afterbirth: stories you WON’T read in a parenting magazine. Edited by Dani Klein Modisett, $17.99

Afterbirth reveals the unvarnished truth about parenting — how it’s full of idiotic situations, moments of darkness and why I can be dangerous to tell people what you really think about being a parent. Sparing no one — particularly themselves — these contributors are funny, dark and relentlessly honest.

And Baby Makes More: Known Donors, Queer Parents and Our Unexpected Families. Edited by Susan Goldberg & Chlöe Brushwood Rose, $19.95

A quirky, funny, and occasionally heartbreaking collection of personal essays, this book offers an intimate look at the relative risks and unexpected rewards of queer, do-it-yourself baby-making, and the ways in which families are formed in the process. The contributors — donors, biological and non-bio parents, and their children — offer provocative, nuanced insights into what it means to be or to use a known donor, and how queer families are being re-conceived to include new roles, new rules, and kinship ties that transcend biology.

ART FOR BABY: High-Contrast Images by Eleven Contemporary Artists to Explore with Your Child. $22.00

These black and white images created by leading artists, including Keith Harding, Julian Opre and Damien Hirst, are delightful and fun for babies and parents alike.

The Attachment Connection: Parenting a Secure & Confident Child Using the Science of Attachment Theory. Ruth Newton, $21.95

The Attachment Connection sorts out the facts from the fiction about parent-child attachment and shows how paying attention to the emotional needs of your child, particularly during the first five years of development, can help him or her grow up happy, secure, and confident. You'll discover how your child's brain is developing at each stage of growth and learn to use reasonable, easy-to-implement guidelines based on sound science to foster secure attachment, healthy social skills, and emotional regulation in your child.

Babies by Design: the Ethics of Genetic Choice. Ronald Green, $29.50

We stand on the brink of unprecedented growth in our ability to understand and change the human genome. Despite the loud cries of alarm that such a prospect inspires, Ronald Green argues that we will, and we should, undertake the direction of our own evolution. A leader in the bioethics community, Green offers a scientifically and ethically informed view of human genetic self-modification and the possibilities it opens up for a better future. Fears of a terrible Brave New World or a new eugenics movement are overblown, he maintains, and in the more likely future, genetic modifications may improve parents' ability to enhance children's lives and may even promote social justice. Babies by design are assuredly in the future, Green concludes, and by making responsible choices as we enter that future, we can incorporate gene technology in a new age of human adventure.

The Baby Bond: the New Science Behind What’s Really Important When Caring for Your Baby. Linda Folden Palmer, $20.50

Meticulously researched, this authoritative and persuasive guide to attachment parenting reveals the many little-known advantages that only a responsive, nurturing parenting style can provide:

• Surprising evidence on the benefits of breastfeeding
• How attentiveness and touch impacts permanent brain development in infants
• Under-reported facts about how to reduce colic, food allergies, and illness
• Why sharing sleep is both safe and natural

This warmly presented book is a rare overview of information too often missing from parenting circles, pediatric offices, and financially motivated product promotions.

Babyproofing Your Marriage: How to Laugh More and Argue Less As Your Family Grows. Stacie Cockrell, Cathy O'Neill & Julia Stone, $16.25

Babyproofing Your Marriage is the warts-and-all truth about how having children can affect your relationship. The authors' evenhanded approach to both sides of the marital equation allows partners to understand each other in a whole new way. With humor, compassion, and practical advice, the Babyproofers will guide first-time parents and veterans alike around the rocky shores of the early parenting years.

Becoming Dad: Black Men and the Journey to Fatherhood. Leonard Pitts, Jr., $18.50

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Leonard Pitts, Jr. — who himself grew up with an abusive father whose absences came as a relief — interviewed dozens of men across the country. He found discouragement and hope, as well as deep insights into his own roles as son and father. Becoming Dad is an unflinching investigation, both personal and journalistic, of black fatherhood in America. Becoming Dad is a pivotal and profoundly moving book on this desperately important issue.

Becoming a Family: Promoting Healthy Attachments with Your Adopted Child. Lark Eshleman, $19.95

Becoming a Family will help adoptive parents recognize and respond to the signs of broken attachment. This practical guide offers clear and effective strategies for parents to help their children

Best Baby Products 10th Edition. Sandra Gordon & Consumer Reports, $19.95

A-to-Z guide is a trusted source for parents and expectant parents looking to make safe, informed buying decisions.

