So Sexy So Soon : The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids - Diane E. Levin, Ph.D & Jean Kilbourne, Ed.D

Summary:  Thong panties, padded bras, and risque Halloween costumes for young girls. T-shirts that boast "Chick Magnet" for toddler boys.  Sexy content on almost every television channel, as well as in books, movies, video games, and even cartoons.  Hot young female pop stars wearing provocative clothing and dancing suggestively while singing songs with sexual and sometimes violent lyrics.  These products are marketed aggressively to our children; these stars are held up for our young daughter to emulate--and for our sons to see as objects of desire.

Popular culture and technology inundate our children with an onslaught of mixed messages at earlier ages than ever before.  Corporations capitalize on this disturbing trend, and without the emotional sophistication to understand what they are doing and seeing, kids are getting into increasing trouble emotionally and socially; some may even engage in precocious sexual behavior.  Parents are left shaking their heads wondering: How did this happen?  What can we do?

So Sexy So Soon is an invaluable and practical guide for parents who are fed up, confused, and even scared by what their kids--or their kids' friends--do and say.  Diane E. Levin, Ph.D., and Jean Kilbourne, Ed.D., internationally recognized experts on early childhood development and the impact of the media on children and teens, understand that saying no to commercial culture -- TV, movies, toys, Internet access, and video games -- isn't a realistic or viable option for most families.  Instead, they offer parents essential, age-appropriate strategies to counter the assault.

Filled with savvy suggestions, helpful sample dialogues, and poignant true stories from families dealing with these issues, So Sexy So Soon provides parents with the information, skills, and confidence they need to discuss sensitive topics openly and effectively so their kids can just be kids.  (Summary from book - Image from www.dianeelevin.com )

My Review:  “Beth” usually wears a skintight top and low slung jeans. Like most girls, she worries about her weight and wonders whether boys find her attractive. She wants to be a superstar, like Lady Gaga, and loves singing along with I Like it Rough, while swaying her hips to the music. Beth isn’t 18, or 14, or even twelve-years-old. She’s seven. She wants to be “sexy,” and she has no idea what that means.

In recent years, a startling number of children, tweens, and teens have demonstrated signs of “early sexualization.” These children show an alarming interest in sexual behavior, language, and the exploration of sexual relationships, long before such behavior is considered developmentally appropriate. This sexualized childhood manifests in a variety of ways but is easily visible in the way young children dress, speak, and interact.

If you’re like me, and this trend scares you senseless, then So Sexy So Soon might be one of the most important parenting books you’ve ever read. Without proper guidance, children of all ages and genders can become confused by subtle and not-so-subtle messages found in popular culture (e.g. books, magazines, movies, television, the internet, music, music videos, video games, etc.). Through a series of unsettling examples and well-researched studies, this book shows the negative effects that early exposure to inappropriate imagery can have on our children. It also serves as a scathing indictment of industries that value profit over principle, targeting children through advertisement and spreading the idea that appearance determines an individual’s worth or personal happiness.

While we can and should control the flow of media into our own homes, our children will still receive mixed messages while standing in the checkout line, on the playground, from friends, or even older siblings. So Sexy So Soon alerts parents to possible dangers, but also provides useful ways to counteract harmful messages that slip through the cracks and promote healthy, age appropriate sexual development. For example, the authors describe how to establish relationships where children will feel comfortable asking questions or voicing concerns. They also provide tips for dealing with teenagers, combating negative stereotypes, teaching children how to evaluate images they encounter, and much more.

I read So Sexy So Soon with my three young daughters in mind, but there was plenty of information for families blessed with Y chromosomes. The authors’ explain how media and the early sexualization of young girls can negatively influence the perspective of young males. They also show how unrealistic standards of masculinity are established and maintained through early exposure to violent video games, music videos, toys, books, and other social media.

This book was a brutal wake-up call – the smack you in your face kind. It wasn’t always an easy read and occasionally blew things out of proportion, but it validated many of my concerns, helped identify other areas that need special attention, and offered reasonable solutions to problems I might encounter. I recommend this book as a compelling and invaluable resource to every parent who is concerned with the current trend towards sexualized childhood and looking for ways to limit media influence in the home.

My Rating: 5 Stars.  *I feel like I should qualify my rating because I'm wavering between 4 and 5 stars, depending on the day*  Occasionally this book slides into the sensational and scary.  In other words, it tries to scare the pants off you and most likely will succeed.  I gave this book five stars because I feel this book does a reasonably good job of addressing a subject that every parent should consider, NOT because every solution is perfect or the writing is amazing.

For the sensitive reader: Some frank discussion of sexual topics and media that kids might encounter. Some of the language used could be considered offensive, but I really felt it was necessary to illustrate the problems our children are likely to encounter.

Sum it up: A must read for any parent.

To learn more, visit the So Sexy So Soon website at http://www.sosexysosoon.com/ or click here to read the introduction.

1-2-3...Get Organized Mini-Book Series - Beverly Coggins

Summary:  After studying personality types for over 15 years, Beverly Coggins, professional organizer, created 1-2-3...Get Organized to appeal to those personality types who were overwhelmed by organizing...

The 1-2-3...Get Organized series springs from Coggins’ experience as a professional organizer in both homes and offices [and covers] such topics as office and home organizing, time management in several arenas, as well as organizing for college students, and downsizing for seniors.

Each book is short and covers only one organizing task, addressing the feeling that the job is too huge to tackle. So instead of feeling overwhelmed, the reader is able to take one task at a time and feel a sense of accomplishment upon completing it.  (Summary and Image from http://1-2-3GetOrganized.com - Books given free for review)

My Review:  While there are many books and e-books in this mini-book series, I am only reviewing the following five: 

Three Steps to Clever Cleaning
Three Steps to Time Management for the Stay-at-Home Mom
Three Steps to Decluttering
Three Steps to Organizing Your Child's Room
Three Steps to Organizing Your Kitchen

First, let's talk about format. These books are tiny -- measuring 6x6 with an average of 26 pages. They are organized into three specific, easy-to-follow steps (or chapters), with even tinier sub-steps given in bullet-point format.  Personally, I prefer paragraphs to bullet points, but the books were short enough that it didn't really matter. 

Initially, I was unsure about the concept of mini-books, but after receiving them, I understand why the author released them as a series. While the book fiend in me longs for one big book, I am not her target audience. Instead, they are designed to help someone who is "overwhelmed" with organizing and only feels capable of handling one area at a time. If you feel like you fall into this category, read on.  However, if you find that you'd like to buy all five of these books, it might be time to get something more comprehensive.

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If I had to pick one person to hire -- chef, housekeeper, or nanny -- I would pick housekeeper in a nanosecond.  Why?  It's simple.  I hate cleaning.  Oh, I can sweep, wipe a counter, and  "tidy" with the best of them, but hand me a toilet brush and I'm more likely to whack you with it than clean a toilet (and wouldn't that be gross).  And dusting?  Forget it.  I picked up Three Steps to Clever Cleaning, hoping to find ways to clean faster and smarter. 

