bookpagedev

Memoir

On the lighter side

Review by bookpagedev

For a more light-hearted take on the challenges of motherhood, turn to From Here to Maternity by Beth Teitell. The lifestyle columnist for the Boston Herald, Teitell never loses her sense of humor as she grapples with the life-altering experience that is motherhood. Your idea of acceptable behavior changes once you have kids, she writes. And how. Teitell harbors no earth mother delusions, admitting to sneaking her baby some formula when she tires of nursing, and coveting the fancy strollers of her neighbors. Mothers will be nodding in agreement with Teitell’s take on toddler classes, play dates and the never-ending battle to get your baby to nap. From Here to Maternity is the antidote to traditional parenting books, and a great reminder that while having kids is serious business, it doesn’t have to be serious all the time. As the mother of a nine-month-old, Amy Scribner did extensive personal research for this article.

For a more light-hearted take on the challenges of motherhood, turn to From Here to Maternity by Beth Teitell. The lifestyle columnist for the Boston Herald, Teitell never loses her sense of humor as she grapples with the life-altering experience that is motherhood. Your idea…
Memoir

On the beat in Baghdad

Review by bookpagedev

Anne Garrels reports from the Middle East’s hottest spot Anne Garrels is barely two days away from flying back to Baghdad when BookPage reaches her at her home in Connecticut. To compound her last-minute flurry, she’s just had to have one of the family dogs put to sleep. This makes her 15 minutes late for our interview and profoundly apologetic. “We had an old boy who just didn’t make it,” she explains. If all goes as planned, the National Public Radio reporter will be in the Iraqi capital for five weeks, after which she will return for a tour promoting her new book, Naked in Baghdad, a vivid account of her experiences during the war.

Garrels’ was one of the sanest, most dispassionate voices to emerge from the media din that attended the recent invasion of Iraq. Working with her endlessly resourceful “handler,” Amer (not his real name), she beamed dispatches from her 11th-floor aerie at the seedy Palestine Hotel. Between broadcasts, she roamed the city to the extent that authorities allowed talking to officials and common folk and monitoring the changes as the invading forces came closer. Lots of listeners worried about Garrels’ safety and e-mailed their concerns to NPR. Of the audience response, she says, “I was astonished. I was in a cocoon in Baghdad, because I was on a satellite phone. It was both expensive to get onto, and I was loath to be on for any length of time for fear of being seen. So I didn’t see the e-mails that were coming in from people until very close to the end.” Naked in Baghdad has two storytellers: Garrels, of course, who gives a running account of her daily activities, observations and reflections, and her husband, magazine illustrator Vint Lawrence, who e-mails friends and family periodic summaries of what his wife has told him during their daily satellite phone conversations. He labels these e-mails “Brenda Bulletins,” a whimsical allusion to comic-book heroine Brenda Starr. The title of Garrels’ book works on two levels as well. She was reporting unprotected in a war zone, but she also had the habit of broadcasting literally naked from her hotel room at night, figuring it would give her an excuse to plead for time to get dressed (and to hide her outlawed satellite phone) if the authorities came knocking. Although Garrels had good relations with her fellow reporters, she criticizes the actions of some of them in her book, notably Geraldo Rivera and Dan Rather. Rivera, she says, endangered all working reporters by swaggering around with his own guards and announcing that he was carrying a gun. “I felt personally threatened by Geraldo[‘s conduct],” she says. “At the very time that he made those statements [about being armed] and decided to become a war correspondent, Fox [News] was being increasingly shown on satellite channels. So this wasn’t just for American domestic consumption it was being seen in real time around the world. This was serious business. We had no protection. So when somebody like Geraldo says, I’m packing heat,’ there’s an assumption there that, Gee, this is what American journalists do.'” She dismisses Rather’s face-to-face interview with Saddam Hussein just before the war started as “obsequious tripe.” A former TV reporter herself, Garrels believes that the medium too often distorts the very news it aspires to tell. As an example, she cites the attention-grabbing scenes of newly arrived American soldiers in Baghdad helping the locals topple Saddam’s statue. She says the spectacle in no way conveyed the general mood of the people at the time.

In Naked in Baghdad, Garrels depicts such a harmonious relationship with her husband that we ask if he really supports her returning to what is still a dangerous assignment. “Well, I asked him that last night once again,” she says. “When people have been married a long time, there are sort of assumed discussions. I finally looked at him and said, OK, honest and true, is it OK if I go back?’ And he said, You’d better go back. You need some new stories.'”

