New at the Library

Reviewed: PW 1 Mar. 2021 p. 62.
Description: Teaching your child to read is monstrously important, and there’s no better way to do it than with everyday opportunities for laughter and play. Bringing Up Bookmonsters is full of fun ways to build literacy at home—no flashcards or timers required! Feed your budding bookmonster’s brain as you: (1) Turn storytime into playtime to build comprehension; (2) Get giggling with games and jokes that reinforce spelling; (3) Converse at family meals with varied vocabulary; & (4) Satisfy your bookmonster’s cravings with books they are sure to devour! These tips and many more make it easy to help your child develop an insatiable appetite for reading–and have a tremendously good time doing it! (publ.)

Reviewed: PW 15 Feb. 2021 p. 183.
Description: This book follows the struggles and triumphs of one single, immigrant mother of color to raise an American feminist son. From teaching consent to counteracting problematic messages from the media, well-meaning family, and the culture at large, the author offers an empowering, imperfect feminism, brimming with honest insight and actionable advice. Informed by Jha’s work as a professor of journalism specializing in social justice movements and social media, as well as by conversations with psychologists, experts, other parents and boys–and through powerful stories from her own life–How to Raise a Feminist Son shows us all how to be better feminists and better teachers of the next generation of men. (publ.)

In difficult and challenging situations with our kids, every parent wants to react as much as possible in a way that reflects our family values and expectations. And yet when our children "push our buttons," we often find ourselves reacting in ways that we know are far from our principles, and even seem to further inflame a situation. We know that when our children are at their worst, they need us to be at our best. But how can we move from a "stress regress" to speaking in a voice that is warm, calm, and firm? Educator Kim John Payne offers techniques that simply but very directly shift these damaging patterns of communication and parental behavior. It is a grounded and practical tool that he has taught to numerous parents worldwide Being at Your Best When Your Kids Are at Their Worst is a technique that you can use in the moment to reframe the situation and help you respond effectively, appropriately, and with kindness.

Simple Techniques, Defeat Stubbornness! Are you suffering from pressure, anxiety and frustration due to failure of teaching your defiant teenage daughter? Are you looking for SMART methods to WIN BACK the strong willed child? One day, your sweet daughter does not listen to you anymore. The girl becomes stubborn suddenly, no longer wants to obey you or participates in family activities; even the defiant child usually expresses behaviors that you can not accept. Do you know where the STUBBORNNESS of your defiant teenager comes from? Does it mainly come from the EMOTIONS of the child, or from your parenting methods? What do you do to "TAME" the obstinacy of your stubborn children? In this book, I'll show you what main CAUSES drive the stubbornness of your daughter of strife, and 7 GOLDEN TECHNIQUES on how to deal with teenagers' defiant behaviors. These POWERFUL techniques will certainly help you defeat the stubbornness of your child quickly, make her become more docile, obedient, loving, and much much more than that.

Reviewed: PW 1 June 2020 p. 57.
Description: Is it okay to share details about my child’s life on social media? What kinds of pictures should I avoid posting? Am I taking away their ownership of their future online footprint? In today’s age of “sharenting,” many parents are trying to strike the right balance between engaging with online communities they value and respecting their child’s right to privacy and safety. Law professor and mother of 3 Stacey Steinberg’s investigation of the benefits and risks of sharing our kids’ lives on social media will help any parent find the right path for their family to follow in the online world. (publ.)

Explores how today's parenting techniques and our educational system are failing to prepare children for their certain-to-be-uncertain future--and how we can reverse course to ensure their lasting adaptability, resilience, health and happiness. Madeline Levine was the first to correctly identify the deficits created by parents giving kids of privilege too much of the wrong things and not enough of the right things. Levine identifies the skills that children need to succeed in a tumultuous future: adaptability, mental agility, curiosity, collaboration, tolerance for failure, resilience, and optimism. Most important, Levine offers day-to-day solutions parents can use to raise kids who are prepared, enthusiastic, and ready to face an unknown future with confidence and optimism.