The Better Way to Breastfeed: the Latest, Most Effective Ways to Feed and Nurture Your Baby with Comfort and Ease. Robin Elise Weiss, $22.95

An innovative visual, step-by-step guide and your go-to-source for authoritative advice and information to support your breastfeeding goals.

The Book of Dads: Essays on the Joys, Perils and Humiliations of Being a Dad. Edited by Ben George, $18.99

A collection of twenty essays about the job no man can ever be truly prepared for – fatherhood. Some are funny, many are poignant but all are the rich with emotion and wisdom.

Breaking the Good Mom Myth: Every Mom's Modern Guide to Getting Past Perfection, Regaining Sanity, and Raising Great Kids. Alyson Schafer, $18.95

As a psychotherapist, parent educator and parent coach, Alyson Schäfer has worked with a great many mothers who, in the quest to be a "good mother" have ended up on the door step of despair. Breaking the Good Mom Myth explains the psycho-social phenomena of how each person creates their own unique "good mother myth" and then examines why these myths are not only faulty, but could in fact lead to poor parenting, marital disaster and individual crisis … Readers uncover their own good mother myths and are given an eye-opening glimpse into potential issues to challenge their thinking. A great sense of empowerment is restored as mothers become better able to resist the pulls of their personal and cultural myths, and instead begin parenting with greater intention and in ways that are more suitable to proper child guidance.

Canadian Family Law, 10th Edition. Malcolm Kronby, $29.95

For more than 30 years, Canadian Family Law has helped readers to understand the legal issues around marriage, co-habitation, separation and divorce, child custody and support, property rights and division of property. Now in its tenth edition, Canadian Family Law provides information on recent developments in family law such as same-sex marriage, alternate dispute resolution and domestic contracts.

The Case for Make Believe: Saving Play in a Commercialized World. Susan Linn, $22.50

In The Case for Make Believe, Harvard child psychologist Susan Linn tells the alarming story of childhood under siege in a commercialized and technology-saturated world.

In an era when toys come from television and media companies sell videos as brain-builders for babies, Linn lays out the inextricable links between play, creativity, and  health, showing us how and why to preserve the space for make believe that children need to lead fulfilling and meaningful lives.

Character Is the Key: How to Unlock the Best in Our Children and Ourselves. Sara Dimerman, $23.95

The character education movement is an incredibly successful and growing phenomenon. When important character attributes like honesty, integrity, and fairness are modeled and taught to kids, they develop an inner compass that continues to guide them in a positive direction.  In Character Is the Key, Sara Dimerman shares proven techniques in a powerful, step-by-step plan that will help you bring your family together, improve communication, and unlock the very best in your children — and yourself.

The Child: an Encyclopedic Companion from Birth through Adolescence. Richard A. Shweder, Editor in Chief, $90.50

The Child: an Encyclopedic Companion offers both parents and professionals access to the best scholarship from all areas of child studies in a remarkable one-volume reference. Bringing together contemporary research on children and childhood from pediatrics, child psychology, childhood studies, education, sociology, history, law, anthropology, and other related areas, The Child contains more than 500 articles—all written by experts in their fields. It is an unparalleled resource for parents, social workers, researchers, educators, and others who work with children.

Child Sense. Priscilla Dunstan, $32.00

Child Sense shows parents of young children how to use the five senses to make sleeping, eating, dressing and other everyday activities easier. Uncovering the secrets of your child’s sensory personality helps parents understand the way their child instinctively reacts to experiences, people, food, smells and more. By discovering the effects of sensory overload, parents can better understand their child’s behavior, communication and learning styles.

C’mon Papa: Dispatches from a Dad in the Dark. Ryan Knighton, $29.95

Becoming a father is a stressful, daunting rite of passage to be sure, but for a blind father, the fears are unimaginably heightened. But this is no pity party, and author Ryan Knighton has no time for sentimentality. Tackling these hurdles with grace and humour, Ryan is determined to do his part - and this is where the fun starts. From holding his daughter as she wails into the night to their first nerve-wracking walk to the cafe, no activity between father and daughter is without its pitfalls. In his struggle to "see" Tess, Ryan re-imagines the relationship between father and child during that first chaotic year.