While this book wasn't necessarily a fountain of knowledge in terms of how to clean, it did offer many suggestions on when to clean. I discovered that I tend to excel at the chores that need to be done frequently (sweeping, cleaning counters, picking up toys, etc) but am an all out failure at those that need to be done less often (vacuuming, dusting, cleaning out the fridge).  I think (er..hope) that being aware of my strengths and weaknesses will help me to focus on areas of improvement.  I did pick up a number of clever cleanings tips and was able to identify some cleaning strategies that might work for me.  The final step even provides a month-to-month calendar for those bigger chores that only need to be done a few times a year. 

I did notice a few tips in this book that felt incomplete.  One tip on dusters said that "Swiffer has a duster that claims to collect dust and looks like it would be worth trying."  I felt the author should have actually tried the duster to see if Swiffer lived up to their claim, instead of simply recommending that we try it.  I'm lazy like that.  Also, she recommends using Mr. Clean Magic Erasers on "any cleanable surface" when the packaging clearly states that they should not be used on paint or varnished surfaces.  While I still use mine very lightly to remove fingerprints from walls, I have learned the hard way (Pen swirls on my coffee table) that any pressure on a finished surface can remove the paint or varnish. 

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With three kids, a reading habit, a non-profit blog, and a home that I'm trying to put on the market, it's easy to see why Three Steps to Time Management for the Stay-At-Home Mom screamed my name.  I am very type A.  I love to make to-do lists and derive an inordinate amount of satisfaction from checking things off .  I could not have been more startled when my first thought while reading the step one(prioritizing)was "I do not have TIME to make all these lists and assign numerical values to my goals".  I wanted to skip straight to Step 2 (making a plan that works) only to find that required me to make several rough drafts of a calendar with time blocked out for my priorities.  The idea that I could assign blocks of time to any part of my life, at this point, felt laughable and so I was glad to see the author offer an alternative suggestion for parents of infants.  I think I'll stick with my daily to-do lists. 

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My house might have its moments, but thanks to my mother, the De-junking Queen, I am fairly familiar with the organizational process described in Three Steps to Decluttering, Three Steps to Organizing Your Child's Room, and Three Steps to Organizing Your Kitchen.  I rarely have a problem saying goodbye to unnecessary or unwanted items.  If it's broke, I chuck it.  If I don't use it, I give it away.  For that reason, these three books didn't teach me a whole lot that I didn't already know.  My problem lies in the motivation, not the know-how. 
 
I felt that the many of other tips for dejunking, organization, and maintenance were just plain old common-sense, rather than revolutionary recommendations.  However, an amateur organizer (or professional hoarder) might feel differently.  If your house (or even one room) is starting to resembled one of those homes on Clean House, I would recommend a) renting a dumpster and b) picking ONE of these books.  
 

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In addition to the books I received for review, you can find or purchase the following books/ebooks and more at the 1-2-3GetOrganized website. 

• Three Steps to Time Management in the Office
• Three Steps to Time Management for Your College Student
• Three Steps to Time Management for the Single Mom
• Three Steps to Time Management for the Working Mom
• Three Steps to Downsizing to a Smaller Residence
• Three Steps to Organizing Your Office
• Three Steps to Planning Dinner

They are so small and easy-to-read, that I would recommend purchasing the e-books over the print copy, to save on shipping.  Plus, then you have one less thing cluttering up your house!

My Rating: 3 Stars

Sum it up:  Baby steps for the overwhelmed.

Raising the Perfect Child through Guilt and Manipulation - Elizabeth Beckwith

This guest review comes from my sweet cousin, Kalea Christman, mother of two under two and therefore wholly qualified to write her own parenting guide. 

Summary: Raising the Perfect Child Through Guilt and Manipulation is not one of those traditional, all-too-earnest parenting guides that, for generations, have sucked all the fun out of child rearing. The foundation of Elizabeth Beckwith's Guilt and Manipulation family philosophy is simple: We do things a certain way, and everyone else is an @**#&!$.   Is that something you should put on a bumper sticker and slap on your minivan? Of course not—that would be trashy. But in the privacy of your own home, you can employ the essential components of Guilt and Manipulation to mold the little runts ruthlessly yet effectively into children you won't be embarrassed to admit are yours. (Summary and cover from amazon.com - Image from usedbooks.co.nz ).

My Review:  I originally wanted to read the book based on its title. But as we all know, you can't judge a book by it's cover. What I thought would be a fun parenting book turned out to be a spoof on parenting books.

The author considers herself conservative and says that she gets uncomfortable if anybody brings up the subject of sex. I found that inconsistent with the fact that there is at least one swear word per page (including the “F” word in one story), that she explicitly describes what Las Vegas Show girls do to each other onstage, and brings up sexual topics throughout the whole thing.

It did, however, have a few redeeming qualities. There were times that it was laugh-out-loud funny. It also had some gems of parenting advice, like:

• Don't tell your kids that if they don't turn off the TV, you'll through it out the window, unless you really intend on doing it. She harped on consistency, which is crucial in parenting.
• Explain to your kids that the reason why they need to hold your hand when crossing the street is because if they don't, they could get hit by a car and die. So many parents sugarcoat the severity of certain consequences instead of being honest.
• Make your home into a comfortable haven with good food and team-building activities so that it's a place they want to be.

I've read other reviews on it and it seems as though there are two takes on it. Either you love it, or you wanted to love it, but hated it.

My Rating: 2 stars

Sum it up: A sarcastic spoof on parenting books with some good advice sprinkled here and there.

The Busy Book Series - Trish Kuffner

Summary:  365 fun and creative activities to stimulate your toddler, preschooler, or older child every day of the year.  (Summary from books - Images from AbeBooks.com)

My Review:  It’s time to come clean. You know those moms who manage to run a successful home-based business, craft with their kids, bake bread, and scrapbook stunning works of photographic art? Well, I am not one of those Super Moms. I try to be a good parent, but there are some days that I just stare at my kids and, with all the love in my heart, think “What on earth am I going to do with you?” . I try to think of ways to entertain them and I come up empty.

Do you have days like that? Days when, if you hear the words “I’m bored” one more time, you swear you’ll lock yourself in the bathroom? If so, I suggest looking through the Busy Book Series by Trish Kuffner. I found a used set on my last visit to the bookstore and it was a lights-shining-down-from-heaven kind of moment. I snatched them off the shelf in a millisecond, but it wasn’t until I started flipping through the pages that I realized what a treasure I had found.

I wish I had read The Toddler’s Busy Book when my two oldest were little. Designed specifically for 1 ½ to 3-year-olds, this book is packed with 365 simple ideas for educational toddler play, crafts, music, and snacks, along with parenting tips and organizational ideas. Your child will love snow painting in the winter, flying a balloon kite in the spring, or any one of their 84 ideas for rainy day play!

The Preschooler’s Busy Book is the perfect way to give your 3 to 6-year-old the sensory, imaginary, and educational experience their little brains crave. Whether they are playing with Super Goop, setting up their own grocery store, or making a Pom-Pom spider, you can be sure they’ll be having tons of fun. This book even includes activities that help promote basic reading readiness, math, geography, and botany in inventive and entertaining ways.

My girls were most excited about The Children’s Busy Book, written primarily for children ages 6 to 10. My 7-year old immediately began marking pages to try. At bedtime, I had to pry it from her grasp when I found the book hiding under her pillow. She loves the cooking section, with its child-friendly recipes, and has plans to make The World’s Best Chocolate Chip Cookies, play Penny Toss, and build sculptures with toothpicks and mini-marshmallows.