Anne Garrels reports from the Middle East's hottest spot Anne Garrels is barely two days away from flying back to Baghdad when BookPage reaches her at her home in Connecticut. To compound her last-minute flurry, she's just had to have one of the family…
LifestylesHealth & Fitness

Advice for staying healthy

Review by bookpagedev

Eating Well When You’re Expecting is the newest offering from the rapidly growing What to Expect dynasty of books, and it’s a useful addition dedicated solely to nutrition during pregnancy and in the months postpartum. Author Heidi Murkoff has a tendency to get silly with her puns (a section on whole grains is, of course, called Don’t Go Against the Grain and a discourse on salad dressing is titled Dressing for Success ). But she offers solid advice in a soothing, motherly voice, and takes a less militant tone than some of the previous What to Expect volumes, recognizing that pregnant women sometimes will eat that ice cream, whether it’s good for them or not. The recipes at the end of the book are a great resource for women who need ideas for how to get the best nutrition for themselves and their babies.

As the mother of a nine-month-old, Amy Scribner did extensive personal research for this article.

Eating Well When You're Expecting is the newest offering from the rapidly growing What to Expect dynasty of books, and it's a useful addition dedicated solely to nutrition during pregnancy and in the months postpartum. Author Heidi Murkoff has a tendency to get silly with…
Biography

Teaching young toughs

Review by bookpagedev

Juvenile offenders find release in a creative writing class Having already found that teaching creative writing to college students was a dismal experience, best-selling author Mark Salzman was even less disposed to try it with the young offenders incarcerated at Los Angeles’ Central Juvenile Hall. But at the urging of a friend, he finally gave in. It was a decision that altered his life. Salzman recounts his experiences in True Notebooks, which offers a powerful narrative covering only his first year of teaching at the detention facility 1997-98 although he stayed on for four years before leaving to take care of his newborn daughter.

True Notebooks introduces a gallery of colorful young felons locked up for murder, robbery and assault, some of whom are now serving life sentences. They are a scheming, affectionate, curious and volatile bunch with plenty of stories to tell not all of them sad ones. Surprisingly, Salzman took to them immediately. Speaking to BookPage from his home in Los Angeles after he put his daughter down for her afternoon nap Salzman admits, “I’m currently a stay-at-home dad. My project is exploring this whole parenthood thing. I think that once my daughter is old enough to go to school, that’s when I’ll want to go back to teaching.” Before accepting his teaching post, Salzman made a list of the reasons he shouldn’t sign on at the hall. He had been bullied as a child and mugged and robbed as an adult. Besides, he wrote to himself, “[I] feel uncomfortable around teenagers.” Despite these reservations, he says the students won him over with their first writing assignment: “I was a very easy sell partly because I was just so surprised at what they were writing about and the way they were writing. As I mention in the book, I had done some creative-writing teaching before at the college level, and it was frustrating because so few of the students were willing to write about things that mattered to them personally. But these kids were writing about their deepest fears, their happiest moments, their worst moments. It was so immediately interesting. They were writing with such directness that I just couldn’t believe how much I was enjoying hearing them read. So from there on, it was pretty easy for me to want to keep coming back.” Salzman recreates the events and conversations of specific classes from memory but salts them with generous samplings of his students’ stories, essays and poems. As the students’ and his own confidence grows, he involves himself more deeply in their lives intervening with their supervisors, planning and conducting a retreat, going to their parties, even attending a trial. In an especially touching scene, he plays his cello for a school assembly, opening with Camille Saint-Saens’ “The Swan,” which, he tells the students, reminds him of his mother. “[As the song progressed] I glanced at the audience and saw a roomful of boys with tears running down their faces . . . A moment later the applause became deafening. It was a mediocre cellist’s dream come true. . . . For my next piece, I chose a saraband from one of the Bach suites. The boys rewarded me with another round of applause, but then someone shouted, Play the one about mothers again,’ and a cheer rose up from the crowd. I realized then that it was the invocation of motherhood, not my playing, that had moved the inmates so deeply.” The author whose earlier books include Iron ∧ Silk, a memoir of his experience as an English teacher in China, and Lying Awake, a critically acclaimed novel about a Los Angeles monastery reveals to his class at one point that his editor has rejected his latest manuscript. The students are outraged. “She don’t know you,” a boy named Francisco shouts. “She don’t know you come down here and help us out, she don’t know shit.” Recalling the “dark pleasure” of that incident, Salzman muses, “There was nothing better than shipping off the manuscript [for True Notebooks] and knowing that my editor was going to read that chapter. In fact, I thought about asking Knopf, when they sent out review copies, to highlight that chapter so that anyone who criticizes me is going to have a whole army of criminals angry at them.” The triumphs Salzman and his students achieved in the classroom were routinely leavened with defeats. “Generally what happened in the time I would work with them which, on average, was about a year was that just when I felt they were getting confident, they were given their prison sentences and shipped out.” Salzman says his friends would ask him why he wasn’t spending his time working with children who could still be saved. “The best answer I could come up with,” he says, “is that life does this to us. We find ourselves unexpectedly in situations where we discover that we’re kind of good at something. And I think there’s a place for just following your instincts and sticking with something you have a positive feeling about.” The affection he developed for his students ultimately persuaded Salzman to have children of his own: “I had a very happy childhood and a loving family,” he says, “but having children was something I could never picture myself doing. I drew a blank when I tried to picture it. So I thought that was a sign that maybe I just wasn’t meant to be a father, that I wouldn’t be good at it. But once I met these kids, the opposite was true, even with all of their problems. I felt such deep satisfaction with our little triumphs. The bond that we did make was so satisfying, so inherently good and positive that I thought, Wow, if this is how I feel about these guys, think of how I’d feel with my own child.’ And that certainly has been true so far.” Edward Morris writes from Nashville.