Connected Parenting: Transform Your Challenging Child and Build Loving Bonds for Life. Jennifer Kolari, $32.00

Connected Parenting offers a unique form of therapeutic parenting based on Kolari's groundbreaking application of the concept of "mirroring," an instinctive process that helps parents bond with their children and promotes optimum growth and development. Kolari's strategy is highly effective for kids of all ages, and has been proven to reduce a child's anxiety, increase self-esteem, and allow children to become more resilient and flexible. With step-by-step advice and examples from Kolari's years of experience, this is an easy-to-follow guide to strengthening the bond between you and your children.

The Council of Dads: My Daughters, My Illness and the Men Who Could Be Me. Bruce Feiler, $24.99

Bruce Feiler was a young father when he was diagnosed with cancer in 2008. He instantly worried what his death might mean for his daughters. Three days later he came up with a stirring idea of how he might give them that voice. He would reach out to six men, from all the passages in his life, and asked them to be present through the passages in his daughters’ lives.

The Council of Dads is the inspiring story of what happened next. Mixing the harrowing tale of his treatment with the uplifting lessons of these men — “Approach the Cow,” “Pack Your Flip-Flops,” “Live the Questions,” “Harvest Miracles” — Feiler’s account is touching, funny, and ultimately a deeply moving account of parenthood, loss, and love.

The Creative Family: How to Encourage Imagination and Nurture Family Connections. Amanda Soule, $23.00

With just the simple tools around you—your imagination, basic art supplies, household objects, and natural materials—you can transform your family life, and have so much more fun!

Perfect for all families, the wide range of projects presented here offers ideas for imaginative play, art and crafts, nature explorations, and family celebrations. This book embraces a whole new way of living that will engage your children’s imagination, celebrate their achievements, and help you to express love and gratitude for each other as a family.

The Cultural Nature of Human Development. Barbara Rogoff, $33.50

Three-year-old Kwara'ae children in Oceania act as caregivers of their younger siblings, but in the UK, it is an offense to leave a child under age 14 years without adult supervision. In the Efe community in Zaire, infants routinely use machetes with safety and some skill, although U.S. middle-class adults often do not trust young children with knives. What explains these marked differences in the capabilities of these children?

Until recently, traditional understandings of human development held that a child's development is universal and that children have characteristics and skills that develop independently of cultural processes. Barbara Rogoff argues, however, that human development must be understood as a cultural process, not simply a biological or psychological one. Individuals develop as members of a community, and their development can only be fully understood by examining the practices and circumstances of their communities.

Dangerous or Safe? Which Foods, Medicines and Chemicals Really Put Your Kids at Risk. Cara Natterson, $32.50 (DVD format, 90 minutes)

There is no doubt that children today are living in an increasingly toxic world. Parents are more worried than ever, and conflicting reports in the media and rumors on the playground can cause even more confusion about which products are perfectly safe and which are harmful, even deadly. Dangerous or Safe provides desperate parents with concrete answers on what foods, chemicals, and medicines pose real danger to kids.

DEPLOYMENT: Strategies for Working with Kids in Military Families. Karen Petty, $34.95 (Ages 1-12)

Military kids face many unique stressors and difficult transitions related to deployment, relocation, separation from loved ones and changes in family structure. Caring for these children requires a clear understanding of the challenges and triumphs military families deal with so that you can offer the best support possible.

Deployment: Strategies for Working with Kids in Military Families is a comprehensive handbook which includes theory-based, practice-driven strategies and curriculum suggestions to help children move forward living full lives. Includes information on how to enhance childcare programs using multiple intelligences theory and the Reggio Emila approach.

The Don't Sweat Guide for Grandparents: Making the Most of Your Time with Your Grandchildren. Foreward by Richard Carlson, $13.99

100 easy-to-do strategies show grandparents how to enjoy their time with their children and grandchildren to the fullest, without giving up time for themselves. Including how to set boundaries, how not to stress out about finances with reduced income, and to avoiding boredom and "retirement blues".  This book is an invaluable help for grandparents who are finding life in their golden years less easy and peaceful than they imagined.

Dude, Where’s Your Helmet? David Duncan, $9.95

What’s YOUR excuse?

E Is for Ethics: How to Talk to Kids About Morals, Values and What Matters Most. Ian James Corlett, $24.99

Teaching your children values, life skills, and ethics can be difficult for many parents.  These 26 simple, clear, original, stories for you to read aloud with your child are fun and entertaining tales that serve a deeper purpose — to teach tact, understanding, and responsibility.