While you will see a few activities that are suitable for all ages repeated throughout the three books, each book offers unique ideas that will inspire the minds of those left in your care. My favorite part of these books is that most of the activities are simple to set up and require only a few, easy to find items that are usually already hanging around my home. Above all, I love that don’t have to wrack my brain to come up with ideas that are creative, constructive, and entertaining.

I’m a realistic woman. I will never be the super mom-next-door. However, with a Busy Book or two at my disposal, hopefully my kids will have too much fun to notice.

My Rating:  5 Stars

Sum it up:  These books might keep your kids busy long enough for you to actually...wait for it...get things DONE.  It's a literary MIRACLE!!

Dinner for Busy Moms : Easy Strategies for Getting Your Family to the Table - Jeanne Muchnick

Summary: It's 6 p.m., there's nothing in the fridge, and you have no idea what you're serving for dinner...let alone how you're going to get Kid Number One to piano lessons and pick up Kid Number Two from soccer.

Study after study proves time spent gathered at the kitchen table is a significant way to strengthen family bonds. Yet, in our time-crunched world, how do we fit the "goal" of providing our families with sit-down meals, with out crazy, busy reality? This is not a cookbook but a strategy guide filled with expert advice from mom's just like you. And yes, take-out counts.

Learn how to:

• Turn off the TV and get back to the table (without a revolt)
• "Shop" your pantry
• Buy smarter--and save money
• Nourish kids of all ages
• "Feed" your soul (aka eat in peace)
• Empower yourself with foolproof recipes
• Answer the question "What's for dinner?"

 (Summary from book - Image from cbsd.com - Book given free for review)

My Review: I am not a professional mother. Oh sure, I have dreams of turning pro and having my kids shower me with accolades, but as it stands I am mostly intermediate-level with days where I sink to rank amateur. Thanks to my mother, I grew up with a strong tradition of family dinners and an understanding of how to plan meals for a large family. While the children didn’t always cook, we were required to help with set up and clean up. I have tried to continue this tradition with my children, however as they get older, something strange has started to happen. Homework. Dance class. School meetings. How do they make that much LAUNDRY? Suddenly there is so much to be done in a single day that sometimes macaroni and cheese is the best I can do.

I picked up Dinner for Busy Moms hoping to find ways to make things flow more smoothly, to get my family to the table more often, and to feed them something that approximates nutritious food. This book has a great message and offers an avalanche of tips for making dinner easier that someone who is unfamiliar with meal planning and the family dinner would find very useful. Its main focus? Get your kids to the table (in whatever way you can). Eat. Talk. Spend time together. The rest is icing.

While I appreciate and applaud the objective of Dinner for Busy Moms, its delivery felt a bit like my day -- chaotic. Each chapter is so packed with tips, tricks, and plugs for so-and-so’s cooking blog/nutrition website/meal-planning business that it felt disorganized and burdened with what amounted to advertisements, regardless of their relevance. I was forced to choose whether to read the main text, skipping all the side articles, gadget ads, and “mom tips,” and then go back to them when I finished the chapter, or to stop on each page and read the various sections while trying to hold on to the flow of the book. It seemed that no matter which method I chose, I ended up feeling disoriented. Also, because this book caters to all kinds of mothers -- with different lifestyles, parenting philosophies, and cooking abilities -- many of the tips will conflict with each other. For example, the author suggests to buy prepared foods to speed dinner on its way to the table, but on another page we are encouraged to shop on the outside aisles of the supermarket for healthier whole foods.

As mom’s we tend to think that we need to have it all and be it all. Whether that means being the stay-at-home-super-mom, or the working-wonder-mom, we often feel enormous amounts of guilt if our homes don’t mimic Leave It To Beaver come dinner time. Overall, I wish this book contained more quick and healthy recipes, but I felt it held a wonderful message on the importance of family dinners and would be a useful resource for a person who is new to the concept of meal planning and family dinners.

My Rating: 3.25 Stars

Sum it up: A helpful tool for the amateur meal planner and a motivational reminder of the importance of family dinner.

When Kids Can't Read: What Teachers Can Do (grades 6-12) - Kylene Beers

Summary:  For Kylene Beers, the question of what to do when kids can't read surfaced abruptly in 1979 when she began teaching.  That year, she discovered that some of the students in her seventh-grade language arts classes could pronounce all the words, but couldn't make any sense of the text.  Others couldn't even pronounce the words.  And that was the year she met a boy named George.

George couldn't read.  When George's parents asked her to explain what their son's reading difficulties were and what she was going to do to help, Kylene, a secondary certified English teacher with no background in reading, realized she had little to offer the parents, even less to offer their son.  That defining moment sent her on a twenty-year search for answers to that original question: how do we help middle and high schoolers who can't read?

Now, in this critical and practical text Kylene shares what she has learned and shows teachers how to help struggling readers with:

Comprehension      Vocabulary      Fluency    Word Recognition       Motivation

Here, Kylene offers teachers the comprehensive handbook they've needed to help readers improve their skills, their attitudes, and their confidence.  Filled with student transcripts, detailed strategies, reproducible material, and extensive book lists, this much-anticipated guide to teaching reading both instructs and inspires. 
(Summary from book - Image fro abebooks.com)

My Review:  I'm always looking for ways to improve my teaching and one day my literacy instructional coach brought this book for me to read.  Kylene Beers voices what every secondary English teacher fears: will I be able to teach older illiterate students to read?  For most teachers the education programs focused on secondary Language Arts do not cover (at least not in depth) how to reach students with a wide range of literacy gaps.  Some have decoding skills, some have sight words, some have comprehension if it is read aloud, and others have nothing.

There are so many steps to reading, that as we grow, we stop realizing we're do them.  Things like predicting, questioning the author or character's motives, using the context a foreign word is placed in to understand what it means for this situation, to understanding sequencing of events are skills good readers do without consciously thinking.  And, these are skills many teachers assume students should have before they reach middle school.  That just isn't the case any more. And I would beg to disagree and say that in the past there were illiterate students in the secondary grades, but that teachers simply gave up trying because 'if they hadn't gotten it by now, they're never going to get it.'

With high stakes testing (NCLB) ensuring that these students aren't simply forgotten--at least, that is in the schools with higher numbers of these students or who have teachers who want to reach each and every child--more teachers are trying to find ways to reach those students.

Beers provides personally researched practices, with anecdotal notes, showing ways she was able to reach students and overcome a multitude of non-readers' difficulties.  I have used some of her ideas in my classroom and I will attest that they do, indeed, work.  Some of my favorite strategies are Say Something, the Anticipation Guide, Probable Passage, and Tea Party.

There is an extensive appendix and many templates for easy application and personal classroom use, as well as many comprehensive lists that typically aren't covered for secondary Language Arts teachers in education programs.  From a list of sight words, to roots, to easily confused words, to most common syllables in the English language, this book is a go-to guide for teachers trying to teach ALL levels of readers.

I personally use different chapters and sections of this book from year to year.  Each group of students come with unique and individual needs, and many ways to address those needs are given in this book.  If you're thinking of doing a Reading endorsement program, I'd highly recommend reading this book and adding it to your personal academic library.  Every Language Arts teachers in the secondary levels should own a copy (and preferably use) this book.