Juvenile offenders find release in a creative writing class Having already found that teaching creative writing to college students was a dismal experience, best-selling author Mark Salzman was even less disposed to try it with the young offenders incarcerated at Los Angeles' Central Juvenile Hall.…
LifestylesHealth & Fitness

Advice for staying healthy

Review by bookpagedev

The most comprehensive pregnancy guide imaginable, The Whole Pregnancy Handbook covers fertility, nutrition, prenatal yoga, miscarriages, labor and plenty more in between. The book approaches pregnancy and childbirth by combining alternative practices with more conventional medicine. Author Joel Evans sees no conflict, for example, in someone planning a drug-free childbirth yet also taking advantage of the best prenatal testing that modern science offers.

An OB/GYN who is board certified in holistic medicine, Evans also happens to be a beautiful writer who clearly enjoys his work. Birth is an event of joy and continuity; it’s life and breath, he writes. The handbook employs one popular practice of many books in the pregnancy and childbirth genre: including quotes and advice from real-life mothers. The breezy, been-there-done-that style of these entries provides a great balance to the more factual, how-to portions of the book.

As the mother of a nine-month-old, Amy Scribner did extensive personal research for this article.

The most comprehensive pregnancy guide imaginable, The Whole Pregnancy Handbook covers fertility, nutrition, prenatal yoga, miscarriages, labor and plenty more in between. The book approaches pregnancy and childbirth by combining alternative practices with more conventional medicine. Author Joel Evans sees no conflict, for example, in…
ParentingFamily & Relationships

Tell me a story

Review by bookpagedev

Nurturing a child’s taste in reading reaps rich rewards Although reading is one of my favorite activities, my son doesn’t seem to share that obsession. He’ll be 10 this fall, and it’s taken me a good decade to begin to fathom his likes and dislikes. He loves Harry Potter and any good fiction that I read aloud but seldom picks up novels on his own. At first I thought this might be a problem, but now I’m coming to realize that he’s simply a nonfiction kind of a guy. He practically grabs each Sports Illustrated for Kids issue as it comes out of the mailbox, and this summer he’s devouring a series of books focusing on our 50 states. He loves to spread several of them out on the floor and compare geographical statistics. Looking into the population of Boise is hardly my cup of tea, but the important thing is, it’s his.

Discovering and developing a child’s taste in books requires some crafty strategizing by parents and teachers. A new trio of books focusing on kids and reading, each with a slightly different slant, can help in this pursuit. All three have given me plenty of hints, suggestions and reassurances about enticing my son with books as well as nurturing the literary likes and dislikes of his twin preschool sisters.

The smallest book in the bunch, Raising a Reader: A Mother’s Tale of Desperation and Delight (St. Martin’s, $19.95, 144 pages, ISBN 0312315341) by Jennie Nash is filled with the author’s own experiences with kids and books. A writer and mother of two girls, Nash has structured her book in short chapters, peppering each with sidebar suggestions and reading lists that have titles like “What Carlyn Turned to After Harry Potter” and “Books I Wish I Could Convince My Kids to Read.” Reading this book is like sitting down to an intimate lunch with a fun, passionate friend who loves both literature and children. Nash offers great suggestions like snuggling up in bed with kids and reading silently together along with interesting anecdotes, like how she once got so angry at her toddler’s mistreatment of books that she took them all away. Her writing is breezy and entertaining, so you’ll go through her tales in no time.

Next, pick up Under the Chinaberry Tree: Books and Inspirations for Mindful Parenting (Broadway, $14.95, 288 pages, ISBN 0767912020). Authors Ann Ruethling and Patti Pitcher have distilled multitudes of motherly wisdom into this wonderful volume. The perfect baby gift for a first-time parent, Under the Chinaberry Tree is divided into themed chapters, each of which begins with personal anecdotes and insights, then moves on to discussions of various books relevant to the theme. A chapter titled “Dailiness: Making It Through the Day” contains a useful list that has nothing to do with reading, “Tips for having enough energy to survive daily life with small children,” while the last chapter, “Surrendering the Day,” concludes with a list of beloved bedtime books. In between are all manner of wonderful discussions and reviews, with chapter headings such as “Smiles, Giggles and Belly Busters,” “Learning to Be Human” and “Growing Pains.” Unfamiliar choices as well as classics like Goodnight Moon and Make Way for Ducklings are included in the volume. If you’re in need of a book on a particular subject, or simply a list of wonderful, magical titles, you’re guaranteed to find them here. (The one major drawback is that the book focuses on titles for younger children, the 8 and under crowd). Keep Under the Chinaberry Tree close by it’s like having a children’s librarian at home.

