Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld (wife of Jerry and mother of three) offers almost 100 ideas for creatively healthy meals. Doughnuts with pumpkin and sweet potato? We’ll take a dozen. This book’s vibe is campy-culinary-cool and super hip and starts with purees as the foundation for all the delicious recipes.

Kids of the picky persuasion will balk at being forced to eat, or even look at, a vegetable. The mere sight of something green on my daughter’s plate can, quite literally, bring her to tears. And no amount of bribing, coercing or pleading can change the situation. If this is your child, or if you simply want to expand your good eater’s already healthy repertoire, two books are guaranteed to cut down on mealtime stress and provide some culinary inspiration. Missy Chase Lapine, author of The Sneaky Chef is very sneaky indeed. Who knew you could hide cauliflower in the ubiquitous mac and cheese? Or turn a bland burrito into an appealing vegetable fiesta? If you’re at your wit’s end, and out of ideas, The Sneaky Chef offers hope.

If you’re the parent of a boy, Dr. Leonard Sax’s book Boys Adrift: Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men is required reading. A decade ago, Sax, a family physician with a doctorate in psychology, began to notice a distressing trend: Parents were concerned about their unmotivated, underachieving sons. In talking to teachers and parents across the country, he discovered that this was a national phenomenon that crosses social, racial and economic lines. In Boys Adrift, Sax investigates five factors that contribute to what is becoming a national epidemic. He looks at the way children are taught and the role that video games, prescription drugs and environmental estrogens play. He also notes the lack of male role models in the culture at large as a contributing factor. This is fascinating, often unsettling stuff. Fortunately, Dr. Sax offers a program for change. His important book gives a wholly original perspective on American boys in decline, and thankfully offers information to help reverse this trend.

Having integrated some of these philosophies into your parenting practice, you’re ready to entrust someone else with the task. Or are you? I’ve always likened child-raising to a wildlife catch-and-release program. You nurture, love and fiercely protect this little life, and then it’s time to send your beloved creature into the big, wide world. A terrifying prospect, made less so by Practical Wisdom for Parents: Demystifying the Preschool Years. Is my child ready for the transition? For that matter, am I? What can I do to prepare for it? These and other questions are addressed in the book by two highly qualified, respected authors. Nancy Schulman and Ellen Birnbaum are directors of one of the most prestigious preschools in the country, the 92nd Street Y Nursery School in New York. Together they have almost 60 years of experience with preschoolers and here offer sage advice about the 3 to 5 set. Any parent whose child has experienced separation anxiety or any parent who has herself walked around teary-eyed with that phantom-limb feeling after dropping her child at school will find comfort here. As anyone who’s tried to extricate a sobbing toddler from his leg knows, leaving a child at school can be a heart-wrenching experience for both of you. Whether discussing The Social Lives of Children or Developing Morals and Ethics, these authors are keen observers of kids and know what makes toddlers tick.

Once you’ve got the gear, it’s time to rear that beautiful baby of yours. Bright from the Start: The Simple, Science-Backed Way to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind from Birth to Age 3 offers practical ideas for parents on how to relate to these little people and help them thrive. Author Dr. Jill Stamm, co-founder of New Directions Institute for Infant Brain Development, with co-author Paula Spencer, teaches the ABCs of parenting: attention, bonding and communication. Of course, if parenting were as simple as A-B-C we wouldn’t need Dr. Stamm’s informative, thoroughly researched book. She translates cutting-edge neuroscience into practical advice for parents on how to engage with your baby in ways that promote growth and well-being. She offers helpful ideas for interactive play and ways of meeting a baby’s cognitive and emotional needs during these crucial years. Is this book essential to your parenting library? Stamm right, it is.

Let’s start at the very beginning with Baby Must-Haves: The Essential Guide to Everything from Cribs to Bibs. Parenting magazine has long been the voice of reason for moms and dads alike. Now, hooray, they are offering the ultimate, comprehensive resource for all your baby needs. Do you really have to have that wipes warmer? (Answer: no, but it would be nice.) Can you forgo that bulky activity saucer, or neglecta-tron as we fondly used to call it? (Answer: an emphatic NO, you cannot.) The editors of Parenting have it all covered, in a nice, soft fleecy blanket way. They’ve gathered information from the ultimate authorities, Moms All Over the Country, who know whereof they speak. This guide is packed, like an overstuffed diaper bag, with product lists, mom tips and checklists. It’s nothing short of a godsend.

Writing Motherhood: Tapping into Your Creativity as a Mother and a Writer by Lisa Garrigues, a workshop leader in memoir and personal narrative, offers an inspiring yet pragmatic approach to subject matter for writers who are also moms. While encouraging women to mine material from their early years as mothers pregnancy and birth, baby names and first words her focus is on giving women the sustained belief in themselves they will need to write at every stage of parenting. Garrigues reminds her readers that writing is the vehicle that will take you where you want to go, so that along the way you must often put down the book and pick up the pen. (And apropos of our subject, there’s also a chapter titled Mothering our Mothers, and two shorter pieces How Writers Write about Their Mothers and Every Day is Mother’s Day: A History of the Holiday. )