Rating: 5 Stars

Sum it up: A resource book choke-full of great ideas and quite guides for any Language Arts teacher (or any teacher for that matter who is concerned that his students are able to comprehend text) wanting to improve literacy at the higher grade levels.

The Totaled Woman : True Slices of Life from a Mother of Five - Marcia Veldhuis

Summary: Everyone knows that life happens--the secret is finding God at work through it all!

Comprising individual true stories, The Totaled Woman shares the challenges and joys from a mother's perspective in a home with five precocious children and a brilliant (if impractical) scientist husband. Marcia Veldhuis looks beyond the crisis of the moment and finds the lessons that God would have. Enter into the joy, sorrow, hilarity, and difficulty of each unbelievable situation. (Image and summary from BringItOn Communications)

My Review: Hallelujah! Picking up The Totaled Woman was a breath of fresh air in a room full of stinky review copies. I've picked some losers lately, to be sure, but this one wasn't one of them. All I can say is, thank heavens for mothers like Marcia Veldhuis! She made me laugh when I desperately needed to. I took great pleasure in reading each “slice” of her demanding yet wonderful, chaotic yet joyous, tiring yet faith-filled life. Her short stories, rarely more than a page in length, were frequently amusing, only occasionally heartbreaking, and always relatable. I fell more in love with this woman, her life, and her family with each turn of the page.

Whether Marcia is dealing with grumpy neighbors, bizarre late-night visitors, an absent-minded husband, or some seriously troublesome animals her short stories manage to be uplifting without being “preachy” and were often, but not always, accompanied by a sentence or two at the end that, ever so gently, gave a deeper spiritual meaning to her experience. These little moments taught more, in my opinion, than a library full of doctrine as she taught by her humble example how to pull divine meaning from the smallest moments and see God’s hand in our lives and in our families.

I am certain that I have many such experiences in my future while I attempt to raise my young family and can only hope and pray for the same perspective that Marcia embraces throughout this book.

My Rating: 4.25 Stars

Sum it up: A simple, unaffected and delightful slice of (her) family life.

*Note to Marcia* There is no way (barring meth addiction) that, at thirty, you looked old enough to be your children’s grandmother. Rest assured, that lady was just plain out of her mind. Oh, and the owl story was real HOOT! (Sorry, I absolutely could not resist).

NurtureShock : New Thinking about Children - Po Bronson & Ashley Merryman

Summary:In a world of modern, involved, caring parents, why are so many kids aggressive and cruel? Where is intelligence hidden in the brain, and why does that matter? Why do cross-racial friendships decrease in schools that are more integrated? If 98% of kids think lying is morally wrong, then why do 98% of kids lie? What's the single most important thing that helps infants learn language?

NurtureShock is a groundbreaking collaboration between award-winning science journalists Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman. They argue that when it comes to children, we've mistaken good intentions for good ideas. With impeccable storytelling and razor-sharp analysis, they demonstrate that many of modern society's strategies for nurturing children are in fact backfiring--because key twists in the science have been overlooked.

Nothing like a parenting manual, the authors' work is an insightful exploration of themes and issues that transcend children's (and adults') lives.
Summary and cover image from goodreads.com

My Review: NurtureShock promises new thinking on raising children. The book encompasses a wide array of issues including praise, lying, race, teen rebellion, sibling rivalry and more. These two authors have done extensive research and put together a book to dispute modern day parenting techniques.

A few of the sections within this book were interesting, such as the Kindergarten section and the first entitled "The inverse power of praise". While other chapters such as those on lying and sibling disputes offered thought provoking insights into why current methods fail yet left the reader stranded by providing no suggested action. Interlaced throughout were those "well duh" moments found in every parenting book that generate rolling eyes.

With over 100 pages of acknowledgments, notes and references, no one can debate that this book wasn't well researched. The problem lies in how the research was presented. It feels like the authors had their view point and then dug until they found a pile of research to support these views. Once they amassed enough knowledgeable sources these sources were collaborated into a chapter that reads more like a thesis than a parenting book. In one word - dry.

In short if you are looking for a parenting book, this is not one I would recommend. However if you are interested in the research these authors have done and their point of view on child rearing, you can check out their columns featured on newsweek.com with easy access through nurtureshock.com Here you will get the nitty-gritty without having to wade through quite as much mush.

My Rating: 2 Stars

To Sum it Up: Mounds of research supporting these authors' opinions on parenting techniques compiled into a long, rather dull, book.

On Becoming Babywise - Gary Ezzo & Robert Bucknam, M.D

Summary: Every mom and dad who have welcomed a child into the world understand the longing to find a way to teach their baby to sleep contentedly and continually, so both parents can enjoy quiet nights filled with peaceful sleep. Now moms and dads need to look no further than On Becoming Babywise: the exciting infant management plan that successfully and naturally trains children to sleep through the night before the age of eight weeks.

Find out what tens of thousands of grateful parents have already learned. Discover the positive prescription for curing sleepless nights and fussy babies--recommended by doctors across the country--in On Becoming Babywise. (Summary from book - Image from amazon.com)

My Review: When I was in my third trimester with my first child, I had this book literally thrust into my hands by a young mother who said “TAKE IT. IT WORKS!” I had no idea how to care for an infant, beyond diaper changing and the useful skill of not-dropping-them, and was grateful for any ideas that might tell me what the heck I should do. I devoured it and, when the baby was born, began dutifully implementing the steps that were suggested. I was a “single” mom at the time, since my husband was away for school, and so my daughter sleeping through the night was paramount to my sanity. Things pretty much went exactly as the book said they would. My daughter was sleeping through the night in no time and I was thanking my lucky stars for this book and the woman who had gave it to me.

On Becoming Babywise credits its success on the establishment of a flexible feed/wake/sleep routine that is supposed to help newborns distinguish between day and night, eat a full meal without “snacking” all day, and learn to fall asleep without the aid of breast, binky, or bouncing around the living room like a sleep-deprived maniac. This book does not advocate rigid scheduling but suggests approximate feeding/napping times without making things mandatory and always advocates feeding a baby when they are hungry regardless of the clock.

I particularly liked the section on common problems that a parent might encounter with napping/feeding/etc. It was nice to be able to read about the “45 minute intruder” before it sneaked into my daughters nap. Other tips about limiting “sleep props” like binkies, or letting your child cry briefly are a little bit more difficult to implement, so this plan is not without its hazards. Whenever I read this book (and we’re going on four times now) I usually take what I want from it and leave the rest behind. I suggest you do the same.

For some reason, books on child-rearing tend to polarize the masses to either love or loathe. No one likes being told how to take care of their child and NO ONE likes being told they are doing it wrong. On Becoming Babywise is quite self-aggrandizing about its alleged 97% success rate and fails to at least give credit to those parents and children who might be doing just fine with other feeding styles. The authors assert that the Babywise method is only way to have a happy, healthy child and predicts that all other attempts at child rearing will result in a self-centered, whiny, spoiled little infant (and later, adult) with impulse control issues and an inability to cope without instant gratification. I think both examples are far-fetched. I know many parents who have never heard of Babywise (or have, but choose other parenting philosophies) and who have happy, content children.