By far the most comprehensive and multidisciplinary book in the trio, How to Get Your Child to Love Reading: For Ravenous and Reluctant Readers Alike Activities, Ideas, Inspiration, and Suggestions for Exploring Everything in the World through Books by EsmŽ Raji Codell is an invaluable reference volume for parents and teachers. Author of Educating EsmŽ: Diary of a Teacher’s First Year, Codell also runs a wonderful children’s literature web site called PlanetEsme.com. Bursting with ideas, books, connections and interconnections, not just for the younger set but for young adults as well, she’s like Mrs. Frizzle of the Magic School Bus Series. Divided into subject categories, with chapters on math and science books, travel, history and social studies titles (there’s even a chapter relating books to radio, TV and the movies), the volume offers more than just reviews and reading lists. Coddell includes tips on reading aloud, on helping kids overcome learning anxieties and on nurturing a child’s reading interests. There are plenty of hands-on activities and ideas to inspire kids to read and write. Whether you’re a teacher, homeschooler or innovative parent looking for fun, educational ideas, this book is an absolute must. There are no longwinded discussions here, just loads of creative, simply-put ideas. Coddell also lists 3,000 teacher-approved titles and answers inquiries in a special Q&andA column. No matter what kind of book your child likes, no matter what subject he or she wants to pursue, How to Get Your Child to Love Reading is bound to provide inspiration. Alice Cary writes from Groton, Massachusetts.

Nurturing a child's taste in reading reaps rich rewards Although reading is one of my favorite activities, my son doesn't seem to share that obsession. He'll be 10 this fall, and it's taken me a good decade to begin to fathom his likes and dislikes.…
Memoir

True Hollywood story

Review by bookpagedev

With an estimated one in 10 new mothers experiencing some degree of postpartum depression (PPD), Brooke Shields’ candid memoir of her experience with the condition shows just how debilitating it can be. An actress who’s been in the public eye since she herself was a baby, Shields takes a brave step in detailing an intensely personal journey in Down Came the Rain.

After difficulty conceiving and a traumatic labor and delivery, Shields fell into depression. Overwhelmed, exhausted and unable to enjoy her new baby, she finds herself wondering why she thought she was cut out for motherhood. Shields is not a dazzling writer, but her simple and honest storytelling is compelling nonetheless. Her gradual improvement due to medication, therapy, time and a network of friends and family is an important primer on how to overcome PPD. As the mother of a nine-month-old, Amy Scribner did extensive personal research for this article.

With an estimated one in 10 new mothers experiencing some degree of postpartum depression (PPD), Brooke Shields' candid memoir of her experience with the condition shows just how debilitating it can be. An actress who's been in the public eye since she herself was a…
ParentingFamily & Relationships

Tell me a story

Review by bookpagedev

Nurturing a child’s taste in reading reaps rich rewards Although reading is one of my favorite activities, my son doesn’t seem to share that obsession. He’ll be 10 this fall, and it’s taken me a good decade to begin to fathom his likes and dislikes. He loves Harry Potter and any good fiction that I read aloud but seldom picks up novels on his own. At first I thought this might be a problem, but now I’m coming to realize that he’s simply a nonfiction kind of a guy. He practically grabs each Sports Illustrated for Kids issue as it comes out of the mailbox, and this summer he’s devouring a series of books focusing on our 50 states. He loves to spread several of them out on the floor and compare geographical statistics. Looking into the population of Boise is hardly my cup of tea, but the important thing is, it’s his.

Discovering and developing a child’s taste in books requires some crafty strategizing by parents and teachers. A new trio of books focusing on kids and reading, each with a slightly different slant, can help in this pursuit. All three have given me plenty of hints, suggestions and reassurances about enticing my son with books as well as nurturing the literary likes and dislikes of his twin preschool sisters.

The smallest book in the bunch, Raising a Reader: A Mother’s Tale of Desperation and Delight (St. Martin’s, $19.95, 144 pages, ISBN 0312315341) by Jennie Nash is filled with the author’s own experiences with kids and books. A writer and mother of two girls, Nash has structured her book in short chapters, peppering each with sidebar suggestions and reading lists that have titles like “What Carlyn Turned to After Harry Potter” and “Books I Wish I Could Convince My Kids to Read.” Reading this book is like sitting down to an intimate lunch with a fun, passionate friend who loves both literature and children. Nash offers great suggestions like snuggling up in bed with kids and reading silently together along with interesting anecdotes, like how she once got so angry at her toddler’s mistreatment of books that she took them all away. Her writing is breezy and entertaining, so you’ll go through her tales in no time.