Early Sprouts: Cultivating Healthy Food Choices in Young Children. Carrie Kalich, Dottie Bauer & Deirdre McPartlin, $34.95

Plant lifelong healthy eating concepts in young children with Early Sprouts. This “seed-to-table” approach gets children interested in and enjoying nutritious fruits and vegetables. The Early Sprouts model engages preschoolers in all aspects of planting, preparing, and eating organically grown produce. Find directions for designing and caring for gardens, recipes children can help prepare, and ways to involve the whole family in making healthy food choices. The activities can be tailored to fit any early childhood program, climate, or geographical region. No space for a garden? Many of the benefits of the Early Sprouts program can be achieved in other ways, including visits to a farmer’s market and small-container gardens.

EAT NAP PLAY: How to Get Even More Out of Your Child’s Day for Less. Robyn Spizman & Evelyn Sacks, $18.95

Written by moms for moms, this timely guide centers on back-to-basics philosophies: spend quality time with your kids and spend less money. This is a fun-filled adventure, jam-packed with clever, cost-effective, low-maintenance, often nostalgic ideas you can easily slip into your existing routine. Eat, Nap, Play shows you how to turn everyday mayhem into precious moments to build memories, foster growth, strengthen bonds, and just have fun.

Simple trips to the mall or grocery store transform into treasure troves of adventure:

• Beat boredom in unique and unexpected ways while in the car or on the go
• Find out how to plan the perfect, age-appropriate parties for less
• Get the most out of the latest technology and discover a ton of useful websites along the way
• Plus, unearth cash-free ways for kids to learn, socialize, and grow into independent and resilient people

Emma’s Question. Catherine Urdahl, $9.95 (ages 4-7)

Emma’s grandmother is very sick and needs to stay in the hospital. When Emma comes to visit, she wants to ask her grandmother a very important question – but she’s afraid of what the answer might be.

This simple picture book helps young children address their concerns when a grandparent becomes ill As well it gives adult readers some insight into the emotions and fears illness can raise in children this age.

Encouraging Your Child’s Spiritual Intelligence. Mollie Painton, $17.99

Parents will find guidance and inspiration in Encouraging your Child's Spiritual Intelligence. Dr. Painton's thoughtful quizzes and advice provide added support and insight throughout the book. Adults will rediscover their spiritual connections and become valuable spiritual partners with their children.

Equally Shared Parenting: Rewriting the Rules for a New Generation. Marc and Amy Vachon, $30.00

Equally Shared Parenting arms readers with the tools to create a balanced life that is rarely experienced by the parents of young children-an evolution that goes beyond the involved dad married to the working mom. This is a lifestyle in which couples create their own model as parenting partners, equals and peers. Every couple gets to write the rules that work for them.

Equally Shared Parenting clearly outlines the benefits and challenges of equal parenting, covering everything from child-rearing practices, career, and home, to self, money, and society. It presents both the philosophy behind this lifestyle and the everyday steps needed to achieve and maintain it, regardless of income bracket, lifestyle choices, or profession.

Escaping the Endless Adolescence: How We Can Help Our Teenagers Grow Up Before They Grow Old. Joseph Allen & Claudia Worrell Allen, $29.95

Today’s teens are starved for the lost fundamentals they need to really grow: adult connections and the adult rewards of autonomy, competence, and mastery. Restoring these will help them unlearn their adolescent helplessness and grow into adults who can make you–and themselves–proud. With compelling examples and practical and profound suggestions, Escaping the Endless Adolescence outlines a novel approach for producing dramatic leaps forward in teen maturity.

When Maria Sirois worked on a pediatric oncology ward she was astounded by the children she counseled. They seemed to know intuitively what adults struggle to re-learn — that playing relieves stress; it’s okay to cry; love is not a cure but is a powerful antidote to pain; meaning in life comes not from what happens to us but how we respond; that you should look for ways to make each day special - even if it’s a bad day.

Extreme Motherhood: the Triplet Diaries. Jackie Clune, $16.99

Imagine going for a routine scan, only to be told that you're carrying triplets…

On 22 December 2004, at a routine ultrasound dating scan, Jackie Clune was told just that. Jackie’s first response was a profound desire to punch the radiographer. This is the story of what happened next.

Extreme Parenting: Parenting Your Child with a Chronic Illness. Sharon Dempsey, $21.95

Extreme Parenting is a solid source of support for parents of children with long-term illnesses. The guide is packed with practical advice, models of exploration and lists of action points, and will empower parents to be good advocates for their children. It also provides health professionals with invaluable insights into the demands of living with chronic illness.