In spite of it’s occasional arrogance and stereotyping – Babywise has worked for all three of my children. I have found it invaluable in establishing a flexible, but predictable routine within the first few months and it has saved my sanity (and sleep) like few other books have. My children are healthy and well-adjusted and I am able to predict their needs with respectable accuracy – making me a much more sane, more together mom. I'm sure that others have had success without Babywise. Bottom line, we all do what works for us. This worked for me.

Sidenote: There are quite a few other books in this "series" -- Babywise II, Childwise, etc. None of them are anywhere near as useful as this one. I don't recommend them in the slightest.

My Rating: 5 Stars. I went lower at first because of all the horn-tooting that went on in this book, but decided to give it a 5 when I realized that having a baby that sleeps through the night is quite possibly the most important thing in the world (slight exaggeration).

Sum it up: If what you are doing isn't working (or you just have no clue what you are going to do when baby comes), then you might want to give this a try.

The Five Love Languages of Children - Gary Chapman, Ph.D and Ross Campbell, M.D.

Summary: Want to know the secret to making sure your child feels loved?

Kids desperately need to know how much you love them. But if you don’t know their special “love languages” you might as well be speaking gibberish. Every child (like every adult) expresses and receives love best through one of five communication styles. Find out which one of these your child speaks:

QUALITY TIME, WORDS OF AFFIRMATION, GIFTS, ACTS OF SERVICE, PHYSICAL TOUCH

If your love language is different from your children’s, you’d better learn to translate—fast. Or you could miss your chance to meet their deepest emotional needs. Discover how to express unconditional feelings of respect, affection and commitment that will resonate in their souls— and inspire them for the rest of their lives. (Summary from amazon.com - image from coverbrowser.com)

My Review: I personally liked the first book Gary Chapman wrote, The Five Love Languages, better than this book. It just seemed to read faster and more enjoyably. Maybe I'd feel differently if I'd read this one first; then this opinion would be reversed and apply to the first book.

Just like the The Five Love Languages, this book gives explanations for the five different love languages with real life examples. Then he moves into case studies and more detailed explanations of how to apply these to your individual experiences, your child(ren).

The difference I noticed was that this book seemed to have more parenting opinions thrown in. While I agreed with much of his advice, I'm not sure that's what this book should be proffering. Unless it specifically related to how to express love in the five different ways, it didn't quite sit right with me to give advice outside of that. Conversely, it is written by a Ph.D. and an M.D. Those are just some of my thoughts while reading. It obviously distracted me enough while reading to mention it. Take it or leave it.

That said, I felt all the advice on how to show your children you love them, in as many of the love languages as possible, was great. It does say that you cannot determine your child's love language until he or she is 5 years old, making my reading a bit premature. I will at least be prepared to look for signs indicating which language to focus on when the time comes. I'd definitely give this book a read regardless of your child's age because it may defuse many volatile reactions that seem unavoidable with parenting. Many rough years where children act up are their way of communicating their need for your love.

My Rating: 4.5 Stars

Sum it up: A mix of parenting advice and information on how children (really, humans in general) feel love.

Your Pregnancy Week By Week (4th ed) - Glade B. Curtis, M.D., and Judith Schuler, M.S.

Summary: New life is growing inside you and your body is changing. With this fact-filled book and your doctor's prenatal care, you can follow your baby's progress and confirm what's happening in your own body.

This book provides the answers to your questions about all stages of pregnancy. Whether you are just planning your pregnancy or are already pregnant, you'll find advice for taking care of yourself and having a healthy baby.

Each week you will learn about:

• Your baby's growth and development
• How your activities and actions affect your baby
• Medicines and medical tests
• Health precautions and illnesses
• Special considerations

Illustrations show clearly how you and your developing baby change and grow week by week. A delightful new feature offers a tip-of-the-week to new as well as experienced dads. Plus nutrition hints every week!

The most medically up-to-date book available, Your Pregnancy Week by Week is written by a leading obstetrician and fertility specialist. (Summary from book - Image from healthpress.com)

My review: During my first pregnancy, I read every book under the sun in my quest to be the perfect incubator. Seriously. I worked at a bookstore. I had access.

About midway through my second pregnancy, I went back and flipped through many of the books that I owned, stopping in certain chapters to review or look up certain questions. There were a few that I re-read, just to refresh, but for the most part I skimmed.

Here I am in the final throws of my third pregnancy and this book is the only one I tore my house apart to find. It’s also the only book I haven’t donated to Goodwill.

My reasons for this were two fold:

First, Your Pregnancy Week by Week is informative but easy to read, with short sections and concise answers to problems you might be facing in pregnancy. Because the book is broken up into weeks, I never felt pressured to read a ton in one sitting. This is especially helpful if you’re occupied with something – like two other kids, a migraine, or the pressing need to worship the porcelain god.

Second, I knew my girls (ages six and four) would love it. It has great illustrations of the baby as well as the uterus, placenta, etc., if you’re looking to explain some things about fetal development and human anatomy. I felt comfortable enough with its’ contents to be able to hand it to my six-year-old to look at by herself when she wanted to, with a “let me know if you have any questions.” In the earlier weeks of pregnancy, the illustrations offer actual size comparisons and later relate the size of the baby to fruit and other common objects so you can really visualize its’ size. My kids had fun calling the baby “bean” one week and “olive” the next.

I also made frequent use of the fairly thorough index, glossary of common pregnancy terms, and found lots of helpful tips for both parents to make pregnancy and childbirth run more smoothly. Overall, I’ve found this book to be a very useful pregnancy resource and the only one that I actually look forward to reading when I see those double lines.

My Rating: 5 Stars

Sum it up: My go-to-guide for pregnancy.

I Read It, But I Don't Get It - Cris Tovani

Summary: I Read It, but I Don't Get It is a practical, engaging account of how teachers can help adolescents develop new reading comprehension skills. Cris Tovani is an accomplished teacher and staff developer who writes with verve and humor about the challenges of working with students at all levels of achievement--from those who have mastered the art of fake reading to college-bound juniors and seniors who struggle with the different demands of content-area textbooks and novels.

Enter Cris' classroom, a place where students are continually learning new strategies for tackling difficult text. You will be taken step-by-step through practical, theory-based reading instruction that can be adapted for use in any subject area. The book features:

• anecdotes in each chapter about real kids with real universal problems. You will identify with these adolescents and will see how these problems can be solved;
a thoughtful explanation of current theories of comprehension instruction and how they might be adapted for use with adolescents;
• a What Works section in each of the last seven chapters that offers simple ideas you can immediately employ in your classroom. The suggestions can be used in a variety of content areas and grade levels(6-12);
• teaching tips and ideas that benefit struggling readers as well as proficient and advanced readers;
• appendixes with reproducible materials that you can use in your classroom, including coding sheets, double entry diaries, and comprehension constructors.

In a time when students need increasingly sophisticated reading skills, this book will provide support for teachers who want to incorporate comprehension instruction into their daily lesson plans without sacrificing content knowledge.

My Review: Are students that make it to middle and high school as struggling readers beyond hope? Tovani says no. As a teacher of middle school Language Arts, I see and deal with the issue of comprehension everyday. Across the spectrum of students, a large number struggle with inferring main ideas not explicitly stated. Even more struggle discerning meanings of words in context, especially if the student has never heard or seen the word before. Thankfully, unlike many educational books, this text gives strategies and not just theories.

