Parenting & Families Books - Page 12

The 312 Best Things About Being a Stepmom: For those days when you can only come up with one or two on your own.

Cynthia L. Copeland

Amazon Price: $8.95 List Price: $8.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Workman Publishing Company Amazon Marketplace: 47 new & used starting at $0.97

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> Love, Sex & Marriage
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> Parenting & Families
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Forget Cinderella and the hundreds of other fairy tales about wicked stepmothers. Here is the truth—a warm, bright, positive, yet frankly honest and realistic celebration of the most challenging role any woman will face. Think of it as the joy of stepmomming, and the perfect Mother’s Day gift of encouragement and support. Written and illustrated by Cynthia L. Copeland, a stepmother to three boys and author of the bestselling Really Important Stuff My Kids Have Taught Me, THE 312 BEST THINGS ABOUT BEING A STEPMOM is packed with humor, wisdom, empathy, quotes, and testimonials from dozens of stepmothers who have shared their experiences with the author.

So, if being a stepmother seems so often to be a storm cloud, this is the silver lining. For example: People can’t figure out how old you are by the ages of your stepchildren. Or, When they hug you, you know it’s genuine, not out of habit. You didn’t have to agonize over whether to name your stepson after his grandfather, his rich uncle, or your favorite poet. If you ever go ahead and have kids of your own, you’ve had practice. And if you are already a parent: The trip to the warehouse club is finally worth the gas money. Your step-teens will see to it that your younger kids are up on the latest cool music, video games, and cargo pants. Family counsel now has enough people for a house and a senate. And, With so many more participants, there’s a chance that you won’t always get creamed at Scrabble!

Doin One for the Team: Years in the Swinging Lifestyle

Simbaxxx

Amazon Price: $13.99 List Price: $13.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: BookSurge Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 3 new & used starting at $13.07

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> Parenting & Families
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Relationships -> Love & Romance
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Relationships -> Marriage

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Informative and current inside view of Swinging 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

I have now read quite a few of the available books on the swinging lifestyle and rate "Doin One for the Team: Years in the Swinging Lifestyle" with the best of them, along with "A Private Diary: Our First Year in Swinging". These are both very current and written by actual swingers, giving an insiders view of what swinging is really like. Some of the other books on swinging are either written by outsiders (reporting on swinging through secondhand information) or are philosophical or historical in nature, far less useful for those who are curious about what the swinging environment is really like today and who are seeking advice and guidance for potential participation. This book provides insight into the different types of swinging, what swing clubs and swing parties are like, different reasons why people swing, and what you should be prepared for before you take the plunge.

Editorial Review:

Simbaxxx's Doin One for the Team is a fascinating exploration of the swinging lifestyle, as told from a personal perspective, and showing both the good and bad sides of this still vibrant element of social and sexual relationships in America.

Toda Mafalda

Quino, J. Davis

List Price: $54.95 By: De La Flor Amazon Marketplace: 13 new & used starting at $52.64

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> Parenting & Families
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> General
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Es una maravilla 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 10 people found this review helpful.

A mí siempre me ha encantado Mafalda, y ahora a mi hija
de tres años le encanta, a pesar de que no sabe leer!
Este libro es muy bonito y debe de tenerlo si le gusta
Mafalda.

"Mafalda" is a treat that English speaking readers deserve to have... 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 9 people found this review helpful.

This book is a compilation of all "Mafalda"'s comic strips. Who is "Mafalda", you might ask?. Well, she is a very outspoken little girl who isn't afraid to say exactly what she thinks about many subjects, including her parents, politics, ecology and her enormous distaste of soup :)

"Mafalda" was created by Argentine cartoonist Quino (the pseudonym of Joaquin Salvador Lavador), and has been published in Latin America, France, Greece, Italy, China and Portugal. Even though "Mafalda" first appeared in the '60s, most of the stories you will read in this book maintain their edge. A great part of "Mafalda"'s charm is that these comic strips allow us to see many matters from the point of view of a young but highly intelligent girl, who isn't old enough to know that speaking her mind isn't always the right thing to do.

