Strollerderby : book review

Father's Day Book Pick: Buy Grandpa Time

JeanneSager — Mon, 25 May 2009 15:33:00 GMT

I've always been a fan of kids books for adults on holidays - especially grandparents who can very well buy themselves everything they've ever wanted . . . except time with the grandkids.

Just in time for Father's Day, Kristy Dempsey's Me With You offers grandpas plenty of time to cuddle on the couch with their favorite little munchkin.

A grandcub finds she's comfy just being herself with grandpa bear leading the way, in a story that's filled with gorgeous illustrations and the types of things grandfathers and grandkids do best (picking flowers, playing baseball, you name it . . .). Celebrating the special relationship between grandpas and grandkids, Me With You solves the bigger question - is there anything I can get him for Father's Day that he'll actually use?

How about time with his grandkids?

It's time they'll be looking back on when they paw through his shelves in twenty years so you can read it to their kids.

Though it's technically the tale of a girl cub, the story doesn't have a clear gender and some of the pictures are gender-neutral, which allows the book to find a wider audience. The simple rhymes put this at the earlier end of the four-to-eight age group recommended by publisher Penguin, but kids who enjoy snuggling up to grandpa will overlook the story and just enjoy the ride.

Check out the "video trailer" for the book and get it from Amazon!

Image: Amazon

For Your Book Group: Lady Of The Snakes

Amy S.F. Lutz — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 19:26:00 GMT

There's a long literary tradition - back past Jane Austen through to popular contemporary writers like Alice Hoffman and Anita Shreve - of ending books featuring female protagonists with the marriage of the main character, or perhaps the birth of her first baby. Implied in this paradigm is an equally old assumption: a husband and children are all women need to live happily ever after.

Recently, writers have started challenging this assumption, resulting in an increasing number of novels - including Little Children, by Tom Perrotta; I Don't Know How She Does It, by Allison Pearson; and Jump At The Sun, by Kim McLarin - that begin with their female protagonists already established as wives and mothers, and wondering if the domestic life is really all its cracked up to be. Rachel Pastan's new novel, Lady Of The Snakes, locates itself nicely in this trend. It traces the journey of Jane Levitsky, a Slavics professor struggling to balance her passion for her research with her obligations to her husband, Billy, and their young daughter, Maisie.

Lady Of The Snakes is also a mystery, as Jane searches through the historical record in her quest to discover whether the wife of a famous Russian writer died in childbirth - the official story - or committed suicide, as Jane suspects. And - like A.S. Byatt did so famously in Possession - Pastan convincingly represents the voices of several different 19th century Russians by excerpting their letters and manuscripts, imparting fascinating glimpses into the culture of the period.

The mystery in Lady Of The Snakes - like so many other mysteries - relies on some improbable coincidences to propel it towards what is ultimately a surprising and satisfying finish. Still, Pastan is at her best while lyrically describing Jane's profound ambivalence towards both the family that keeps her away from her work, and the work that keeps her away from her family: as Jane discovers when Maisie is just a newborn, "Nothing was sweeter than holding her daughter, except for all the times she longed to put her down." I don't know one mother, myself included, who hasn't felt the same way. Which is exactly why Lady Of The Snakes would be a provocative book group selection, because it asks the questions we all struggle with every day: what choices do we really have, and more importantly, what sacrifices go along with the choices we make?

Favorite Preschooler Gift of the Year: Books by Mem Fox

Jessica Ashley (Sassafrass) — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 22:26:00 GMT

In my efforts to simplify simplify simplify and take better care of myself (no, fellow mothers, this is not an oxymoron), I decided that during a slam-fest of kiddie birthdays this fall, I'd do something radical: I decided to give the same gift to every child. The best part is, I followed through. While I am all gloaty proud of myself for not over-indulging in toys other mothers will mentally kick me in the neck for buying or scouring the internet for the ubiquitous perfect birthday gift for a child (note that those gifts are never for the perfect child, but are rather usually for the kid you aren't too keen on, for some strange reason), all the children in playgroup are reading one of our favorite authors. One thought, one gift, one great read for the preschoolers and parents in our circle. I'm telling you, this kind of simplicity is like crack for the mommy's soul. And these books are like the big bag of Doritos afterward.

I chose hardback Mem Fox books as gifts, and if you read this author in your home, you surely understand why. Mem Fox has a way with words that makes each page fun to read for parents and fun to hear for kids. The illustrators she collaborates with are as diverse as the material she writes about, and the pictures are always special accompaniement. In contrast to many other favorites in our house -- from Curious George to Berenstain Bears to Little Critter to random and crappy books on construction -- very few other families we know already own Mem Fox books. That means our gifts with a note saying we hope they love the book as much as we do, is not only a fun new addition to bedtime but is also an introduction to an author's entire collection.

Fox's Time for Bed is a sweet and simple, nuzzly animal story that is a great place to start. It comes in both hardback and board book, so a gift can span from birth to birthday. I could read Where Is The Green Sheep? happily every night and my son adores pointing out each of the sheep's silly roles over and over on the pages. Whoever You Are is a stunning affirmation of what makes kids (and us all) different and similar, with poetic text and intriguing illustrations that I imagine are as healing for adults as emotionally educational for kids. Doesn't that all sound so much better than another talking plastic toy, stack of poorly-written licensed character board books or 80-piece lead bonanza?

Strollerderby : book review

Father's Day Book Pick: Buy Grandpa Time

When Mommy Becomes Mom

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For Your Book Group: Lady Of The Snakes

Favorite Preschooler Gift of the Year: Books by Mem Fox