Teaching students to connect to what they're reading and just how to infer information based on what they read can be difficult to say the least. Many just jump to conclusions not at all related to what they read, or base their entire conclusion on personal opinion. This book gives actual tools and prompts for the teacher to use in facilitating this type of higher level thinking all connected to reading comprehension strategies. From my personal experience I caution the important to teach these strategies in connection with content that's relevant and interesting.

Good readers do many of the strategies she speaks of instinctively. Teachers, as good readers, often forget how reading text that is just above their comfort level can be very demanding and at times seem beyond what the reader can handle. Tovani reminds her reader that for many middle and high school students their experience reading your subject matter would be like reading a legal document for the adult--difficult, frustrating, but necessary because it's expected of her. We as teachers, parents and mentor adults also are included in this statement, need to show students how to make meaning of difficult text. What are those strategies you use to get un-stuck? Tovani makes teaching those strategies realistic and gives real life examples of how she has done it.

If you teach reading to middle or high school students, regardless of their ability and skill level, this book is very helpful. If you are a parent who has a struggling reader, don't know how to teach what came so naturally to you with comprehension, this book could also be for you.

By the way, this book is reader friendly. I read it in two days.

Rating: 5 stars

In a phrase: A resource for any teacher or adult teaching students with comprehension difficulties, regardless of subject matter.

Your Family Constitution - Scott Gale

Summary: What do you get when you cross two working professionals, two active kids and a dog? Chaos! For more than a decade, Scott Gale and his wife, Karen, juggled three bowling bowls- kids, personal needs, and careers. Clear and consistent expectations simply did not factor into their frantic lifestyle. In the wake of a Mother's Day family meltdown, Gale took time to evaluate his family's challenges and induce change, piecing together a powerful tool to restore family harmony. This 'Family Constitution' became the catalyst for clarity, consistency and commitment ('3C's), enabling his family to enjoy mutually understood boundaries and much-needed structure. Your Family Constitution shares Gale's innovative parenting tool and, more importantly, reveals the step-by-step process he went through to become a happier and more effective parent. (Excerpt from an editorial review found on Amazon.com - image from )
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Emily's Review: This book is an anecdotal guide to establishing family rules and expectations. Scott Gale relates how his family reached a point where he felt all order had broken down and then details how they came to a solution that validated each member of the family. As far as I could tell the author doesn't have any formal counseling training and so his story of how and why is what he uses to authenticate his advice. Despite his lack of training, the advice makes sense and seems applicable to most family dynamics.

The basic idea is to establish rules and consequences that seem fair and understandable to all family members. By doing this everyone knows what is expected of them, and what they can expect from others. Doing this reduces conflicts about the fairness and consistency of family rules while treating children with respect.

This book has some very helpful tips for parents on examining your values, guiding principles and potential problems. It also emphasizes the importance of both parents agreeing on these topics, providing a checks and balances dynamic among the family "leadership." Having this discussion with your spouse would be an excellent foundation for establishing family rules of any sort.

My family is very young and the children don't need a lot of rules, yet. However my husband and I could benefit greatly from some establishing some codified expectations between ourselves in order to minimize (or even end!) our frequent power struggles over who gets to do what when.

Her rating: 3.8 stars. I'm a sucker for credentials so I'm cutting some points because it entirely based on the anecdotal experience of one family.

Sum it up: A great workbook for outlining your family's goals, priorities and expectations and for letting each family member feel like they are contributing to the family.
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Heather’s Review: In this book Scott Gale details the makings of a family constitution, which is basically a tool used to keep the family on the same page when it comes to expected behavior and family values. The constitution addresses each family’s individual goals. It lets each member know exactly what is expected of him or her and lines out the consequences, as well as the rewards, for behaviors. It makes complete sense that families run more smoothly when both children and adults have guidelines to follow, and have participated in the making of these said guidelines.

While Gale beautifully lays out the steps to creating such a document, readers should be forewarned that discipline and reward techniques are not discussed within the pages of this book. The method the Gale family used for creating their family system is talked about and that’s a starting place but be prepared to research other places to find effective behavior modifications for your children. The author does offer a web site in relation to the book where additional insight is given, http://www.yourfamilyconstitution.com/ .

Her rating: 3.5 Stars, great idea just didn’t feel complete enough to stand on it’s own.

Sum it up: An important piece for implementing strategies to create harmony within a household.
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Average Rating : 3.65 Stars
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Don't Swear With Your Mouth Full - Cary S. Chugh, Ph.D

Summary: Parents are charged with a seemingly impossible task - transforming a completely dependent child into a responsible, self-sufficient adult. For some of us, this job is made more difficult by the inherent traits our children possess from birth. If your child could be described as being headstrong, stubborn, controlling, or manipulative, chances are good that typical rewards and punishments haven't worked like you expected. Parents are often quick to blame themselves for their child's continued misbehavior. Professionals are often too quick to suggest the use of medication to address the problems. But, maybe, there is another explanation. Maybe there is something wrong with the typical rewards and punishments parents are told to use to address their child's behavioral problems in the first place. Maybe we don't see these flaws until we attempt to discipline the toughest kids. And, maybe, we finally have a solution! (Summary from back of the book. Image from Amazon.com)

My Review: I have to say that the title to this book really put me off at first. It was a book that the author sent me for free to review, so I cracked the cover; I'm glad I did. The advice in this book is sound. I found it intriguing that the procedures he recommends are some I use in my classroom, tactics I've stumbled across by the process of trial by fire. The main recommendation is to use your difficult child's stubbornness and controlling nature to your advantage--basically give the control back ...more I have to say that the title of this book really put me off at first. It was a book that the author sent me for free to review, so I cracked the cover; I'm glad I did.

The advice in this book is sound. I found it intriguing that the procedures he recommends are some I use in my classroom; tactics I've stumbled across by the process of trial by fire. The main recommendation is to use your difficult child's stubbornness and controlling nature to your advantage--basically give the control back to the child to get out of her punishment. This makes it so the parent is not the enemy any longer; the child's own stubbornness becomes the enemy. It also doesn't extinguish the strong personality traits that as an adult can be used for good. I noticed this immediately with my first child. She is very strong willed and has a mind of her own. As an adult this is a good thing. We need strong women. I don't want to squash these traits. A push over is not what I want her to become.

For the most part this book is user friendly. There are charts at the end of each chapter with 'take it home' notes. This aspect is very usable. There were times in the midst of the chapters that it became a bit wordy. I found my mind wandering a bit and had to refocus. I'm not sure that the majority of the parents of my students could read and garner what they'd need in order to implement these tactics without someone breaking down the verbiage for them. It has great advice, but for someone who isn't college educated it may get wordy at times. That would be, in my opinion, the only downfall to this book--that and the title threw me off for a bit.

Rating: 4.25 stars--the readability would be the only aspect bringing this down. Parents with difficult children come from all walks of life and you'd want everyone to be able to use this kind of help.

Sum it up: A great tool for parents and teachers who deal with difficult to discipline children.