All the same, her candid but highly accurate views on many issues will make you laugh, and think. Young children, teens and adults will interpret her words differently, based on their diverse experiences. But I bet all of them will enjoy this book.

You must take into account, though, that this book is in Spanish. That being the case, you should at least know some Spanish, or be eager to learn it (and there is no better reason to do that than wanting to read "Mafalda"!). What is more, and in case you are not ready to buy a complete edition of "Mafalda"'s comic strips, you can always find a smaller and less expensive edition in Amazon.

All in all, I think that "Mafalda" is a treat that the English speaking readers deserve to have. The language barrier is there, but it can be broken with some effort. Truth to be told, it is worth it. Highly recommended!

Belen Alcat

Dave Barry's Guide to Marriage and/or Sex

Dave Barry

Amazon Price: $11.65 List Price: $12.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Rodale Books Amazon Marketplace: 171 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> Essays
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> Love, Sex & Marriage
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> Parenting & Families

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

No book can guarantee you a long and happy relationship, even if the author didn't know about your secret hygiene problem. But the cover of a book is no place to discuss that. In Dave Barry's Guide to Marriage and/or Sex, one of America's most beloved writers turns his keen, if somewhat rheumy, eye to the institution of marriage.

Dating. "These are nonstereotypical times we live in, by which I mean that it is the responsibility of the woman to think up excuses that get progressively more obvious until the man figures out that the woman would rather chew on a rat pancreas."

Sex. "I'm afraid that we must talk here about sex in a very explicit manner, because we want to expand the Frontiers of Human Understanding, and also we want to sell as many books as possible to adolescent boys."

Marriage. "Most squabbles start with money. For example, you want to buy food, while your spouse wants to buy a thoroughbred racehorse. It's important, in these situations, for both of you to be willing to sit down and try to achieve a workable compromise. In this case, you could buy a thoroughbred racehorse and eat it."

Uncle John's Certified Organic Bathroom Reader

Bathroom Readers' Institute

Amazon Price: $12.95 List Price: $12.95 Not yet published By: Portable Press

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> Parenting & Families
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> General
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> General AAS

Just Wait Till You Have Children of Your Own!

Erma Bombeck

Amazon Price: $6.99 List Price: $6.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Fawcett Amazon Marketplace: 111 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> Essays
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> Parenting & Families
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A great combo 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Pairing Bil Keane (Of "Family Circus" fame) and Erma Bombeck was a stroke of genius. These two work very well together - it's a shame they didn't do more work together.

Of course, the title is the "mother's curse" - if you had a mom, you may remember her using that line on you. I often wonder if that's why some people don't have children.

This book takes you thru "expert" advice - and than shows you how the situation plays out in the real world. If you are a parent of a teen, you may want this book just so you can remember they don't stay teenagers forever (they _don't_ , really - tho sometimes it's hard to believe).

So get this book, find a quiet spot (HA! what's that, the bathroom?) and enjoy - it's cheaper and more fun that psychotherapy.

Editorial Review:

"She goes a long way with her book to prove that humor is the best -- possibly the only -- way to keep the world on an even keel."
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
Remember the things Mother used to say? Erma Bombeck remembers them all and now she's using them on her own kids! With clever illustrations by Bob Keane, these really funny, too-true observations on family and kids and why it shouldn't work but does, is a wonderful antitdote to the daily problems and crises that every family faces. With Erma Bombeck in your corner, laughter is the best coach you can have....

I Shouldn't Have To Scream More Than Once!

Rick Kirkman, Jerry Scott

Amazon Price: $8.76 List Price: $10.95 Usually ships in 2 to 4 weeks By: Andrews McMeel Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 21 new & used starting at $2.48

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Comics & Graphic Novels -> General
Subjects -> Comics & Graphic Novels -> General AAS
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> Parenting & Families

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

If you have an ax to grind, I don't want to hear it. 4 out of 5 stars.
5 of 7 people found this review helpful.

Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott put out a very funny cartoon strip. You don't have to be a parent to enjoy this cartoon, but if you are, it hits close to home more than once. It's also nice watching the kids get older (albeit slowly) in a medium that seldom allows it's characters to age at all.

That being said, if you have some ax to grind about something you hate, don't use this customer review area as your soap box. It makes you sound stupid and it's a waste of peoples time when they are looking for honest reviews. I'm glad people love Calvin and Hobbes and it's too bad Bill Watterson quit, but to compare that strip to Baby Blues, demonstrates a lack of knowledge about this strip. If everyone remembers, Calvin had some "despicable yuppie" parents too. I don't know how anyone can call this strip insidious. This strip is not sneaking up on any unsuspecting reader, spreading it's evil. Come on. And as far as unique jokes go, I guess you could say they're all (including Watterson, when he was doing Calvin) ripping off the late Charles Shultz, but that's not being fair to the cartoonists who do this for a living and try to be funny every day.

So if you bought this book and you loved or hated it, tell me why. If you're just angry, I really don't want to hear from you.

Editorial Review:

In the early days of Baby Blues, Darryl and Wanda were surprised at the unexpected demands of parenting. Now, however, the nonstop antics of their lovably active kids, Zoe and Hamish, keep them hopping. Darryl and Wanda have accepted, and even learned to laugh at, the general upheaval of their lives.

In I Shouldn't Have to Scream More than Once! the MacPhersons continue their quest to raise their two small children. One day, Zoe asserts she needs her mother to teach her how to jump rope--"It's a girl thing," she tells Darryl. Later, Wanda and Darryl are happy their son has gone to the potty himself, until Zoe queries, "Don't you want me to tell you where he went" And Wanda resorts to feeding Hammie on the floor after Zoe spots him picking up old peas. At the MacPherson household, it's all fodder for fun that has a delightful edge of truth for parents the world over.

We Are Experiencing Parental Difficulties...Please Stand By: Baby Blues Scrapbook No.5 (Baby Blues Scrapbook, No 5)

Rick Kirkman, Jerry Scott

Amazon Price: $8.76 List Price: $10.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Andrews McMeel Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 41 new & used starting at $1.18

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Comics & Graphic Novels -> General
Subjects -> Comics & Graphic Novels -> General AAS
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> Love, Sex & Marriage

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Now that baby Zoe is a full-fledged mobile toddler, everyone can sit back and heave a big sigh of AAAAACCCH! The indefatigable MacPhersons are bringing up baby in a wild-eyed, yet true to life.

Darryl and Wanda, a typical stretched-to-the-limit couple, struggled with the demands and joys of first-time parenthood in classics such as Guess Who Didn't Take a Nap? and I Thought Labor Ended When the Baby Was Born. The MacPhersons found parenthood more rewarding and frustrating than they ever expected. Through it all they adapted to this new addition to their lives with aplomb and severe exhaustion.

We Are Experiencing Parental Difficulties... Please Stand By is a Baby Blues collection from creators Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott. In the pair's lovingly realistic way, the book captures the continuing challenges Darryl and Wanda face as Zoe begins to walk, talk, and take over the remote control. It's a natural growing-up progression that Baby Blues fans have watched with rapt interest.

Mothers love the strip because they can relate to Wanda's continued surprise at how her days have changed, from career woman to Mom, especially as she faces the prospects of adding another bundle of joy to the MacPhersons' already busy household. Dads laugh knowingly as Darryl tries to help out and hold down a demanding job. Everyone cherishes the little Zoe for making childhood antics (even the obnoxious ones) so adorable.

Artist Kirkman and writer Scott obviously know about parenting--you can see it in every strip they produce. In this book, they provide another delicious view of life's most precious mixed blessing.