Based on the bestselling parenting book, 1-2-3 Magic, and adapted for a Christian lifestyle In 1-2-3 Parenting with Heart, Dr. Thomas W. Phelan and pastor Chris Webb teach Christian parents to take charge while refraining from yelling, leading to better behaved children, happier parents, and a more peaceful home environment. Complete with relevant Bible verses, explanations, and exercises, this guide allows you to get back in charge of your home and enjoy your kids again by helping you set limits for your children, and by breaking down the complex task of parenting into three straight forward steps.

One of America's best-loved children's authors takes center stage in this fascinating resource book. Summaries of all Cleary's novels (including the popular Henry and Ramona books) are accompanied by a description of the author's real-life experiences as reflected in her books and a variety of extension activities (e.g., writing, word games, map activities, dramatic plays, puzzles).

Examines issues challenging today's young men in the areas of education, mental health, sexuality, and leadership, outlining a comprehensive blueprint for parents, teachers, and policymakers to help boys lead purpose-driven lives.

Reviewed: PW 20 May 2019 p. 28.
Description: When a parent, spouse, sibling, or loved one is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia, it can be difficult to know what to do. Your day can spiral into a never-ending series of tasks and attempts to communicate that leave you both frustrated. Instead of burning out, discover a new approach. When your loved one behaves differently than they used to, they’re just communicating in a new way. As caregivers, the most important thing we can do is learn that new language. (publ.)

This is a book for all parents. It serves as a complete guide for long-term positive parenting of teenagers or even younger children. In the book, you will find very practical parenting tips for when you don't know how to deal with teenagers, how to make kids listen, how to motivate teens, how to renew broken bonds etc. You will learn about your part of responsibility in your relationship, and how to gain parental power. The second part guides you through typical everyday examples, and simple innovative parental tips on how to keep the connection with your teenager and create responses so that you can support the safe and healthy development of your child. This book will give you the willpower and a reason to begin tackling your "problems," as well as the power to be patient. When thinking about changes, they should be oriented towards the notion of how we could change ourselves as parents, not how we stay the same and force our children to change.

Reviewed: NYT/BR 22 Sept. 2019 p. 20 (reviewer); Economist 4 May 2019 p. 68 (referenced); TLS 1 Nov. 2019 p. 28.
Description: As any new parent knows, there is an abundance of often-conflicting advice hurled at you from doctors, family, friends, and the internet. From the earliest days, parents get the message that they must make certain choices around feeding, sleep, and schedule or all will be lost. There’s a rule–or three–for everything. But the benefits of these choices can be overstated, and the tradeoffs can be profound. How do you make your own best decision? Armed with the data, Oster finds that the conventional wisdom doesn’t always hold up. She debunks myths around breastfeeding (not a panacea), sleep training (not so bad!), potty training (wait until they’re ready or possibly bribe with M&Ms), language acquisition (early talkers aren’t necessarily geniuses), and many other topics. She also shows parents how to think through freighted questions like if and how to go back to work, how to think about toddler discipline, and how to have a relationship and parent at the same time. (publ.)

Written for parents and families of college-bound students, this book is the one tool they'll need to navigate the complex (and often emotional) challenge of getting their daughters or sons into--and through--college. From early childhood to setting up their dorm room, this book provides parents with insights, wisdom, and guidance about college (what it is and why it is a valuable experience), college preparation (including both academic and financial), and choosing a college (how to understand not only the process but also the right fit and value). Letters written by college and educational professionals, all with their own college-aged children, frame and illuminate each chapter. The letters offer advice about preparation for college gleaned from personal and professional experiences.

As parents face the difficult reality of a broken home, a sense of being completely overwhelmed can shut down the perspective they need to find restoration. Parents need to know that they can choose to define this season of their lives, instead of becoming defined by circumstances. They can deliberately look toward God and come to a deeper understanding of His true nature, power, and intimate care.