Next, pick up Under the Chinaberry Tree: Books and Inspirations for Mindful Parenting. Authors Ann Ruethling and Patti Pitcher have distilled multitudes of motherly wisdom into this wonderful volume. The perfect baby gift for a first-time parent, Under the Chinaberry Tree is divided into themed chapters, each of which begins with personal anecdotes and insights, then moves on to discussions of various books relevant to the theme. A chapter titled “Dailiness: Making It Through the Day” contains a useful list that has nothing to do with reading, “Tips for having enough energy to survive daily life with small children,” while the last chapter, “Surrendering the Day,” concludes with a list of beloved bedtime books. In between are all manner of wonderful discussions and reviews, with chapter headings such as “Smiles, Giggles and Belly Busters,” “Learning to Be Human” and “Growing Pains.” Unfamiliar choices as well as classics like Goodnight Moon and Make Way for Ducklings are included in the volume. If you’re in need of a book on a particular subject, or simply a list of wonderful, magical titles, you’re guaranteed to find them here. (The one major drawback is that the book focuses on titles for younger children, the 8 and under crowd). Keep Under the Chinaberry Tree close by it’s like having a children’s librarian at home.

By far the most comprehensive and multidisciplinary book in the trio, How to Get Your Child to Love Reading: For Ravenous and Reluctant Readers Alike Activities, Ideas, Inspiration, and Suggestions for Exploring Everything in the World through Books (Algonquin, $18.95, 500 pages, ISBN 1565123085) by EsmŽ Raji Codell is an invaluable reference volume for parents and teachers. Author of Educating EsmŽ: Diary of a Teacher’s First Year, Codell also runs a wonderful children’s literature web site called PlanetEsme.com. Bursting with ideas, books, connections and interconnections, not just for the younger set but for young adults as well, she’s like Mrs. Frizzle of the Magic School Bus Series. Divided into subject categories, with chapters on math and science books, travel, history and social studies titles (there’s even a chapter relating books to radio, TV and the movies), the volume offers more than just reviews and reading lists. Coddell includes tips on reading aloud, on helping kids overcome learning anxieties and on nurturing a child’s reading interests. There are plenty of hands-on activities and ideas to inspire kids to read and write. Whether you’re a teacher, homeschooler or innovative parent looking for fun, educational ideas, this book is an absolute must. There are no longwinded discussions here, just loads of creative, simply-put ideas. Coddell also lists 3,000 teacher-approved titles and answers inquiries in a special Q&andA column. No matter what kind of book your child likes, no matter what subject he or she wants to pursue, How to Get Your Child to Love Reading is bound to provide inspiration. Alice Cary writes from Groton, Massachusetts.

Nurturing a child's taste in reading reaps rich rewards Although reading is one of my favorite activities, my son doesn't seem to share that obsession. He'll be 10 this fall, and it's taken me a good decade to begin to fathom his likes and dislikes.…
Medicine

Test-tube paternity

Review by bookpagedev

In 1980, the possibilities of artificial insemination inspired a strange experiment, mixed with elitism, an overdose of eugenics, a smattering of racism and the barest dollop of science. In The Genius Factory: The Curious History of the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank, David Plotz reveals an idea straight from a science fiction novel: to collect the sperm of the world’s leading scientific minds and create a generation of genius babies. The Genius Factory offers a fascinating glimpse into this very real, almost comically bizarre effort by a California millionaire to improve the American gene pool. Beyond simply examining the shaky science and equally shaky philosophy behind it all, Plotz explores the human impact, highlighted by interactions with a few of the donor fathers (none of whom were Nobel winners) and their offspring. Their stories range from the worst cases, where the impact on the child and adults was virtually unconsidered, to the best, where child, parents and donor found an unexpected bonus: not genius, but love. Howard Shirley is a son and a father.

In 1980, the possibilities of artificial insemination inspired a strange experiment, mixed with elitism, an overdose of eugenics, a smattering of racism and the barest dollop of science. In The Genius Factory: The Curious History of the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank, David Plotz reveals an…
ParentingFamily & Relationships

Tell me a story

Review by bookpagedev

Nurturing a child’s taste in reading reaps rich rewards Although reading is one of my favorite activities, my son doesn’t seem to share that obsession. He’ll be 10 this fall, and it’s taken me a good decade to begin to fathom his likes and dislikes. He loves Harry Potter and any good fiction that I read aloud but seldom picks up novels on his own. At first I thought this might be a problem, but now I’m coming to realize that he’s simply a nonfiction kind of a guy. He practically grabs each Sports Illustrated for Kids issue as it comes out of the mailbox, and this summer he’s devouring a series of books focusing on our 50 states. He loves to spread several of them out on the floor and compare geographical statistics. Looking into the population of Boise is hardly my cup of tea, but the important thing is, it’s his.