Families Like Mine: Children of Gay Parents Tell It Like It Is. Abigail Garner, $16.50

Drawing on a decade of community organizing, and interviews with more than fifty grown sons and daughters of LGBT parents, Abigail Garner addresses such topics as coming out to children, facing homophobia at school, co-parenting with ex-partners, the impact of AIDS, and the children's own sexuality. Both practical and deeply personal, Families Like Mine provides an invaluable insider's perspective for LGBT parents, their families, and their allies.

Families of Value: Personal Profiles of Pioneering Lesbian and Gay Parents. Robert Bernstein, $20.50

Family Activism: Empowering Your Community, Beginning with Family and Friends. Roberto Vargas, $19.95

We live in a world that needs radical transformation if our children and grandchildren are to live healthy, peace-filled lives. But where to start? In this inspiring new book, activist Roberto Vargas says the answer lies surprisingly close: at home, with our closest relationships. In our daily lives we experience countless opportunities to empower, inspire, and support positive change in those around us. In Family Activism Vargas explains how fostering what he calls familia—close, loving connections with our relatives and with those we choose to call family—can help us develop the skills and attitudes we need to tackle broader problems in our community, our nation, and the world.

From Crib to Kindergarten: the Essential Child Safety Guide. Dorothy Drago, $15.50

From Crib to Kindergarten is an essential guide for parents, grandparents, teachers, caregivers and babysitters. Illustration, checklists and critical information are provided on creating safe environments and dealing with daily activities.

Generation Text: Raising Well-Adjusted Kids in an Age of Instant Everything. Michael Osit, $28.95

Generation Text examines the ways in which children’s identities are shaped by the world around them…and how, with an absence of meaningful barriers between impulse and the ability to act on them, parents can help children learn to make intelligent choices and manage the potential overload successfully.

Getting to 50/50: How Working Couples Can Have It All by Sharing It All. Sharon Meers & Joanna Strober, $28.00

After interviewing hundreds of parents and employers, surveying more than a thousand working mothers, and combing through the latest government and social science research, the authors have discovered that kids, husbands, and wives all reap huge benefits when couples commit to share equally as breadwinners and caregivers. The starting point? An attitude shift that puts you on the road to 50/50.

Here are real-world solutions for parents who want to get ahead in their careers and still get to their children’s soccer games; strategies for working mothers facing gender bias in the workplace; advice to fathers new to the home front; and tips for finding 50/50 solutions to deal with issues of money, time, and much more.

Gimme Five! Kid-Friendly Recipes and Tips for Helping Your Child Enjoy Eating Fruits and Vegetables. Nicola Graimes, $20.95

Gimme Five provides an abundance of ingenious and practical suggestions for providing multiple daily servings of fruit and vegetables in your child’s diet. Includes nutrition information along with buying, preparing, cooking and serving tips and a pull-out calendar with stickers so kids can have fun keeping track of their fruit and vegetable intake.

Girls On the Edge: the Four Factors Driving the New Crisis for Girls. Leonard Sax, $29.95

Dr. Sax provides parents with tools to help girls become confident women, along with practical tips on helping your daughter choose a sport, nurturing her spirit through female-centered activities, and more. Compelling and inspiring, Girls on the Edge points the way to a new future for today’s young women.

Good to Go: a Practical Guide to Adulthood. Kim Zarzour & Sharon McKay, $24.00

From acclaimed author Sharon McKay and long-time Star journalist Kim Zarzour—both mothers of teens—comes the indispensable guide for teens and young adults leaving home for the first time. Whether you’ve locked yourself out of your apartment, clogged the drain, need to attend a wedding or funeral, there is no question or concern too trivial for Good to Go to tackle with competence, humour, and respect. It’s Mom in a book!

Green Guide Families: the Complete Reference for Eco-friendly Parents. Catherine Zandonella, Editor,  $26.95

Here’s a guide to eco-friendly parenting that's expertly organized and filled with practical advice, definitive explanations, and imaginative ideas. Addressing the key environmental issues faced by parents of young children today, this book takes a straightforward approach to such urgent concerns as lead-painted toys; the risks and benefits of vaccinations, antibiotics, and vitamins; the potential side effects of plastic bottles and containers; how to manage food allergies and avoid fat- and sugar-filled snacks; and much more.