Secrets Of The Baby Whisperer - Tracy Hogg

Summary: When Tracy Hogg's Secrets of the Baby Whisperer was first published, it soared onto bestseller lists across the country. Parents everywhere became "whisperers" to their newborns, amazed that they could actually communicate with their baby within weeks of their child's birth. Tracy gave parents what for some amounted to a miracle: the ability to understand their baby's every coo and cry so that they could tell immediately if the baby was hungry, tired, in real distress, or just in need of a little TLC. Tracy also dispelled the insidious myth that parents must go sleepless for the first year of a baby's life--because a happy baby sleeps through the night. Now you too can benefit from Tracy's more than twenty years' experience. In this groundbreaking book, she shares simple, accessible programs in which you will learn

• E.A.S.Y.--how to get your baby to eat, play, and sleep on a schedule that will make every member of the household's life easier and happier.
• S.L.O.W--how to interpret what your baby is trying to tell you (so don't try to feed him when he really wants a nap).
• How to identify which type of baby yours is--Angel, Textbook, Touchy, Spirited, or Grumpy--and then learn the best way to interact with that type.
• Tracy's Three-Day Magic--how to change any and all bad habits (yours and the baby's) in just three days.

At the heart of Tracy's simple but profound message: treat the baby as you would like to be treated yourself. Reassuring, down-to-earth, and often flying in the face of conventional wisdom, Secrets of the Baby Whisperer promises parents not only a healthier, happier baby but a more relaxed and happy household as well. (Summary from back of the book and image from Powells.com)

My Review: This is the second time I've read this book. The first time was during the first months after my first daughter was born. Her birth and post-delivery were the hardest months of my life and I was searching desperately for any and all helpful information. I'm not sure this book was the best source of help it could have been for someone in a different situation. This book does not include out of the ordinary experiences, such as health problems. This book really is only for those with healthy, normal babies.

That said, reading this to help me with my first only frustrated me more. I wanted to throw the book. Everything it suggested wasn't possible with a baby who was constantly in pain. I could not, even if I had wanted to, leave her to go to sleep on her own. She simply could not do it. I struggled in vain to get her to follow the schedule she talks about. It just wasn't realistic. What did help was some of her small pointers. Little things could set off my firstborn. She gave ways to prevent some of these problems in addition to common sense pieces of information that help with transitions babies find disruptive.

Now, having a second child who is more 'typical' this book has been much more useable. All the tips she gives have actually worked: putting your baby to bed awake, understanding the different cries a baby can have, helpful information on feeding, etc.

Some of the best advice in the book is about how to take care of mom. That chapter helped me more with both babies than the baby advice, which I felt was rather intuitive as a mother. It gave me permission to take care of myself, not sacrifice everything in order to be the best mom.

Rating: 4 Stars. Applies to your typical baby situations--not for those with health problems.

Sum it up: A helpful guide for new parents.

The Nursing Mother's Companion - Kathleen Huggins

Summary: Breastfeeding may be natural, but it is not always instinctive. The 20th Anniversary Edition of this classic guide to breastfeeding, beloved by a generation of women, has been completely revised and updated to provide even more practical, reassuring advice and support for today's expectant and nursing mothers. Easy-reference survival guides help identify and resolve problems at each stage. An appendix on drug safety is a unique feature among breastfeeding books. (Summary and image from Powells.com)

My Review: I reread this book right before having my second daughter. I read it the first time as I was struggling to get my first baby girl to latch. That never happened. And I'm sure many of you are thinking that this book would then become obsolete for a mother whose baby didn't latch. On the contrary. Thankfully this book includes more than just your run of the mill nursing mother situations.

With my first daughter she had an injury at birth and after 4 months of trying to get her to latch, I realized I had to throw in the towel on my hopes of breastfeeding. There was a big problem with this though. I had started pumping in the hospital, built up a milk supply for triplets (because of some bad info from a well-intentioned nurse), and was then fighting off mastitis. Add to this that my first baby had problems digesting food, specifically breastmilk, which is the easiest form of food for babies to digest. Giving her formula was out of the question--she couldn't even digest breastmilk! I was trapped. Too much milk, infection after infection, and a baby who could only digest breastmilk. This book came to my rescue. It isn't a long section, but it does contain a section for the pumping mother. Everyone I ever talked to said pumping couldn't be done, especially for an entire year. This book testified differently. It gave me tips and helps on how to be a working mom and pump for my child.

With my second daughter this book was more of your typical breastfeeding go-to manual. And I was grateful for it. Truthfully, I don't think you can ever replace the one-on-one help of a lactation consultant. But when you're at home, struggling through learning a process that's supposed to be so 'natural,' this book was extremely helpful.

There are sections that are, to say the least, surprising. I learned a lot of about nursing that I had never had the interest to know. Still, it was informative and helpful. It really does empower a mother with all the facts of nursing, how to build up your milk supply, how to deal with extenuating circumstances, and pumping for your baby.

An aspect of this book that I really liked was how easy it is to navigate. If you have a problem, a special situation, you can find the help you need quickly and easily. It goes month to month with what to expect while nursing. For a mom in hormonal crisis after giving birth, scared you won't be able to feed your tiny baby, you cannot be more thankful for quick help when you're sleep deprived and not thinking straight.

My only regret with this book is that I didn't read it sooner with my first baby. If you're interested in nursing your baby, this is a wonderful resource to have on hand.

Rating: 4.5 Stars. I didn't give it 5 stars because it felt wrong to say it is the perfect guide: nothing compares to hands on help when learning to nurse a baby.

In a phrase: For a new-to-nursing-mom: a great reference book.

Girls Will Be Girls - JoAnn Deak, Ph.D

Summary: Girls Will Be Girls offers a comprehensive road map to the many emotional and physical challenges girls ages six to sixteen face in today's changing world. Author JoAnn Deak looks past the "scare" stories to those that enlighten parents and enable them to empower their daughters.

My Review: This book is fantastic. I've read Reviving Ophelia because of past experience with girls suffering from diseases like anorexia and cutting. I had an idea of what books like that offer a teacher, a mother, a sister, or friend. This book, on the other hand, focuses more on your average, everyday girl growing up and how she navigates her own emotions and changes.

An aspect I found particularly intriguing was being able to look back on my own life and understand, through retrospect as well as having been guided by her research, my own path through emotional growth. She seemed to hit every stage right on. I remembered each stage of friendship, whether it was the 'best-friend' stage or the 'transitory friendship' stage or the 'interest-based friendship groups.'

There is a chapter just on the mother-daughter relationship, as well as a chapter on the father-daughter relationship. The chapters I found most applicable (besides the ones relating to my own girls' ages) were the chapters on Betwixt and Between: The Preadolescent Years and Everything and Nothing: Sharing the Adolescent Girl's Struggle to Be and Become Herself. What she wrote about I get to experience everyday, in my classroom. It's very real. It was nice to have some logic put to the insanity that middle school aged girls exude.

Rating: 5 Stars--every parent of girls, every teacher should read this book!

Sum it up in a phrase: How to raise your daughters without going crazy from hormonal insanity!

Have a New Kid by Friday - Dr. Kevin Leman

Summary: Want a kid without the attitude? Without the behavior that makes you slink away in the grocery store and pretend you're not the parent? A kid with character who isn't a character? If you're tired of defiant attitudes and power struggles with your little ankle-biters or the disrespectful hormone group, read this book and follow the simple principles, and you'll have a new kid by Friday. Guaranteed!
(Cover photo from amazon.com, summary from book back)

My Review: I finally got fed up of repeating everything I said to my children over and over again only to have them fail to comply. I had tried everything I could think of - counting (annoying), threats (and following through with the feasible ones), rewards for good listening (only works if the reward is enticing enough), and raising my voice (really only results in a sore throat). So when I came across this book I was unsure if it would make much of a difference but thought I would give it a shot.

