Classics, Nonfiction, and Children's Literature
It was a sad day for me when I passed on my favorite parenting book. Caring for Your Baby and Young Child: Birth to Age Five by The American Academy of Pediatrics is a great book for any parents of little ones because it provides so much great care advice. But, I no longer have
Covenant Motherhood by Stephanie Dibb Sorensen is an inspiring book for Latter-day Saint mothers who wish to refresh their understanding of the Atonement and how covenants, the atonement, and the life and mission of Jesus Christ directly relate to their own role in their homes as mothers to children. As the mother of young children
I know not all the readers of my blog care about all the subjects that interest me, but as I continue to write about my reading, I love the ability to reflect back on what I’ve read in the past in the context of when I read it. This review is of a book that probably
We often encounter books about the wives of US presidents. We’ve seen a number of books about the presidents themselves. But what about the mothers of the presidents? First Mothers by Beverly Gherman and Julie Downing (Clarion Books, 2012) finally puts the mothers’ stories at the forefront. With just one or two pages per mother,
Edna Pontellier is a 29-year-old mother of two in late nineteenth century Louisiana. As befits a woman in her station, she has maids to clean, cooks to prepare her food, and a nanny to care for her young ones. As Kate Chopin’s novella The Awakening (published 1889) begins, she is spending her summer vacation at
In Pirate Boy by Eve Bunting and illustrated by Julie Fortenberry (Holiday House, 2011), young Danny asks his mother a series of “what if?” questions, particularly about Danny joining a ship full of pirates. For each question, his mother has a way to bring him home safely again. Reminiscent of Margaret Wise Brown’s classic The Runaway Bunny, Pirate Boy likewise reassures
I cannot remember which blogger mentioned the poetry of Anne Bradstreet as among their favorite (please, tell me if it was you!), but I must agree that her poems are spectacular. I love Bradstreet’s religious themes, but also I loved her personal accounts of life. Although her writing was from a comparatively primitive pioneer era,
Yesterday you were divorced. Today I am a widow. (page 1) So begins So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba (first published 1980, translated from the French by Modupé Bodé-Thomas), the personal (fictional) diary of the Senegalese woman Ramatoulaye, written as an extended letter to her best friend Aissatou, who has long lived in the
The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta (1979) is about Nigerian tradition versus a modern and Western lifestyle, but it’s also about a woman coming to terms with her role as woman and a mother. I found myself viewing the main character, Nnu Ego, with conflicting emotions throughout the novel. From a modern, feminist perspective,
Although Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a slim book (124 pages), the issues raised are relevant today. I wouldn’t say Gilman’s writing is stunning or beautiful. The plot is not engaging or page-turning. It is predictable and overly “convenient.” The characters are stereotypes on steroids. But rather than expecting any of those other things,
I do not feel like I am a creative person, at least when it comes to creating “something” from bare materials. Although as a teenager I learned how to embroider and I even had been known to sew myself a skirt, today I find myself impatient with the slow pace of those tasks. I took
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