It’s not often that you read a memoir in which the hero is an educational method, but after finishing Raising Cubby: A Father and Son’s Adventures with Asperger’s, Trains, Tractors, and High Explosives by John Elder Robison (Crown, Mar.), I was ready to give three cheers for the Montessori method. That’s what got Robison’s son on track with his schooling and probably saved him. When Robison had his first child with his first wife—whom he called Little Bear—he considered naming his son Thugwald because of his rambunctious behavior, but instead settled on Jack, nicknamed “Cubby.” The entire family was diagnosed with Asperger’s, leading to many misunderstandings, particularly as Cubby also had O.C.D. issues. The story moves from Robison’s struggles as a father with Asberger’s to his boy, who was obsessed with playing Yu-Gi-Oh!, and finally to a teenager investigated by ATF and prosecuted by the local DA. Raising Cubby offers up a gently twisted journey that is always insightful, often hilarious, and sometimes awe-inspiring.