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Defining Style

Emphasizing personal style, Joan Barzilay Freund’s Defining Style is a freeing, inspiring and extremely innovative look at interior design.
Emphasizing personal style, Joan Barzilay Freund’s Defining Style is a freeing, inspiring and extremely innovative look at interior design.
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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.…
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.…
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.…

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