I still don't have as much time to read as I would like because we have three required reading books from Bradley classes in addition to the articles and student workbook homework but I think I did pretty good considering.
Last Child in the Woods. Richard Louv.
I had heard great things about this book but was disappointed. I agree with his initial premise of the problems that occur when children are isolated from nature but found myself wanting to disagree with him out of spite just because I disliked the second half of the book so much. It was disorganized and repetitive and I really couldn't figure out exactly what he thought the solution was. It was a little bit depressing actually since he didn't seem to think parents, schools or communities could do anything to fix the problem despite the fact that his main evidence in the books seems to be anecdotal evidence showing that they can.
Montessori from the Start. Paula Lillard and Lynn Jesson.
I didn't know much about Montessori until I ran across Sew Liberated a few weeks ago. Meg is a Montessori teacher and new mom and I loved so many of her ideas on how to incorporate Montessori ideas into a baby's environment. This was the one of the only books our library had on Montessori so I snatched it up. It was interesting. Before reading this book I thought about 1/3 of Montessori ideas were awesome , 1/3 were interesting but I didn't have any desire to do them myself and 1/3 were just bad. Those numbers still stand after reading it but what falls into each category is different. It was lacking in practical ideas, I strongly disliked the sections on sleep and the breastfeeding chapter was very outdated but having read some more from other sources, it seems like a lot of other Montessori followers feel the same way about this book and isn't necessarily a reflection on the method, just the book. Even with those negatives though, I did really like a lot of the principles in it, you will just need to be a good shifter to get to the good stuff. I am still very interested in learning more about Montessori and I'm sure I will be talking more about Montessori in the future but I don't think this was the best book to read to learn more about it.
Sane Women's Guide to Raising a Large Family. Mary Ostyn.
I love reading Mary's writing over at Owlhaven and after trying a recipe of hers that we loved, went looking for her cookbook. Alas, our library doesn't have it but it did have this so despite my not having a large family to raise right now, I gave it a try. I'm glad I did because it had a lot of really practical advice even for a new mom like me. I realized that while we may only have one of the way, I want to organize my life in a way that makes adding future children easier. Why set yourself up with a lifestyle that will work with one or two kids but not four or more if you know you want to end up with a lot of kids? I was very convicted about several things. She covers a lot of ground from deciding to expand your family (and what to do if you don't agree) to money, chores and even organized sports and explains how they manage things and why they do so while never sounding judgemental or like her way is the only way.
Ironically, she also mentioned some Montessori ideas but set up in a much more family friendly way. Montessori from the start would want you to teach your child to clean potatoes at a potato cleaning station complete with an expensive child sized table and chair, clear glass bowls and a child sized cleaning device to be used only for potato cleaning while Mary says to get those kids involved by putting them on a chair in front of the sink with a bunch of potatoes and a scrubber while you are cooking dinner. I like her idea better.
Thinking Women's Guide to a Better Birth.
Our Bradley instructor has a great library of books so I've been taking out another Birth/Baby book every week. This was one she recommend to start your birth plan research with and it's is good if you want more extensive information about specific procedures. It is organized into chapters by procedure so you can skip to what is relevant to your situation. It strongly leans towards natural birth though and is very "biased" in the sense that while she gives the pros and cons to each procedure, she also doesn't feel the need to validate options that she feels aren't worthwhile. She tells you where she is coming from at the beginning though and gives you the studies to back her point of view in each section and the quite large appendix though so I didn't have a problem with that.
The Birth Book. Dr. Sears.
A great overall birth book. I wish I had started with this but by the time I read it, I had already read so many others that a lot of it was old news. I think it would be a good gift for a newly pregnant women. Too many of the others books I read were a little intense and picture heavy for me, now I'm used to it and it doesn't' phase me but this would be a good way to ease yourself into the idea of giving birth.
The Vaccine Dilemma. Christine Murphy.
Another bradley teacher loan book. This one wasn't exactly what I was expecting. It's not a book about the pros and cons of vaccines or even a guide to avoiding or delaying vaccines but more of a compilation of essays talking about the immune system overall and how vaccines might impact it's development. The second half then focuses on how to handle childhood illnesses if you go the non-vaccine route. It was a bit weird at times but did offer an unique perspective. I also found the explanation of viruses and the immune system a bit simplified but then again, I've worked with viruses for a while so I have a bit more knowledge of them than the book's intended audience. It was interesting for what it was but I really want to read a book with more comprehensive information about individual vaccines and diseases before we make any decisions. I think I'll try to track down The Vaccine Book. I've heard its one of the few middle of the road books that just presents information without saying either all vaccines are bad or all vaccines are good.
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.
Yes, I did read some fiction this month. It took me a little while to get into the story but once I did, I quite enjoyed myself. This is a murder mystery book for non-murder mystery type readers as it is really more about eleven year old chemistry-loving super sleuth Flavia de Luce living in 1950s England than the murder. Cleverly funny and delightful. I can't wait to get the sequel.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Mary Ann Shafer.
I was a bit annoyed when I noticed it was an epistolary novel since I tend to dislike them but within a few pages I had forgotten all about that. I felt like I could just go back to the 1940s and live on Guernsey Island and be right at home just like Julia did. I'm still amazed that it managed to be both light and fun while not diminishing the hardships of WWII but somehow it did.
Murder in Chinatown and Murder on Bank Street. Victoria Thompson.
I was finally able to continue with the gaslight series! Having read all the ones our old library had (and not in anything close to the correct order :-) I was quite excited to see there were more here although it took me a while to find them. Apparently our new library keeps it's mystery stories in a separate section but does not tell you that on the card catalog so I was very confused as to why it kept telling me that books were checked in but I could not find them anywhere. Now I know. I still have a few more to go before I've exhausted them but that makes me happy. One of my favorite easy reading series.
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