Discovering and developing a child’s taste in books requires some crafty strategizing by parents and teachers. A new trio of books focusing on kids and reading, each with a slightly different slant, can help in this pursuit. All three have given me plenty of hints, suggestions and reassurances about enticing my son with books as well as nurturing the literary likes and dislikes of his twin preschool sisters.

The smallest book in the bunch, Raising a Reader: A Mother’s Tale of Desperation and Delight by Jennie Nash is filled with the author’s own experiences with kids and books. A writer and mother of two girls, Nash has structured her book in short chapters, peppering each with sidebar suggestions and reading lists that have titles like “What Carlyn Turned to After Harry Potter” and “Books I Wish I Could Convince My Kids to Read.” Reading this book is like sitting down to an intimate lunch with a fun, passionate friend who loves both literature and children. Nash offers great suggestions like snuggling up in bed with kids and reading silently together along with interesting anecdotes, like how she once got so angry at her toddler’s mistreatment of books that she took them all away. Her writing is breezy and entertaining, so you’ll go through her tales in no time.

Next, pick up Under the Chinaberry Tree: Books and Inspirations for Mindful Parenting (Broadway, $14.95, 288 pages, ISBN 0767912020). Authors Ann Ruethling and Patti Pitcher have distilled multitudes of motherly wisdom into this wonderful volume. The perfect baby gift for a first-time parent, Under the Chinaberry Tree is divided into themed chapters, each of which begins with personal anecdotes and insights, then moves on to discussions of various books relevant to the theme. A chapter titled “Dailiness: Making It Through the Day” contains a useful list that has nothing to do with reading, “Tips for having enough energy to survive daily life with small children,” while the last chapter, “Surrendering the Day,” concludes with a list of beloved bedtime books. In between are all manner of wonderful discussions and reviews, with chapter headings such as “Smiles, Giggles and Belly Busters,” “Learning to Be Human” and “Growing Pains.” Unfamiliar choices as well as classics like Goodnight Moon and Make Way for Ducklings are included in the volume. If you’re in need of a book on a particular subject, or simply a list of wonderful, magical titles, you’re guaranteed to find them here. (The one major drawback is that the book focuses on titles for younger children, the 8 and under crowd). Keep Under the Chinaberry Tree close by it’s like having a children’s librarian at home.

By far the most comprehensive and multidisciplinary book in the trio, How to Get Your Child to Love Reading: For Ravenous and Reluctant Readers Alike Activities, Ideas, Inspiration, and Suggestions for Exploring Everything in the World through Books (Algonquin, $18.95, 500 pages, ISBN 1565123085) by EsmŽ Raji Codell is an invaluable reference volume for parents and teachers. Author of Educating EsmŽ: Diary of a Teacher’s First Year, Codell also runs a wonderful children’s literature web site called PlanetEsme.com. Bursting with ideas, books, connections and interconnections, not just for the younger set but for young adults as well, she’s like Mrs. Frizzle of the Magic School Bus Series. Divided into subject categories, with chapters on math and science books, travel, history and social studies titles (there’s even a chapter relating books to radio, TV and the movies), the volume offers more than just reviews and reading lists. Coddell includes tips on reading aloud, on helping kids overcome learning anxieties and on nurturing a child’s reading interests. There are plenty of hands-on activities and ideas to inspire kids to read and write. Whether you’re a teacher, homeschooler or innovative parent looking for fun, educational ideas, this book is an absolute must. There are no longwinded discussions here, just loads of creative, simply-put ideas. Coddell also lists 3,000 teacher-approved titles and answers inquiries in a special Q&andA column. No matter what kind of book your child likes, no matter what subject he or she wants to pursue, How to Get Your Child to Love Reading is bound to provide inspiration. Alice Cary writes from Groton, Massachusetts.