The authors show that in countries with increasing economic inequality, such as the United States, parents push harder to ensure their children have a path to security and success. Economics has transformed the hands-off parenting of the 1960s and '70s into a frantic, overscheduled activity. Growing inequality has also resulted in an increasing 'parenting gap' between richer and poorer families, raising the disturbing prospect of diminished social mobility and fewer opportunities for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Parenting isn't easy. Showing up is. Your greatest impact begins right where you are. "There is parenting magic in this book." One of the very best scientific predictors for how any child turns out--in terms of happiness, academic success, leadership skills, and meaningful relationships--is whether at least one adult in their life has consistently shown up for them. In an age of scheduling demands and digital distractions, showing up for your child might sound like a tall order. It doesn't take a lot of time, energy, or money, Instead, showing up means offering a quality of presence. And it's simple to provide once you understand the four building blocks of a child's healthy development. Every child needs to feel what Siegel and Bryson call the Four S's: *Safe*Seen*Soothed*Secure The Power of Showing Up shares stories, scripts, simple strategies, illustrations, and tips for honoring the Four S's effectively in all kinds of situations--when our kids are struggling or when they are enjoying success; when we are consoling, disciplining, or arguing with them; and even when we are apologizing for the times we don't show up for them.

The book highlights the real strengths shared by many sensitive boys - of being compassionate, highly creative, thoughtful, fiercely intelligent and witty. It also flips common negative clichés about sensitive boys being shy, anxious and prone to bullying to ask instead: what we can do to create a supportive environment in which they will flourish? Full of simple yet sage advice, this book will help you to encourage boys to embrace their individuality, find their own place in the world, and to be the best they can be.

A family is the first sculptor forming a soft as wax soul and mind, will and character of a child. The child investigates the world through a family, in the light of a family. Undoubtedly, he receives his first life attitudes in the family. Full-fledged health and harmonic mental development of the child are the aims of all parents. To achieve positive results, close collaboration of both parties is required. However, the majority of even the most loving and caring parents make mistakes which may influence on the child's further destiny.

You've met the partner of your dreams and have gotten your happily ever after, but now you've taken on a new role: stepmom. And you have no idea what you signed up for. Or maybe you've been a stepmom for a while now, but things are getting you down. Who do you turn to for help? Where is the stepmothering support group that'll give you the advice you need? Who actually gets how hard being a stepmom can be? We do. We are the women who have chosen stepmotherhood and lived to tell the tale.

The psychological techniques developed by ancient Stoics have recently been rediscovered, and Stoicism is enjoying a renaissance among people from all walks of life who are looking for fulfuilment and tranquility. This book describes how Brittany Polat found modern Stoicism and what it can offer stressed-out parents in the twenty-first century.

We Were Your Age Once, but You Have Never Been Ours contains 101 Words of Wisdom covering personal and social behavior; personal development and learning; choosing, preparing for, and starting a career; and starting their own family. We, as older adults, have the responsibility to pass on to young people, our children, grandchildren, and children of family members or friends advice or Words of Wisdom as a result of what we have learned through our own life experiences

If you are the parent of a child or teen with ADHD, you're already aware that school is challenging for your son, and that the two of you argue too much. You may know that your daughter is forgetful and needs multiple reminders to remember her soccer practice and her chores. But do you really understand what it's like for them? What difference would that make in your daily parenting struggles to help them grow into responsible, competent and happy adults? This book gives parents new insights into the minds and feelings of their children with ADHD-and offers them a new, family-tested roadmap for reducing family stress and improving loving connections.

Reviewed: PW 20 May 2019 p. 26.
Description: Journalist Mary K. Doyle’s husband now suffers from advanced Alzheimer’s and no longer even recognizes her most of the time. Doyle gives gentle advice to other Alzheimer’s spouses about what is in store for them and how to deal with their beloved soulmate in loving and practical ways while still protecting their own health and happiness. (publ.)
Publisher Note: Formerly “Adult Catechetical Teaching Aids” (ACTA).

Reviewed: Choice (Jun. 2019 vol. 56 no. 10) Recommended for community college libraries; TLS 7 June 2019 p. 29.
Description: Women in today’s advanced capitalist societies are encouraged to “lean in.” The media and government champion women’s empowerment. In a cultural climate where women can seemingly have it all, why do so many successful professional women–lawyers, financial managers, teachers, engineers, and others–give up their careers after having children and become stay-at-home mothers? How do they feel about their decision and what do their stories tell us about contemporary society? (publ.)

