Strollerderby : book

Get National Geographic Book on Mothers for the Photos, Skip the Words

Miriam Axel-Lute — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 19:00:00 GMT

For all its insightful information (for a few years I used to read it cover to cover; I miss it), when most of us think of National Geographic magazine, we think of the stunning photography.

And so, it should come as no surprise that the National Geographic Society's little coffee table book (can it still be a coffee table book if it's little? I guess so) Mothers & Children is full of wonderful photos—some beautiful, some tender, some funny, some awkward in their honesty. I love the juxtaposition of cultures and classes.

It's in my nature to overanalyze, though, and I have to say I would have preferred the book without any words at all over the words that were there: over-the-top, one-sided quotes about selfless, all-consuming motherhood (ick!) and three banal essays by the same guy (Craig Wilson, a USA Today writer, whose privilege to get to write most of the text in the book is never explained. His bio is on the Barnes & Noble listing for the book, but nowhere in the book itself). There's no sense of the complexity of defining motherhood, no acknowledgement that while there are commonalities across cultures, there are also huge differences in the experience of it.

(And how is it that pictures of kids alone fit the theme? Does a child only exist in relation to its mother?)

I would have been much happier to get a couple sentences of context for each photo and draw my own conclusions about what the photos say about the relationship(s) between mother and child.

So get it for the photo-lover in your life (at the NGS bookstore or Amazon), but I recommend skipping the words.

More by this author:

Barbie’s Creator A Sexual Pervert

Cole Gamble — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 23:00:00 GMT

C’mon, don’t act shocked. Have you seen Barbie? The slut can’t keep her clothes on. Only a sexual deviant could mastermind such a lascivious little hussy.

According to "Toy Monster: The Big, Bad World of Mattel," Jack Ryan, Barbie's designer, was a "full-blown seventies-style swinger" with "a manic need for sexual gratification."

In the book, a friend of Ryan’s divulges, "When Jack talked about creating Barbie ... it was like listening to somebody talk about a sexual episode, almost like listening to a sexual pervert." Ryan reportedly patronized "high-class call girls to streetwalkers," including a "very thin and child-like" hooker.

Why is it we always hear about the creators of children’s’ entertainment engaging in sexual deviancy? Everybody’s familiar with the urban legends behind Disney’s allegedly perverted animators. And who can forget Pee Wee Herman’s night at the theater? (Years later police found an extensive child pornography collection in Pee Wee’s house) Can you remember other examples of people in children’s entertainment whose nasty deeds were revealed?

Other Barbie related posts:

Smackdown: Barbie and the End of the World

Smackdown: Aw, Just Let Her Have a Barbie

More by this Author:

Should You Take A Risk on Orgasmic Birth? (Orgasmic Birth Video included)

4 Ways Birth and Breastfeeding Will Ruin Sex

Pete Wentz: "I've Tasted Ashley's Breast Milk."

Banana Dildos and the 10 Worst Toys and Gifts This Christmas (part 1)

Desert Island Disks – Kid Music Edition

Nightly Nookie (and a book deal) Saves Your Marriage

Adrienne Martini — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 20:30:00 GMT

If you can't hack always being within 15 feet of your spouse like "spiritual partners" Michael Roach and Christie McNally, you can take another, sweatier approach. But you best have your agent on the line during the afterglow.

Two new books about married couples who seek greater intimacy by committing to as much sex as possible for a year are coming (heh) to shelves near you. One couple did the deed 101 straight days; the other rocked the post-nuptial mattress 360+ plus days. Both sets claim that they rediscovered new heights of intimacy and ecstasy throughout their journeys.

Which begs the question - will you and your honey feel the same level of attachment if you don't write a book about your year of sex? Or is a royalty check the first step on the path to carnal enlightenment?

Photo credit: Mitchell Funk/Getty Images

Ending the Food Fight: Stopping Childhood Obesity

Cole Gamble — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:01:00 GMT

You pretty much can't turn on the tv with out hearing how fat American kids are today. Every empire must fall. In Rome, Christian was the downfall. In England it was overextension. Apparently the fall of the American Empire will be juvenile diabetes.

A new book tackles the “epidemic” of childhood obesity in our country: Ending the Food Fight by Dr. David Ludwig, who founded the Optimal Weight for Life program (OWL) at the Children's Hospital Boston. Dr. Ludwig claims success for his method comes from a low-glycemic diet.

Now, I was once a fat kid, and actually would like to have been one now when being fat doesn't seem to put you in the minority. That said, I really watch it with my kids. Not psycho “baby anorexic”, just a concern for establishing good eating habits early on. My parents let me eat whatever I wanted and convinced me the resulting fatness was genetics and nothing I could combat. I don't know about special gylcemic diets, but I do know that modeling good eating habits for your kids does more for putting them on a solid health (physical and mental) foundation than anything.

Dooce Meet-Up Tonight And Dad Book Signing

Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) — Wed, 07 May 2008 17:28:00 GMT

I've read a few essays from "Things I Learned About My Dad (in Therapy)" -- all from bloggers and compiled by Heather Dooce Armstrong -- and I have to say I'm impressed. And why not? She asked for fatherhood essays from some of the web's best parenting bloggers, and lohd ahmighty, did she get them.