Healthy Mother, Healthy Child: Creating Whole Families from the Inside Out. Elizabeth Irvine, $21.95

ICU nurse, yoga instructor and mother Elizabeth Irvine offers practical tips and a positive philosophy that will help your entire family build physical and emotional health that will last a lifetime.

Help! We've Got Kids 2010: GTA’s Complete Children's Resource Directory, 16th Annual Edition. Elisa Morton Palter & Shari Wert, with Deborah Beatty & Tracie Wagman, $7.95

This comprehensive, popular annual directory is the definitive resource for listings of children's products, services, activities and programs in the Greater Toronto Area (Oakville to Pickering and Newmarket to the Lake). The 16th edition of this valuable guide to living with kids in the GTA has over 2000 updated listings and thousands of dollars in coupons. This is a "must have" for parents of children up to age 16.

Helping Baby Sleep: the Science and Practice of Gentle Bedtime Parenting. Anni Gethin & Beth Macgregor, $19.99

Child development specialists (and mothers) Anni Gethin and Beth Macgregor challenge the wisdom of the popular “cry it out” philosophy and instead advocate a responsive parenting approach during the day and at night. Mining the latest scientific research, the authors show parents how to practice gentle bedtime techniques that respect a baby’s neurological and emotional development. With this supportive, empowering guide, readers will:

• Learn why babies wake at night and need help to settle
• Understand how early parenting choices affect a baby’s growing brain
• Examine why “sleep training” is risky, both in the short and long terms
• Discover how to create an effective sleep routine and safe sleeping environment
• Explore common baby sleep problems and how to cope with them
• Find out how tired moms and dads can build a support system (and stay sane)

Sensitive, responsive parenting establishes a powerful bond between baby and parent--a connection that lays the foundation for healthy emotional and psychological development. Filled with scientific evidence, stories from parents, and testaments from infant mental health authorities, Helping Baby Sleep gives conscientious moms and dads the insight and practical tools to help their babies thrive.

Home Game: an Accidental Guide to Fatherhood. Michael Lewis, $17.50

Many of the books written for fathers seem to suggest the only way to engage a man in reading about pregnancy or parenthood is to “dumb down” the material, trying to engage men through juvenile humour and manual-like instructions.

Home Game is a smart book, written by a smart man (New York Times best-selling author of Moneyball and The Blind Side.) The book is funny — hilarious at times — but it is also honest, intelligent and utterly unsparing in Lewis’ accounts of the feelings which took him by surprise as he grew into fatherhood.

This is a marvelous look at the difference between the idea of fatherhood and a man’s actual experience of it.

In youth sports, the pressure to win often overshadows the desire to have fun and to develop skills. Sports injuries are increasing and aggression between kids, parents, and coaches is a problem in every sport. Most books on child and youth sports are written by men and do not address concerns specific to mothers. Home Team Advantage empowers mothers to confidently step up and assume whatever role they choose — spectator, mediator, administrator, coach, fund-raiser, or team mom and to confidently address some of the issues preventing their kids from enjoying sports.

Home Team Advantage is full of constructive, practical, and forward-thinking advice to help mothers understand the critical role they can play in putting the words fun, game, and play back into youth sports.

How to Bury a Goldfish and Other Ceremonies and Celebrations for Everyday Life. Virginia Lang & Louise Nayer, $18.95

Featuring a host of celebration ideas, this remarkable guide addresses more conventional occasions, like holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, family dinnertime and nighttime prayer, as well as more unique experiences, like a teen’s first job, a women’s midlife journey, and moving an elder into assisted living. Through the art of simple ritual and ceremony, How to Bury a Goldfish allows readers to slow down, sit in silence and savor all of the precious moments that enrich our daily lives.

How to Make Love to a Plastic Cup: a Guy’s Guide to the World of Infertility. Greg Wolfe, $15.99

The man’s guide to anything and everything in the infertility universe, How to Make Love to a Plastic Cup answers men’s most pressing questions about infertility treatments.

How to Raise a Drug-Free Kid: The Straight Dope for Parents. Joseph Califano, $19.99

How to Raise a Drug-Free Kid offers advice and information on how to prepare your child for the crucial decision-making moments and on many of the most daunting parenting topics such as when to talk to your kids about drugs and alcohol; how to respond when kids ask “Did you do drugs”; how to know when your child is most at risk and how to prepare your teen for the freedoms and perils of college.

