his debut: “First, that someone like me can be a good writer and want to read my next novel. Second, I hope that people will question their assumptions about the intelligence of profoundly disabled people,” he says.
His debut features an array of characters in the adult daycare center, including Tom, who has both cerebral palsy and a crush on the lifeguard, and Carlos, the employee who has a tender connection with Jorge, a nonspeaking client with a penchant for running away.
The book sometimes veers into dark places. “The tragedy is real,” Woody Brown says. “So not to be honest about it would be unjust to the characters.”
He also has a message for his younger self. “Your instincts are correct. You just have to wait for everybody else to catch up. Just keep learning, because a writer needs a good education,” he says.
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