So I'm a little saddened to see this meet-up and book signing is on the wrong side of the country. (When you coming to San Francisco, huh? huh!) But still, if you happen to have a free hour tonight and live nearby, head on over to the Soda Bar in Brooklyn to meet some really cool people and to hear about what has, so far, been a really great book.

More details here.

Five Kinds of Moms and How They Mess You Up

Kelly Mills — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 15:33:00 GMT

Jezebel reports on a new book by clinical psychologist Stephen Poulter called The Mother Factor: How Your Mother's Emotional Legacy Impacts Your Life. The gist is that your bond with your mom can have a big ol' influence on your emotional development, ability to form meaningful relationships, and so on. (Do the dads do anything? Cuz we should share the dysfunctional love!) Anyhow, according to the book, there are five kinds of mothers. This immediately begs the question: Which mother are you?

The five types are:

The Perfectionist Mother — whose family must look perfect in every way
The Unpredictable Mother--whose ups and downs can create lifelong anxiety and depression in her son or daughter
The "Me First" Mother — whose children come second or last
The "Best Friend" Mother — who's now in vogue but can wreak havoc
The Complete Mother--who provides guidance and shows compassion to her child

Um, I don't know which one I am, though I suppose that's the point, because the ways I'm screwing up my kid should be a mystery to me. I do know I'm not the Perfectionist, and my kid doesn't like me enough for me to be the Best Friend. See, I think of myself more as the "Well-Intentioned But Frequently Harried Mom Whose Child May Later Resent Her Blogging" which I guess makes me the "Me First" mom. Only thing is I made many of my big ol' life decisions based on what was best for my kid, not me, because I'm so noble like that. Oh well. Just let me know when they add an "Irritable Bitch" mom category.

Best of FameCrawler: Week of April 11

Whit Honea — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 20:00:00 GMT

Bobby Brown: I Was Whitney's Beard

Smoke Tom Cruise, Go Crazy

Woody Harrelson & Owen Wilson Swim Naked?

Tori Spelling's Pregnant Bikini Photo

Heather Mills Sends 8 Pages of Instructions To Hotel for Daughter Bea

Beyonce Bump Buzz

Twin Bumps! Lisa Marie Presley & Angelina Jolie

Tom Cruise: Leaving Katie, Taking Suri?

Heather Mills Nude Pics Finally Surface

Jamie Lynn Spears Goes Postal

Church of England Provides Sex Guide For Married Couples

Kelly Mills — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 22:01:00 GMT

It's been a big week for religion and sinnin'. Not only did the Vatican expand the list of deadly sins to 14 (up from seven, five of which I practiced before noon, though I so wish I could commit the new sin of obscene wealth) but the Anglican Church published a guide for married couples that deals with sex. (Technically sex within marriage isn't a sin for members of the Church of England, but I believe good marital sex ought to feel like one.) The church put out the guide in an effort to address rising divorce rates and marital dissatisfaction.

While it doesn't include techniques or anything, it does encourage frank and honest discussion. But oh my, this is my very favorite part: The book includes the story of one couple who were distraught when they couldn't get pregnant. How come? The guide says, "It turned out they had never had full intercourse." But, um, wow, I mean, how do you... Well, sounds like this book could be very handy for some people. Ahem. Maybe a couple diagrams would be a good idea.

Book of the Week: When Randolph Turned Rotten

editors — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 15:00:00 GMT

Randolph is the beaver protagonist in When Randolph Turned Rotten (Knopf, 2007) who enjoys sneakily gnawing on seesaws and spending every day with his best friend Ivy, the Canadian goose. These two buddies are roommates in a big city apartment who play together, read together and eat together. But when the mail comes one day with good news for Ivy and bad for Randolph, it dramatically changes their dynamic.

Randolph didn’t mean to have his insides turn rotten and develop mad hands and mad feet, but when he wasn’t invited to the ‘All-Girl Sleepover Birthday Party’ he just felt so alone. And that’s when he decided it would be best to ensure Ivy didn’t have any fun either.

Author Charise Mericle Harper does an adorable job of explaining how we can all feel icky at times, even if we’re mostly nice. Harper’s illustrations feel more indie graphic novel than Golden Book; that combined with Harper’s fresh take on kid lit dialogue keeps things interesting for us older readers:

Ivy: Remember, don’t bite the seesaw.

Randolph: I’m just smelling the wood.

Luckily Randolph’s nasty behavior is also captivating, as his maniacal methods of sabotage utilize (what he believes to be) the obvious: heavy blanket, pointy stick, bag of logs and tight marshmallow necklace. – April Peveteaux

Buy it from Amazon.