So how do you change your kid in a week? Well I guess it really comes down to changing yourself or rather your parenting style. I loved some of the authors advice, especially the part about getting the kids to listen. He recommends saying it once and then walking away and letting the children deal with the natural consequences of not doing as you asked. This works amazingly well!

Not all the ideas in this book were feasible with my children, mainly due to their ages. And some suggestions I don't really agree with. However I think the author lays the groundwork for parents to come up with some creative solutions on their own, all along letting reality be the teacher for the child. I especially enjoyed the section on sibling rivalry. I would have never imagined how quickly angry words turn into laughter once the children are locked together in a room to work things out by themselves (I stayed directly outside with my ear pressed to the door, of course!).

This is a super quick read to give parents a general idea of how to structure their parenting skills with the greatest efficiency. If there is one important lesson learned from a combination of past experience and reinforced within the pages of this book is that consistency is the secret to everything we as parents do. There is an index in the back of this book that covers most every topic under the sun: thumb sucking, unkindness, tantrums, messy rooms, and so much more. This is a fabulous resource and I am considering buying the book for this alone.

I do have to quickly mention that I absolutely hated the testimonials put in throughout the book. I felt like I was reading an infomercial. And what's the point? I am already reading the book, you don't need to sell me on it now. The real questions is do I believe that I can have a new kid in seven days? That's a bit unrealistic but I do think that parents can have a new perspective within this time frame making everyday battles easier to manage

My Rating: 4 Stars, I know quite a few parents who would benefit from one or two of these ideas

If I had to sum it up in one sentence: A quick read with many great parenting ideas.

Belly Laughs : The Naked Truth About Pregnancy and Childbirth - Jenny McCarthy

Summary: Oh the joys of pregnancy! There's the gasiness, constipation, queasiness, and exhaustion; the forgetfulness, crankiness, and the constant worry. No woman is spared these discomforts and humiliations, but most are too polite to complain or to embarrassed to talk about them.

Not Jenny McCarthy!

Belly Laughs reveals the naked truth about pregnancy and childbirth: the tremendous mood swings, the excruciating pains, and the unseemly disfigurement that go along with the process. Never shy, frequently crude, and always laugh-out-loud funny, McCarthy covers it all with her signature wit and in the grittiest of girlfriend detail.

With hilarious musing on morning sickness and hormonal rage, hemorrhoids, pregnant sex, and the torture and sweet relief that is delivery, Belly Laughs is a must-read comic relief for anyone who is pregnant, has ever been pregnant, is trying to get pregnant- or indeed, has ever been born!

My review: From bemoaning the “she’s just getting fat” stage of pregnancy, to dishing on all the mortifying things that pregnancy can do to a woman’s body, Jenny McCarthy tells all (and I do mean all) in her oh-so-frank style. She does not demure. She does not apologize. She talks about everything pregnancy-related in excruciatingly open detail. Sometimes it’s funny, sometimes it’s gross, but I have to say, as a woman who is currently 12 weeks pregnant with her third child (and yes, this is my official announcement)-- it’s pretty darn accurate.

While I enjoyed the book, I didn't find it "laugh out loud" funny as advertised. It was mostly just amusing and I found myself nodding along in places to show solidarity. It was, however, gritty and frequently crude (completely as advertised). I don’t know that a more sensitive reader would fully appreciate Jenny’s blunt and unapologetic style, or her use of language.

While this book eventually covers all the negative aspects of pregnancy, it does jump around quite a bit. The chapters are fairly short and really only serve to detail McCarthy's experience with pregnancy in a this-will-likely-happen-to-you sort of way. The result is kind of haphazardly thrown together rant on all that is horrific about pregnancy with only a few moments focusing on it's joys.

So, whether or not you will like this book probably depends on your attitude about pregnancy. If you think it is the best, most amazing, and special thing ever, then you probably won’t like this book. If you’re like me--fairly uncomfortable and only looking forward to the baby’s movement, ultrasound, and eventual birth--then you will probably find some comfort (misery-loves-company style) within these pages.

My rating: 3 Stars. Be forewarned there’s some swearing and extremely graphic descriptions of LOTS of the less talked about aspects of pregnancy.

To sum it up: Everything you ever wanted to know (and didn't) about the messier aspects of pregnancy.

The Shyness Breakthrough - Dr. Bernado Carducci

Summary: Is Your Child Being Held Back By Shyness? Dr. Bernardo Carducci, one of the world's leading authorities on shy behavior, shows you how to help your child join the fun by plainly explaining: The causes of childhood shyness (it's not genetic). Why children don't just "grow out of it". And why it's crucial to address shyness early in life... (Publishers comments taken from powells.com)

My Review: I realized that my daughter needed help with her shyness at a doctors visit. We were there for her younger sister’s one month check up and she was happy to show off the baby, but when the very kind doctor, who we’ve visited often, turned his attention to her, she froze, making no movement, noise or eye contact, until he turned away. Suddenly I flashed back to my “shy” childhood and internalized the distress she must have felt at not knowing how to respond and her anxiety at being the center of attention. While some may say that for a two-year old to be shy is “developmentally appropriate” it was just too close to home for me to let go.

Soon after this incident I picked this book up from the library, but it sat unopened until a week or two later when I saw in my daughter’s eyes how much she wanted to join in playing with some girls from church, but didn’t dare leave my side, and so chose instead to play at my feet in another room while I met with their mothers. As her still sometimes shy mother my heart was breaking.

This was the only book at my library that addressed shyness, so perhaps there is a better resource out there, but I strongly recommend this book, or one like it. I definitely recommend it to parents who have an obviously shy child, to read sooner than later. I also recommend it to parents with mildly shy children how are likely to “grow out of it” on their own. I recommend it to parents who were themselves shy, and to those who have always been outgoing and don’t know how to deal with their own shy child. I even recommend it to parents who have out-going children that are showing anxiety about starting school, moving, or other major life changes. You see, being shy is so painful, even physically, that if you can help at all, you are giving your child a great blessing.

This book describes some simple ways to help your child develop the confidence and social skills to navigate themselves into adulthood. Generally they are common sense things that you just didn’t think about. My husband and I immediately started doing one of them, explaining in advance where we were going, who would be there, what would be going on and some ideas of things she could do; and quickly noticed an increase in our daughter’s ability to cope with various situations.

Reading this book also gave me incentive to respect my husband’s parenting style. The author believes that shy parents “pass on” shyness to their kids because of behaviors they model. When I asked my husband if he was shy as a child he looked at me blankly as if he had never considered being shy. I then realized that while I may be passing on my shy tendencies, he is passing on his out-going tendencies. As I pay attention now, I see him doing things the book recommends, and he didn’t read the book!

The one criticism I have of this book is the author's tendency to hyperbolize, which I find dilutes a message, as well as use, at times, an emotional tone. However, as you can tell by reading my review, as a shy person, this topic can be emotional, and you can tell by the writing that the author empathizes with his audience.

My rating: 5 stars

In one sentence: The last section is a good read for any parent whose older child is facing a change, but a MUST for those with “shy" children of any age. I plan to buy this book and refer to it as my children grow.