How to Stop Thumbsucking and Other Oral Habits: Practical Solutions for Home and Therapy. Pam Marshalla, $22.50

When children suck a thumb, finger or pacifier too long it can affect their speech, teeth, swallowing and appearance. How to Stop Thumbsucking is a practical guide to the most effective strategies used by speech therapists today.

I'd Trade My Husband for a Housekeeper: Loving Your Marriage after the Baby Carriage. Trisha Ashworth & Amy Nobile, $24.95

“A frank, yet encouraging look at marriage post-tots, I'd Trade My Husband for a Housekeeper examines the challenges of modern parenthood for married couples today and extends a loving hand so that mothers can step out of the madness, make the most of what they have, and learn to love their marriages as much as they love their husbands and kids.”

The iConnected Parent: Staying Close to Your Kids in College (and Beyond) While Letting Them Grow Up. Barbara Hofer & Abigail Sullivan Moore, $28.99

In our speed-dial culture, parents and kids are now more than ever in constant contact. Communicating an average of thirteen times a week, parents and their college-age kids are having a hard time letting go.

Until recently, students handled college on their own, learning life's lessons and growing up in the process. Now, many students turn to their parents for instant answers to everyday questions. And Mom and Dad are not just the Google and Wikipedia for overcoming daily pitfalls; Hofer and Moore have discovered that some parents get involved in unprecedented ways, phoning professors and classmates, choosing their child's courses, and even crossing the lines set by university honor codes with the academic help they provide. Hofer and Moore offer practical advice, from the years before college through the years after graduation, on how parents can stay connected to their kids while giving them the space they need to become independent adults.

In Our Mothers’ House. Patricia Polacco, $20.00 (ages 8 and up)

Here is a story of a home full of love and the passage of time.

Instinctive Parenting: Trusting Ourselves to Raise Good Kids. Ada Calhoun, $27.99

Everyone wants to do what's best for his or her child, yet the fact is there is no universal "best.". What does matter is providing the few absolute essentials (love, food, shelter) while teaching your little one how to be a kind, responsible human being. With its compelling mix of entertaining, hilarious firsthand accounts and refreshing common sense, Instinctive Parenting will show you how to do that -  and even show you how to retain your sanity, your friends, your sense of humor, and your personal life in the process.

It’s Time to Give Up Your Pacifier. Lawrence Shapiro, Illustrated by Hideko Takahashi, $9.95

It’s Time to Sleep in Your Own Bed. Lawrence Shapiro, Illustrated by Hideko Takahashi, $9.95

Follow Alex as he struggles with his feelings about sleeping in his room and finally learns to sleep all by himself in his own bed.

It’s Time to Sit Still in Your Own Chair. Lawrence Shapiro, Illustrated by Hideko Takahashi, $9.95

It’s Time to Start Using Your Words. Lawrence Shapiro, Illustrated by Hideko Takahashi, $9.95

Child psychologist Lawrence Shapiro has written these engaging and understanding stories to will help children through some difficult transitions.

The Journey to Parenthood: Myths, Reality and What Really Matters. Diana Lynn Barnes & Leigh Balber, $42.50

New and expectant parents need support and confidence. The Journey to Parenthood is designed to provide that. It assists in exploring and analyzing thoughts and feelings about childbirth and being a parent. This book is about being realistic. It draws on the experiences of many parents from a wide range of backgrounds, to look at the different perceived expectations and cultural pressures imposed on new and expectant parents. It is full of helpful guidance to lead parents towards discovering the role that is right for them. Highly recommended for parents, health and social care professionals, therapists and counselors.

The Joy of Family Traditions: a Season-by-Season Companion to Celebrations, Holidays and Special Occasions. Jennifer Trainer Thompson, $21.00

The Joy of Family Traditions offers more than 400 fresh ideas and creative approaches to cultivating birthday, anniversary, holiday, and other rite-of-passage and seasonal traditions that strengthen personal bonds and reflect a family's individual style, spirituality, and values. This wonderful book:

• Inspires and instructs families on how to create, personalize, adapt, and preserve relevant traditions that reflect how we live today.
• Explores the historical, cultural, and often quirky origins of holidays, customs, and milestones, both uncommon and familiar.
• Includes holidays, holy days, annual events, once-in-a-lifetime occasions, and personal celebrations.

Just Like Family. Tasha Blaine, $33.95

Inside the lives of Nannies, the parents they work for and the children they love.