Nurturing a child's taste in reading reaps rich rewards Although reading is one of my favorite activities, my son doesn't seem to share that obsession. He'll be 10 this fall, and it's taken me a good decade to begin to fathom his likes and dislikes.…
ParentingFamily & Relationships

Life lessons for Father’s Day

Review by bookpagedev

<b>Life lessons for Father’s Day</b> This book explores another growing gap today the gap between what our fathers thought would make a boy a man, and what many of us now believe. <b>Coach: Lessons on the Game of Life</b> is a slim book, but no less powerful for that. Author Michael Lewis offers a fascinating study of an aging high school baseball coach and the enormous impact he had on the lives of the young men who were his charges. The story also explores the coach’s confrontation with a new generation of parents who disagree with his strict sometimes harsh approach. The questions raised here remain open: are discipline and exacting standards essential to growth? Is self-esteem really the recipe for a happy, successful life? <b>Coach</b> is a must-read for Dads and Moms alike, or for anyone who’s ever been challenged to be better than they thought they could be. <i>Howard Shirley is a son and a father.</i>

<b>Life lessons for Father's Day</b> This book explores another growing gap today the gap between what our fathers thought would make a boy a man, and what many of us now believe. <b>Coach: Lessons on the Game of Life</b> is a slim book, but no…
ParentingFamily & Relationships

Fear of parenting

Review by bookpagedev

Take charge with advice geared to help you survive raising children Snakes, public speaking, flying, death: many people cite one of these as their greatest fear, but obviously parenting was not listed among the choices on their questionnaires. Nothing could be more intimidating, more hair-raising than the prospect of being handed a helpless infant and expected to nurture it into a capable adult. Cynthia L. Copeland understands the daunting quality of the task at hand. Her light-hearted yet heart-lifting book, The Diaper Diaries: The Real Poop on a New Mom’s First Year (Workman, $8.95, 256 pages, ISBN 0761128603) is for moms, by a mom and at under $10, it’s a bargain. Armed with this book and what this mother of three identifies as the essential ingredient for surviving motherhood a healthy sense of humor first-timers can face everything from discomfiting body changes to the breast vs. bottle dilemma.

Along with dirty-diaper disasters, laughter-inducing sections include “Projecting the Future,” which compares a proud mother’s wishful thinking about her baby’s traits to their more likely outcomes. When your baby “is not afraid of getting shots at the pediatrician’s office,” she writes, you are apt to envision the child becoming a world-famous humanitarian like Dr. Jonas Salk. But Coleman injects her own needle of reality, humorously predicting that the child will more likely become a tattoo artist in Atlantic City.

Mingled with her “been there, done that, and you can too” humor (and smile-invoking illustrations) is some sage advice. Copeland suggests using an empty box, the ground or “indestructible daddy” to entertain baby, rather than store-bought, expensive paraphernalia. And she wisely warns new moms about the “All-Baby, All-the-Time” trap. “Sweet newborns turn into cranky two-year-olds who become close to intolerable 13-year-olds,” she cautions. “But your husband will always be the same good guy who thinks you have a cute butt and makes the world’s best lasagna.” No matter how well you survive that first year, however, issues of discipline will surface along with your child’s first utterance of defiance. (Typically, the word “NO.”) No More Misbehavin’: 38 Difficult Behaviors and How to Stop Them (Jossey-Bass, $14.95, 352 pages, ISBN 0787966177), by Michele Borba Ed.

D., offers an in-depth examination of 38 specific behaviors, from shyness to stealing, and step-by-step instructions on how to modify them. Each chapter contains strategies and tips, a behavior makeover plan, and a place to record your family’s progress. If you are the mother of a daughter approaching her teens, you’ll appreciate a new book written specifically for this troublesome stage, When We’re in Public, Pretend You Don’t Know Me: Surviving Your Daughter’s Adolescence so You Don’t Look Like an Idiot and She Still Talks to You (Warner, $12.95, 208 pages, ISBN 0446679518) by Susan Borowitz. The author acknowledges that the friction that develops between mothers and their maturing daughters is a natural outgrowth of the daughter’s need to create her own identity. The trick for mothers is to stay connected during this tumultuous time, and Borowitz offers a wealth of ways to keep the lines of communication open. “Kids are at their most vulnerable when they go to bed and therefore are much more inclined to be open with you,” she writes, explaining that her nighttime talks with her own teenage daughter proved among the most “fruitful and connecting” during those difficult years. Finally, we’ll close with a book we hope you don’t need, but if the “D” word has crept into your life, this volume may be the most important one in our lineup. What About the Kids? Raising Your Children Before, During, and After Divorce, by Judith S. Wallerstein and Sandra Blakeslee, is a comprehensive guide for helping ease the effects of divorce. Wallerstein is the author of The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce, a bestseller that delved into the long-term effects of divorce on children. In What About the Kids? she addresses the problems that occur at different stages of the breakup and different ages of the affected children. Wallerstein doesn’t flinch in tackling painful subjects, offering advice from her many years of counseling families. “Parenting is always a hazardous undertaking,” she writes. “Much of the time it’s like climbing a mountain trail that disappears and reappears, making you wonder if you’re still headed for the top or if you’re stranded on a cliff. But parenting in a divorced or remarried family is harder it’s like climbing that same trail in a blizzard, blinded by emotions and events out of your control.” Parenting may be the most frightening, difficult thing you ever do, but you should be able to survive it and live to enjoy the fruits of your labor with guidance from these parenting veterans. Linda Stankard, a writer in New York, is a survivor of parenting.