Review: NYT 31 Mar. 2019 p. SR4 (author op./ed.)
Description: Over the past two decades there has been an explosion of new studies that have expanded our knowledge of how boys think and feel. Psychologist Michael Reichert draws on his decades of research to challenge age-old conventions about how boys become men. Reichert explains how the paradigms about boys needing to be stoic and “man like” can actually cause them to shut down, leading to anger, isolation, and disrespectful or even destructive behaviors. The key to changing the culture lies in how parents, educators, and mentors help boys develop socially and emotionally. Reichert offers readers step-by-step guidance in doing just this by listening and observing, without judgment, so that boys know they’re being heard. Helping them develop strong connections with teachers, coaches, and other role models. Encouraging them to talk about their feelings about the opposite sex and stressing the importance of respecting women. Letting them know that they don’t have to “be a man” or “suck it up,” when they are ex-periencing physical or emotional pain. (publ.)

Description: Parents everywhere want their children to be happy and do well. Yet how parents seek to achieve this ambition varies enormously. For instance, American and Chinese parents are increasingly authoritative and authoritarian, whereas Scandinavian parents tend to be more permissive. Why? This book investigates how economic forces and growing inequality shape how parents raise their children. From medieval times to the present, and from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Sweden to China and Japan, Matthias Doepke and Fabrizio Zilibotti look at how economic incentives and constraints–such as money, knowledge, and time–influence parenting practices and what is considered good parenting in different countries. (publ.)

Reviewed: PW 10 Dec. 2018 p. 136.
Description: The work-family conflict that mothers experience today is a national crisis. Women struggle to balance breadwinning with the bulk of parenting, and stress is constant. Social policies don’t help. Of all Western industrialized countries, the United States ranks dead last for supportive work-family policies: No federal paid parental leave. The highest gender wage gap. No minimum standard for vacation and sick days. The highest maternal and child poverty rates. Can American women look to European policies for solutions? This book draws on interviews that sociologist Caitlyn Collins conducted over five years with 135 middle-class working mothers in Sweden, Germany, Italy, and the United States. She explores how women navigate work and family given the different policy supports available in each country. (publ.)

Reviewed: PW 17 Sept. 2018 p. 80.
Description: Drawing on her own experiences and those of other parents, plus tips from mental health professionals, Vlock suggests ways of parenting smarter, partnering better, and living more fully and less fearfully in the shadow of childhood psychiatric illness. Offers overwhelmed readers guidance, solidarity, and hope. (publ.)

Reviewed: NPR “It’s Been a Minute.”(10 Aug. 2018)
Description: For families, churches, educators, and communities who want to equip their children to be active and able participants in a society that is becoming one of the most racially diverse in the world while remaining full of racial tensions. For white people who are committed to equity and justice, living in a nation that remains racially unjust and deeply segregated creates unique conundrums. These conundrums begin early in life and impact the racial development of white children in powerful ways. What can we do within our homes, communities and schools? Should we teach our children to be “colorblind”? Or, should we teach them to notice race? What roles do we want to equip them to play in addressing racism when they encounter it? What strategies will help our children learn to function well in a diverse nation? Talking about race means naming the reality of white privilege and hierarchy. How do we talk about race honestly, then, without making our children feel bad about being white? Most importantly, how do we do any of this in age-appropriate ways? While a great deal of public discussion exists in regard to the impact of race and racism on children of color, meaningful dialogue about and resources for understanding the impact of race on white children are woefully absent. (publ.)

Reviewed: NYT/BR 26 Aug. 2018 p. 13; PW 7 May 2018 p. 64; NYT 18 Aug. 2019 p. SR3 (author op/ed.).
Description: On a crisp spring morning, Kim Brooks made a split-second decision to leave her four-year-old son in the car while she ran into the store. She was gone for only a few minutes, and when she came back he was still happily absorbed in a game. What Brooks didn’t know was that a stranger had filmed her and would go on to send the video to the police. The fallout from this single moment would consume the next several years of Kim’s life and spur her to investigate the broader role America’s culture of fear plays in parenthood. In her searingly honest memoir, Brooks dives into the American psyche of competition and anxiety, all while recounting the two most harrowing years of her life. (publ.)

