B
oth powerhouses in their own rights,
West Bloomfield natives Adam and Allison
Sweet Grant have collaborated once again,
this time to write a children’
s book focused on the
importance of generosity.
The Gift Inside the Box (Dial Books) will be
available in e-book and hardcover format Oct. 1.
Ever since Adam’
s first book, Give and T
ake,
came out in 2013, people have been encouraging
him to write a children’
s book about generosity,
the couple told the JN. People would ask them
“How do I raise a mentsch?”
At first, Adam wasn’
t sure where to start and
decided not to do it. Then, on a family vacation
last year, Allison came up with a story about a gift
box that wanders around looking for its rightful
owner. They started drafting it right then in the
car and, 45 minutes, later the book was born.
The intention is to help parents introduce their
children to the idea of generosity and to inspire
them to see the joy in helping others. They wrote
the book so both parents and children could use
their imaginations to fill in parts of the story
together. Allison especially loved dreaming up
the concept for the book’
s cover, which looks like
a package a child could actually open. Adam’
s
favorite part was coming up with a surprise end-
ing to encourage kids to think about giving rather
than receiving.
In recent years, Adam, a high-profile speaker,
author and top-rated professor at the Wharton
School at the University of Pennsylvania, and
Allison, a psychiatric nurse practitioner, have
shared perspectives on relationships and marriage,
including holding weekly meetings, on The Today
Show and in Redbook, where they shared, “The
beauty of a weekly meeting is that you have a
natural opening, a distraction-free time to turn
toward your partner.”
Other ideas shared include asking questions
instead of trying to change your partner and hav-
ing a conversation about the conversation. “If we
really understood each other’
s perspective then
we should be able to get on the same page,” they
shared on The Today Show.
Adam and Allison follow their own advice
in their marriage and follow guiding principles
— many gained when they were growing up in
Detroit’
s Jewish community — to parent their
three children.
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