Photography by M. Sharkey

What is exceptional? The National Book Award-winning author continues to ponder that idea, and in his latest book, Far From the Tree, he discusses growing up gay in the '70s, getting married, and having a child himself (things he never expected). But he also documents children who are deaf, dwarfs, schizophrenic, and prodigies; children who become criminals; children who are conceived in rape; and children who identify as transgender. The book has been hailed as "remarkable" by President Clinton and "a landmark" by Jennifer Egan.

Photographed at the Temple of Dendur at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art on October 9, 2012