April Book Reviews

Behind Beautiful Forevers: Hmm. I don't have any strong feelings about this book.  It was more interesting having read the afterward about the author's decision and act of living in the slums themselves.  I think perhaps the author picked the wrong genre for the book but it was averagely compelling and readable. Of course the plight of the poor always strikes a tender cord but it wasn't really overly sentimental which is mostly appreciated.

Wonder: I've said it over and over but I just don't enjoy writing that is written for young adults.  That said, this book is really cute and prompted some very important conversations with Lucy about being genuinely kind to people who may be different or left out. I like the switching viewpoints even though I think it is usually the easy way out for any author. It was tender without being too heart-wrenching, which is good because this mother heart can really only hold so much heartache.

I don't normally list all the parenting books I read because I tend to skim and skip and reread parts and when I'm done I have no idea if I have actually read the book. That said I "read" a couple this month worth noting...

Free-range Parenting: So very thought provoking.  I would REALLY like to do this for a book club (which says a lot because in general I hate book clubs).  It made sense but goes against a great many of my own parenting mantras.  And yet I wholly agree with the main point that kids need to feel a sense of accomplishment and confidence and independence by doing some things on their own.  And even though I totally believe that, I just can envision myself ever letting go of Lucy's hand when she crosses the street! I'm so torn after reading this book!

Raising Your Spirited Child:  I know this book has been around for a while and has a lot of critics but I found it interesting. Lucy scored very mild on most of the "spirited" categories except for three in which she scored at the top of the chart: Intensity, Perceptiveness, and Energy.  I found giving a name to her distractedness as perceptiveness has been very helpful for me.  With pinterest and blogs, a lot of the suggestions from the book seemed commonplace because we see such great ideas for kids all the time (sensory bins, water play, pretend play), but I like the idea of pretending to get dressed for a ball used to calm a child down (pretend to wash hair, put on earrings, sipper, stocking) because all the touch will soothe and distract them. I also like the language of picturing leaves inside of us blowing around and picturing the wind stopping and the leaves settling. I'm pretty sure Lucy doesn't even qualify as "spirited" by her definition but just giving me the word "perceptive" was parent changing.