Crawling by Elisha Cooper

Full disclosure: I was predisposed to like this book when I opened up the envelope containing it and out dropped a handwritten letter from the author. That in itself was nice, but what made me want to like this book was that Elisha Cooper’s handwriting. It looks just like Geo’s. He writes in all capitals.

But really, I didn’t need that to like this book. I loved this book completely, even though I wasn’t sure I would. See, Crawling is about Cooper’s first year as a father. And well, I’m a mother. And my children were not infants anytime they were with me, and I am not yet married. And I had nothing to do with my children being born.

But none of that really mattered because I found myself relating to him over and over again. His writing is extremely honest, funny and emotional. He does a lot of good in his first year and he talks about that, but he talks just as honestly about the times he screws up. His struggles as a new father aren’t the stereotypical things that you might expect from a book like this. He can’t quite fit in with the mothers at the playground, and well, neither can I. He considers whether his daughter will end up like him, and what will happen if she doesn’t.

(And on a more personal note, he goes to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field with his kid AND he works from home.)

This book is beautiful. It reads almost like poetry at times, and the sentiments are not cheesy. This guy writes from his heart and he doesn’t try to impress, he doesn’t try to be funny, he just tries to do his best for his little girl and that makes his story one that I know I will read many more times in the future.

You can buy Crawling by Elisha Cooper here. You can also purchase some of his children’s books here, here, and here.

Printakid Personalized Books for Children

The Parent Bloggers Network invited me to participate in a Printakid Blog campaign. Printakid makes personalized books for children and since we are running low on new books to read at bedtime, I thought this was a great idea.

The book we received is called “A Wacky Christmas Journey.” The story is somewhat strange. It is about Snowbaby and how a reindeer sneezes and accidentally moves her letters to the Naughty pile. The reindeer confesses to Snowbaby and they set out to remedy the situation, which ulitimately leads them to the Sea Elephants who are guardians of the Naughty/Nice list.

(Sea Elephants? Is this some strange tradition I’d never heard of??)

To be completely honest, the story is quite strange and it is certainly not one of the best children’s books I’d ever read.

However, the personalized factors made up for the weird story in the eyes of the kids. I liked how the title pages say that the book is made for Snowbaby and include a personalized message from me. I like how it includes her hair color and eye color, however, there is no way to make the child appear as a toddler, so Snowbaby looks six or seven in the story. You can include names of family members, so Bubba appears as well as Callie and Bug.

I’m all about anything that holds a child’s attention and makes them want to read. And this product does that. They want to hear the story because it is about them, and really, what do little kids like more than things that center around them?

Kids are Americans Too–Review

The Parent Bloggers Network asked for reviewers who would be able to read Bill O’Reilly’s new book “Kids are Americans too” with an open mind.  I figured I could do that.

And I tried. I really tried.

But man, Bill O’Reilly and I just are not BFFs. We aren’t.

It is not that the book is awful..it is suprisingly a lot less offensive than I thought it would be. But it is just not good.

First, it is a rather short book..not even 150 pages. It is selling for $24.95. That’s a lot for a book marketed to teens. I didn’t even pay that much for the last Harry Potter book and that was what, 700 pages?

And sure, if you are a Bill O’Reilly fan, you might pick up this book with a big picture of O’Reilly and a little Fox News screen…but my girls found nothing appealing about the cover. And yes, don’t judge a book by the cover, but with teens I think it is somewhat important.

O’Reilly starts off the book by saying that “Many American kids are complete morons. So are many American adults.” He goes on to say that his definition of moron is someone who is too lazy to figure out what being an American is all about.

You know, I actually give kids more credit than that. I think teens are a lot more politically aware than we give them credit for. And personally, I wouldn’t read a book that started off by making a blanket assumption about kids, especially when that assumption is that many are morons.

The book seems to be targeted to teens, but it is really dumbed down. This book could easily be read by Bug, but I think she has enough of an understanding how the government works that she would be bored. And while I give O’Reilly credit for trying to make the topic more “teen-friendly,” I don’t think it is necessary to assign cute nicknames to everyone like “The Supremes” and “The Philadelphia guys.”

Like I said before, I just don’t think teens are dumb. They need a book that treats them like intelligent young adults, instead of morons that can only handle political matters in 20 second bursts.

I will give O’Reilly credit, though. He doesn’t shove his views down your throat as much as you would think he would. He certainly isn’t unbiased though, but hey, it’s his book.

If you are a Bill O’Reilly fan, you’d probably like the book. Otherwise, pass on this one.

The Little Black Book of Style

The Little Black Book of Style by Nina Garcia is a super cute book full of fashion advice that I’m so tragically out of touch with that I’m sure Nina Garcia would personally drag my butt to “What Not to Wear.”

I really enjoyed some of the advice this book had to pass on and I’d love to try to incorporate some of it in my life. For instance, I can see the benefit of cleaning out your closet, spending more money on some original, quality pieces than the same amount on a whole bunch of trendy pieces that won’t last as long. I feel compelled to by a man’s white button down shirt.

Despite my best efforts though, I think that I’ll still be unfashionable. I’m all about looking nice, but since most of my time is spent chasing a two year old around and cleaning peed- on bedsheets, this book won’t change my fashion life.

However, this would make a great gift to a friend who is into fashion, is a fan of Project Runway, or just likes cute, girly things. The illustrations are adorable and the book is a fun, easy read.

Grave Matters by Mark Harris

I picked up the book Grave Matters: A Journey through the Modern Funeral Industry to a Natural way of Burial from the library because I’ve always been interested in funerals and the funeral industry.

Grave Matters by Mark Harris is an excellent, excellent book. In a straight-forward, unbiased way, he starts off with a family’s typical experience if they go for what is now our “traditional” funeral experience–embalming, a burial vault, a casket–and then discusses several alternatives to this. Home funerals, burials at sea, cremation. These seven more “green” alternatives to pumping a body full of chemicals are not touted as “better.” Instead, Harris trusts the reader to draw their own conclusions and their own opinions as to how they want their body to be handled after their death.

Not only was this a look into funerals, it was also an examination of how families handle grief. It completely changed my opinion as to what I want to have happen to me after I die.

While it’s not the most pleasant experience to think about, this is an important book and a fascinating one at that.