I say we all need more poetry in our lives, but poetry so often seems to be one of those tricky things, like an exotic fruit. You enjoy it when you come across it, but it's not part of your regular consumption, especially when you are a …
If you have daughters, if you know daughters, if you have ever bought a single Disney Princess gift for someone else's daughters, you simply must read Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches From the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Cul…
I'm a self-professed journal addict, which means I often feel as though there will be a sudden shortage and I must buy all of them just in case. (You fellow journal addicts know what I mean.) But I only have an eye for cool journals that…
Kyran Pittman's subtitle for her memoir Planting Dandelions is "Field Notes from a Semi-Domesticated Life." I hope she'll forgive me for repurposing it here to tell you why this is the mothering memoir you would be foolish to skip becaus…
Even if I had known about One Year to an Organized Life with Baby when I was first pregnant, I probably would have been too disorganized to read it. We had recently moved to a new house and to say we were unprepared is an understatement.…
My dad died when I was 22 -- long before I met my husband, or had my son -- and my mom is very much alive. So you wouldn't necessarily think that the book Parentless Parents , by my friend Allison Gilbert , would resonate with someone li…
We have eagerly been awaiting the Let's Panic About Babies book every since we first became pregnant with our own babies. And that's saying something. Because back then, we didn't even know anything about authors Alice Bradley and Eden M…
On any given day, I might have to drop off a neighbor's kid at his piano teacher's house although he doesn't know her last name or the name of the street on which she lives, clip a finch's toenails, and negotiate with an international cr…
I'm not the Most Neurotic Mom in the World, but some days I feel I'd make it to First Runner Up, ready to step in, should she be unable to fulfill her duties. I work hard to give my children a healthy, positive, eco-friendly environment …
After many months of buzz, hoopla, and general fanfare, I finally got around to checking out Christoph Niemann's I LEGO N.Y. , and as a native New Yawka, I know can't imagine what I had been waiting for. This board book is everything I l…
It's awfully daunting, standing in the hustle and bustle of a huge bookstore during the holidays and trying to find one book among millions for the bibliophile or budding reader in your life. Luckily, there's a fabulous new service to he…
As a longtime reader of Karen Walrond's blog Chookooloonks , I expected her first book, The Beauty of Different: Observations of a Confident Misfit , to be gorgeous. I'm familiar enough with her pictures to expect the photography to be s…
Having small children underfoot can make even the simplest task complicated and/or maddening. But did you ever think that having a gorilla around could help bring much-needed balance and tranquility to your life? Okay. Fair enough. Me ne…
I don't know about your family, but around here, there is no faster path to a terrible day than not everyone getting adequate shut-eye the night before. And if just one of us is cranky, everyone ends up cranky. Bad news. Of course, a gre…
I've often joked that I'm devoid of the crafty gene, but that's not completely true. I actually do enjoy crafting; it's just that I don't often have the time or the individual instruction I need to get me over those challenging humps. We…
If there was such a thing as Martha Anonymous, TV Host Lisa Quinn's introduction would go something like this, Hi, My name's Lisa and it's been 5 years since my last cranberry wreath ." Sick of trying to live up to the standards of being…
I'll admit it, I'm a bit of a paranoid parent. But after reading The Paranoid Parents Guide , by clever Denver mom Christie Barnes, I realized how much time I waste worrying. And more importantly, worrying about the wrong things. Does th…
When I look around my house I find strange groupings of stuff everywhere. A bin of outgrown Crocs. A shoebox packed with old family pictures. Some coffee table books that never quite made it to the coffee table. Little did I know that th…
Betsy Brown Braun's You're Not the Boss of Me promises to brat-proof your 4- to 12-year old, and so my natural aversion to parenting manuals was overcome by curiosity as to whether such a thing was actually possible. I quickly fell deepl…
When it comes to raising children without completely losing your mind Elizabeth Lyons wrote the book, literally. It's called You Cannot Be Serious and 32 Other Rules That Sustain A (Mostly) Balanced Mom . [great giveaway after the jump!]…
Having lived through the hippie styles of the 70's, the new-wave neon of the 80's, and the regrettable grunge fashions of the 90's, I have enough embarrassing family family photos to fill a book. A very cringe-worthy, hilarious book. Whi…
I'm not a dad, I'm not expecting, and I usually find pregnancy humor about as funny as postpartum hemorrhoids. But I'm happy to admit that Dad's Pregnant, Too ! by advice columnist and author Harlan Cohen was a pleasant surprise. Why? He…
My husband's favorite childhood memory may involve cracking open his brand new Atari game system and having a marathon Pong session, so it's no surprise that he grew up to be a tad tech-obsessed. Which is why I got him a copy of Geek Dad…
Stumped for Father's Day? Maybe it's because I'm married to a photographer (though I don't think so), but I'm thinking that if Dear Dad from Chronicle Books doesn't bring a little tear to his eye, he might not actually be human. The volu…