Book of the Week: To-Do List by Maya Waldman

editors — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:15:00 GMT

Babble gets a lot of submissions of independently published children's books. Sadly, most of them are — how shall we put this delicately? — lacking. So we were delighted when we received To-Do List (4N Publishing), an indie children's book that turns the tedious to-do list into something inspiring. Maya Waldman's ink drawings and simple text offer a clever twist on the counting book: she lists tasks for the reader, numbered 1-20, ranging from "make friends" to "speak pineapple" and "dance like an octopus." It's a fun, imaginative read, but as Levar Burton used to say, don't take our word for it — you can preview the whole book on the 4n website before you pick up a copy on Amazon. — Gwynne Watkins

Book of the Week: Battle of the Princess Books

editors — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 18:25:00 GMT

It's practically a standard developmental phase for little girls: suddenly, she won't leave the house without a tiara and she insists on being addressed by her royal title. So this week, we'll look at two new books for your little princess: The Silk Princess by Charles Santore and Princess Baby by Karen Katz.

We'll start with Princess Baby (Schwartz and Wade Books). Aimed at younger children —officially 4-8, we'd say 3-6 — this is a pink, sparkly ode to princessdom. It starts out well: the rosy-cheeked protagonist complains that no one ever calls her by her real name, then runs through an illustrated list of the names she doesn't like: buttercup, giggly goose, cupcake, little lamb, sweet gumdrop. (The drawing of a disgruntled toddler dressed as a gumdrop? Priceless.) Then she goes through a litany of her princess-like traits and habits, to prove that her real name is "Princess Baby." The final page shows her parents happily obliging, carrying her train as she skips away. Obviously, this book is total wish-fulfillment for preschool-age princesses. It certainly has its adorable moments. But if you're looking to quell your princess' more diva-ish tendencies...

...then check out The Silk Princess (Random House). Based on an ancient Chinese legend, it follows the adventures of the young princess who discovered silk. Although Hsi-Ling Chi is often neglected in favor of her brothers, she is far from timid, following a silkworm's thread up a dragon-infested mountain, then returning home with the fabric that her travels have woven. This one is a good read-aloud for ages 4 and up; it's a little text-heavy but the illustrations (inspired by ancient Chinese paintings) will keep younger ones going. Boys might even be into this one (see: dragosn). And it's a nice change to see a children's book princess be pro-active about something other than her sparkly shoes.

See also: the classic story The Paper Bag Princess by Robert N. Munsch.

— Gwynne Watkins

New Children's Book: Mommy Has A Tattoo

makeitadouble — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 20:37:00 GMT

What a paradigm of ironic narrow-mindedness I was recently when I literally judged a kid’s book by its cover; a book that is, among other things, about how you cannot and should not judge a book by its cover.

When the opportunity to review a new children’s book entitled “Mommy Has A Tattoo” was extended via email by author and illustrator Phil Padwe to Strollerderby’s own team of heavily inked bloggers, parents and epigrammarians my initial reaction was one of droll sarcasm. I emailed a reply to the group, “I would do the review but I have a Trilogy of children's books coming out titled: Mommy has a Tramp Stamp, Mommy has Ass Antlers and Mommy has a California License Plate. I’m also currently writing two for Dad’s called: Daddy has a Tribal Arm Band and Daddy has a Japanese Symbol on his Calf that Actually Means Asshole and I fear there may be a conflict of interest.”

As a Tattooed Dad though I was curious to see how the book conveyed being a tattooed parent in a way that children would relate to and learn something from, so after perusing book’s website I agreed to do the review.

Essentially, Mommy Has A Tattoo is a simple story about a young boy who is afraid of his tattooed neighbor but then discovers his mother has a tattoo as well. Somehow in 24 short pages the book not only teaches lessons in tolerance and self-expression, but also introduces the universal themes of fear of the unknown, accepting the differences in others and how we should not judge people by their appearance. Without being heavy-handed in his delivery the author also demonstrates positive examples in how self-expression is healthy and important and how what we don’t know can be scarier than what we do know.

By email author Phil Padwe told me one of the reason why he wrote the book, “I started where I did because something like 85% of children's books are bought by women (mostly moms) giving them as gifts to other women (also mostly moms)... and I figured the "not so keen on tattoos" crowd could use some gentle prodding! The mommy book is respectfully dedicated to the millions of tattooed women and who'll see it as a great gift, with a positive message.”

The truth is that it does have a positive message and also provides tremendous opportunity for discussion with children as young as 5 years old as I discovered with my own son. With tattoos a pervasive form of self-expression prevalent with the generation of young parents (one-third of the Americans aged 25 to 39 have tattoos today) children will naturally have questions about what they mean and why Mommy and Daddy have them. The website speaks eloquently about the book’s mission to “teach tattoo tolerance”, but to me the book does a little more than that. It reinforces that the lessons we need to teach our children are the same lessons we parents need to be reminded of from time to time. I guess I know what the Japanese symbol on my calf means now.

“We realized that when you give a gift you also give a message about the person receiving it and about yourself.” writes Phil on his website. So with 7 shopping days until Christmas is anyone still looking for that perfect gift?

Mommy Has a Tattoo and the accompanying Tattoo Coloring Book (sold separately) are available through the Mommy Has Tattoos website and each is autographed by the author.

(Photo: www.mommyhastattoos.com)