Take charge with advice geared to help you survive raising children Snakes, public speaking, flying, death: many people cite one of these as their greatest fear, but obviously parenting was not listed among the choices on their questionnaires. Nothing could be more intimidating, more hair-raising…
ParentingFamily & Relationships

Fear of parenting

Review by bookpagedev

Take charge with advice geared to help you survive raising children Snakes, public speaking, flying, death: many people cite one of these as their greatest fear, but obviously parenting was not listed among the choices on their questionnaires. Nothing could be more intimidating, more hair-raising than the prospect of being handed a helpless infant and expected to nurture it into a capable adult. Cynthia L. Copeland understands the daunting quality of the task at hand. Her light-hearted yet heart-lifting book, The Diaper Diaries: The Real Poop on a New Mom’s First Year (Workman, $8.95, 256 pages, ISBN 0761128603) is for moms, by a mom and at under $10, it’s a bargain. Armed with this book and what this mother of three identifies as the essential ingredient for surviving motherhood a healthy sense of humor first-timers can face everything from discomfiting body changes to the breast vs. bottle dilemma.

Along with dirty-diaper disasters, laughter-inducing sections include “Projecting the Future,” which compares a proud mother’s wishful thinking about her baby’s traits to their more likely outcomes. When your baby “is not afraid of getting shots at the pediatrician’s office,” she writes, you are apt to envision the child becoming a world-famous humanitarian like Dr. Jonas Salk. But Coleman injects her own needle of reality, humorously predicting that the child will more likely become a tattoo artist in Atlantic City.

Mingled with her “been there, done that, and you can too” humor (and smile-invoking illustrations) is some sage advice. Copeland suggests using an empty box, the ground or “indestructible daddy” to entertain baby, rather than store-bought, expensive paraphernalia. And she wisely warns new moms about the “All-Baby, All-the-Time” trap. “Sweet newborns turn into cranky two-year-olds who become close to intolerable 13-year-olds,” she cautions. “But your husband will always be the same good guy who thinks you have a cute butt and makes the world’s best lasagna.” No matter how well you survive that first year, however, issues of discipline will surface along with your child’s first utterance of defiance. (Typically, the word “NO.”) No More Misbehavin’: 38 Difficult Behaviors and How to Stop Them (Jossey-Bass, $14.95, 352 pages, ISBN 0787966177), by Michele Borba Ed.

D., offers an in-depth examination of 38 specific behaviors, from shyness to stealing, and step-by-step instructions on how to modify them. Each chapter contains strategies and tips, a behavior makeover plan, and a place to record your family’s progress. If you are the mother of a daughter approaching her teens, you’ll appreciate a new book written specifically for this troublesome stage, When We’re in Public, Pretend You Don’t Know Me: Surviving Your Daughter’s Adolescence so You Don’t Look Like an Idiot and She Still Talks to You by Susan Borowitz. The author acknowledges that the friction that develops between mothers and their maturing daughters is a natural outgrowth of the daughter’s need to create her own identity. The trick for mothers is to stay connected during this tumultuous time, and Borowitz offers a wealth of ways to keep the lines of communication open. “Kids are at their most vulnerable when they go to bed and therefore are much more inclined to be open with you,” she writes, explaining that her nighttime talks with her own teenage daughter proved among the most “fruitful and connecting” during those difficult years. Finally, we’ll close with a book we hope you don’t need, but if the “D” word has crept into your life, this volume may be the most important one in our lineup. What About the Kids? Raising Your Children Before, During, and After Divorce (Hyperion, $23.95, 400 pages, ISBN 0786868651), by Judith S. Wallerstein and Sandra Blakeslee, is a comprehensive guide for helping ease the effects of divorce. Wallerstein is the author of The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce, a bestseller that delved into the long-term effects of divorce on children. In What About the Kids? she addresses the problems that occur at different stages of the breakup and different ages of the affected children. Wallerstein doesn’t flinch in tackling painful subjects, offering advice from her many years of counseling families. “Parenting is always a hazardous undertaking,” she writes. “Much of the time it’s like climbing a mountain trail that disappears and reappears, making you wonder if you’re still headed for the top or if you’re stranded on a cliff. But parenting in a divorced or remarried family is harder it’s like climbing that same trail in a blizzard, blinded by emotions and events out of your control.” Parenting may be the most frightening, difficult thing you ever do, but you should be able to survive it and live to enjoy the fruits of your labor with guidance from these parenting veterans. Linda Stankard, a writer in New York, is a survivor of parenting.

Take charge with advice geared to help you survive raising children Snakes, public speaking, flying, death: many people cite one of these as their greatest fear, but obviously parenting was not listed among the choices on their questionnaires. Nothing could be more intimidating, more hair-raising…

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