Reviewed: LJ 15 May 2018 p. 47; PW 7 May 2018 p. 64.
Description: Parents often worry about raising kids in a tech-saturated world–the threats of cyberbullying, video game violence, pornography, and sexting may seem inescapable. And while these dangers exist, there is a much more common and subtle way that technology can cause harm: by eroding our attention spans. Focused attention is fundamental to maintaining quality relationships, but our constant interaction with screens and social media is shortening our attention spans–which takes a toll on our personal connections with friends and family and our ability to form real relationships. (publ.)

Reviewed: Choice (Dec 2018 vol. 56 no. 4) Top 75 books highly recommended for community college libraries.
Description: Ann Travers shows that from very early ages, some as young as two and three years old, trans kids find themselves to be different from the sex category that was assigned to them at birth. How they make their voices heard–to their parents and friends, in the schools, in public spaces, and through the courts–is the focus of this remarkable and groundbreaking book. Based on interviews with transgender kids, ranging in age from 4 to 20, and their parents, and over five years of research in the US and Canada, this book offers a rare look into what it is like to grow up as a trans child. From daycare to birthday parties and from the playground to the school bathroom, Travers takes the reader inside the day-to-day realities of trans kids who regularly experience crisis as a result of the restrictive ways in which sex categories regulate their lives and put pressure on them to deny their internal sense of who they are in gendered terms. (publ.)

Reviewed: PW 5 Mar. 2018 p. 67; NYT/BR 10 June 2018 p. 26.
Description: “Being a mother is a gift.” Where’s my receipt?
Welcome to essayist Kimberly Harrington’s poetic and funny world of motherhood, womanhood, and humanhood, not necessarily in that order. It’s a place of loud parenting, fierce loving, too much social media, and occasional inner monologues where timeless debates are resolved such as Pro/Con: Caving to PTO Bake Sale Pressure (“PRO: Skim the crappiest brownies for myself. CON: They’re really crappy.”) With accessibility and wit, she captures the emotions around parenthood in artful and earnest ways, highlighting this time in the middle—midlife, the middle years of childhood, how women are stuck in the middle of so much. It’s a place of elation, exhaustion, and time whipping past at warp speed. Finally, it’s a quiet space to consider the girl you were, the mother you are, and the woman you are always becoming. (publ.)

Reviewed: NPR (4/17/2018); NYT/BR 20 May 2018 p. 26.
Description: O’Connell is a smart twentysomething who treats her pregnancy like a new project, researching and planning. She envisions a natural birth and a year of wholesome breast feeding. But things do not go as she expects. Life throws curveballs, and after 40 hours of contractions, she opts for a C-section. She manages to nurse for a year but resents her baby's control over her body. This is not a book about the wonders of motherhood but about the tension between culturally inherited ideals and the realities of lived, bodily experience. (publ.)

Reviewed: NPR (“All Things Considered” 1/29/2018)
Description: Today’s babies often make their debut on social media with the very first sonogram. They begin interacting with screens at around four months old. But is this good news or bad news? A wonderful opportunity to connect around the world? Or the first step in creating a generation of addled screen zombies? Many have been quick to declare this the dawn of a neurological and emotional crisis, but solid science on the subject is surprisingly hard to come by. Anya Kamenetz–an expert on education and technology, as well as a mother of two young children–takes a refreshingly practical look at the subject. Surveying hundreds of fellow parents on their practices and ideas, and cutting through a thicket of inconclusive studies and overblown claims, she hones a simple message, … Enjoy Screens. Not too much. Mostly with others. (publ.)

Description: Education is very important, and a lot of times military spouses aren’t aware of the opportunities and resources available to them to pursue it. The authors have put together a clear guidebook will make the process easy, accessible, and understandable. They offer clear advice and information about resources available to spouses of service members, creating a go-to guide for pursuing higher education. (publ.)