Alexander and the Wonderful, Marvelous, Excellent, Terrific Ninety Days

Judith Viorst

Amazon Price: $16.19 List Price: $19.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Tantor Media Amazon Marketplace: 32 new & used starting at $5.45

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Authors & Illustrators, A-Z -> ( V ) -> Viorst, Judith
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Series -> Classics -> Alexander
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> Love, Sex & Marriage

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Tender and clear-eyed reporting 5 out of 5 stars.
13 of 13 people found this review helpful.

Judith Viorst, prolific author of scads of books - children's, poetry, popular psychology, and others - has returned, this time with an intimate, tender, and truly funny story of the three months that her youngest son Alexander, his wife Marla, and their three small - five, two, and four months - children moved into the big Washington DC Victorian family home, the empty nest of a contented Viorst and her sage husband Milton, while renovations were being done to their own house.

Viorst describes the moving-in, the getting-adjusted, and the myriad changes that five additional people bring to a two-person household. She loves them but it isn't always easy. She holds her tongue. She resists giving helpful advice. She stores the breakables and baby-proofs for real. There are sippy cups, diapering supplies, toys, and brightly-colored clutter where before there had been clean surfaces and carefully-chosen adult things.

Viorst enacts rules, forbidding glue, play-dough and the eating of chocolate on the velvet upholstery. On the other hand, she plays with the kids. She sits on the floor and shows her grandchildren how to build houses of cards. She lovingly admires and respects her daughter-in-law (and of course her son) and baby-sits with gusto.

There are moments of utter poignancy, for example when granddaughter Olivia queries her grandfather as to who he thinks is the prettiest, she or her grandmother. The answer is pure diplomacy, ("Grandma, because she's my wife") though it's painful at the time.

True to herself, she includes sensible and smart observations on marriage and family life along with commentary on today's "hyperparenting" compared to the way she and her husband raised their sons in the 1960's. (Playpens were OK, and, later, they could take any lessons they wanted when they were old enough to ride the bus to and from that lesson).

This is a delightful little book, probably ideal for fans of Viorst and for fans of grandchildren.

- Eileen Galen

Editorial Review:

When Judith's son Alexander announces that he and his entire family would be staying with her and her husband for ninety days while their house was being renovated, Judy finds it to be a magnificent, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity not only to get to know her children and grandchildren a little better than before, but also to reconnect with her husband as they hold hands, close their eyes, and wait patiently for move-out day.

The New Yorker Book of Kids Cartoons

Robert Mankoff, Roz Chast

Amazon Price: $14.93 List Price: $21.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Bloomberg Press Amazon Marketplace: 48 new & used starting at $2.56

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Comics & Graphic Novels -> Graphic Novels -> General
Subjects -> Comics & Graphic Novels -> Graphic Novels -> General AAS
Subjects -> Comics & Graphic Novels -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The world of childhood as seen by the cartoonists of The New Yorker. Childhood is...well, it is amazing—whether we are talking about being a child or raising a child. What better and funnier way could there be to look at the whole shebang than to have the art and wit of a pretty incredible group of former children, the cartoonists of The New Yorker? Just imagine the different perspectives on childhood from artists like Gahan Wilson, George Price, Roz Chast, Jack Ziegler, George Booth, Leo Cullum, William Hamilton, and Edward Koren. Robert Mankoff has culled the best of the hundreds and hundreds of cartoons on kids from the 65,000+ cartoons in The New Yorker's archives. And, as always, he brings us wonderful cartoons and surprises from both famous cartoonists and relative unknowns. As a special bonus, the inimitable Roz Chast introduces this collection. Whether the reader has children or is still a kid at heart, this is child's play!

Includes Cartoons By:
• George Booth • Roz Chast • Leo Cullen • Sam Gross • William Hamilton • BEK (Bruce Eric Kaplan) • Edward Koren • Lee Lorenz • Robert Mankoff • Danny Shanahan • Robert Weber • Gahan Wilson • Jack Ziegler • and more