Reviewed: LJ Jan. 2018 p. 115.
Description: When your child is diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Dis-order, you have questions. As ASD parents themselves, Michael and Lori Ellis provide a holistic view of what comes after diagnosis, answer the most commonly asked questions, discuss what medications and therapies are available, and examine the global impact ASD has on the child's environment. (publ.)

Reviewed: NPR (“Morning Edition” 3/30/2018)
Description: Louie Anderson, New York Times bestselling author and Emmy Award-winning comedian currently starring in Zach Galifianakis’s Baskets, shares his journey of turning life’s challenges into joy, as well as plenty of wisdom he’s still discovering from his late mother. (publ.)

Reviewed: NPR (“Weekend Edition” 4/8/2018); NYT/BR 21 Oct. 2018 p. 23.
Description: After dealing with more than a thousand clients whose marriages have dissolved over everything from an ill-advised threesome with the nanny to the uneven division of carpool duties, he also knows all of the what-not-to-dos for couples who want to build–and consistently work to preserve–a lasting, fulfilling relationship. Described by former clients as a “courtroom gunslinger” and “the sociopath you want on your side,” Sexton tells the unvarnished truth about relationships, diving straight into the most common marital problems. These usually derive from dishonest–or nonexistent–communication. Even when the alleged reason for separation is one spouse’s new “personal trainer,” there’s likely a communication problem that predates the fitness kick. Symptom and root cause get confused all the time. Sexton has spent his career working with spouses-to-be-no-longer. Reverse engineering a relationship can help to identify and fix what does not work. (publ.)

Reviewed: PW 8 Jan. 2018 p. 49
Description: From the creator of the blog “Renegade Mothering,” Janelle Hanchett’s forthright, darkly funny, and ultimately empowering memoir chronicling her tumultuous journey from young motherhood to abysmal addiction and a recovery she never imagined possible. Pregnant at 21 by a man she’d known three months, Janelle Hanchett embraced motherhood with the determined optimism of the recklessly self-confident. After giving birth, she found herself bored, directionless, and seeking relief in wine, which she justified as sophisticated and going well with chicken. (publ.)

Description: During her husband’s Army deployment to Afghanistan, Marna Ashburn shows the mother handling everything – teaching the child to drive, attending little league games and school events solo, fixing broken dishwashers and cars, and celebrating holidays without dad. Marriage During Deployment depicts how the children and mother cope during the absence of their military member and how they stay connected to him while he is six thousand miles away from them. …The accumulation of missed moments inevitably creates a distance which may prove irreparable. Between the heartbreaking send-offs and the joyful reunions, there’s this – a year of separation, distance, challenges, anxiety, and loneliness. While providing you with an honest portrayal of resilient kids and a can-do military wife, Marna Ashburn also reveals the hidden costs of Army service. (publ.)

Reviewed: PW 5 June 2017 p. 49; TLS 2 Feb. 2018 p. 25; Choice Jun 2018 vol. 55 no. 10 (Essential; recommended for community college libraries)
Description: Philosophy professor Kazez … appeals to new parents’ innate sense of logic and ethics as alternatives to parenting experts. … Though her conclusions are far from groundbreaking, soon-to-be parents will find thinking through her arguments a good way to engage their minds beyond the immediate practicalities of child-rearing. (PW).
   Becoming parents draws us into philosophical quandaries before our children have even been born. Why do most of us want to have children? Should we make new people, despite life’s travails and our crowded world? Is adoptive parenthood just the same as biological parenthood? Once children arrive, the questions start to be a mix of the profound and the practical. Should we share our lifestyle with our children, no matter how unusual? Should we vaccinate and may we circumcise? Should we encourage gender differences? Tracing the arc of parenthood from the earliest days to the college years and beyond, Jean Kazez explores 18 questions for philosophical parents, applying the tools of philosophy and drawing on personal experience. (publ.)

Description: This book was developed with the caring and concerned adult in mind and is a one-stop for anyone who would like to help a child develop problem solving thinking. They will become adept at the use of problem solving strategies over the course of their development from birth. For each age range, this book provides developmental information, relevant mathematical concepts, sample problems with multiple solutions, and finally activities to engage with as a family in order to develop mathematical thinking and problem solving skill. (publ.)