Kids Are Worth It: Raising Resilient, Responsible, Compassionate Kids, Revised 2010. Barbara Coloroso, $22.00

Barbara Coloroso delivers a powerful message that good parenting begins by treating kids with dignity and respect, giving them a sense of power in their own lives and offering them opportunities to make decisions, take responsibility for their actions and to learn from their mistakes. Rejecting the quick-fix solutions of punishment and rewards, Coloroso shows how to use the very stuff of family life to help you guide your children to become self-disciplined, responsible, resilient and compassionate human beings.

Labours of Love: Canadians Talk about Adoption. Deborah Brennan, $28.99

Labours of Love chronicles the journeys of Canadians connected through adoption. While each account is unique, there are undeniable commonalities in these stories from birthparents adoptive parents and adoptees.

Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. Richard Louv, $18.95

As children’s connections to nature diminish and the social, psychological, and spiritual implications become apparent, new research shows that nature can offer powerful therapy for such maladies as depression, obesity, and attention deficit disorder. In Last Child in the Woods, Louv talks with parents, children, teachers, scientists, religious leaders, child-development researchers, and environmentalists who recognize the threat and offer solutions. Louv shows us an alternative future, one in which parents help their kids experience the natural world more deeply — and find the joy of family connectedness in the process.

Let’s Go Outside! Jennifer Ward, illustrated by Susie Ghahremani, $17.95

Let’s Go Outside offers a range of activities perfect for fun in the city, the country and everything in between. Get outside and run, jump, play, explore, dance, hike or camp with your pre-teen and engage your child in outdoor activities and projects that will get the whole family closer to nature.

Liking the Child You Love: Build a Better Relationship with Your Kids, Even When They’re Driving You Crazy. Jeffrey Bernstein, $18.95

Many parents don’t realize how their own thoughts, rather than their children’s behavior, can cause emotional upheaval, often leading to poor communication, favoritism, lowered expectations, and overly harsh punishments. In Liking the Child You Love, Bernstein shows how to tame these toxic thought patterns. From avoiding the ‘Always or Never Trap’ to overcoming ‘Emotional Overheating’, the book features proven strategies for improving kids’ behavior and creating a closer relationship—just by changing one’s own mind.

The Lucky Ones: Our Stories of Adopting Children from China. Edited by Ann Rauhala, foreword by Jan Wong, $19.95

Since the late 1980s, as many as 7,000 Chinese-born girls have been adopted annually and now live in the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe. The story of these children is a compelling narrative of hope and optimism but it may also become a story of dislocation and crisis of identity. The memoirs collected in The Lucky Ones grapple with this odd destiny with insight, compassion, humour and above all, love.

Me to We: Finding Meaning in a Material World. Craig Kielburger & Marc Kielburger, $18.99

“For everyone who has ever yearned for a better life and a better world, Craig and Marc Kielburger share a blueprint for personal and social change that has the power to transform lives, one act at a time. Me to We is an approach to life that leads us to recognize what is truly valuable, make new decisions about the way we want to live, and re-define the goals we set for ourselves and the legacy we want to leave. Above all, it creates new ways of measuring happiness, meaning, and success in our lives, and makes sure these elusive goals are attainable at last.”

The Milestones Project: Celebrating Childhood around the World. Photography by Richard Steckel & Michele Steckel, $15.99 (Includes essays by J.K. Rowling, Cynthia Rylant, Eric Carle, and more)

A best friend. A lost tooth. A first day of school. In engaging photos and text, this book highlights the milestones shared by children everywhere.

In addition to original writings from some of today's best-known children's authors and illustrators The Milestones Project comes packaged with a growth chart uniquely designed to track a child's physical growth as well as their development into an ethical human being. Stickers included with the book can be placed on the chart to encourage children toward their goals: "I told the truth." "I kept a promise." "I shared my toys."

Mind in the Making: the Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs. Ellen Galinsky, $21.99

There are hundreds of books that give parents advice on everything from weaning to toilet training, from discipline to nutrition. But in spite of this overwhelming amount of information, there is very little research-based advice for parents on how to raise their children to be well rounded and achieve their full potential, helping them learn to take on life's challenges, communicate well with others, and remain committed to learning. These are the "essential life skills" that Ellen Galinsky has spent her career pursuing, through her own studies and through decades of talking with more than a hundred of the most outstanding researchers in child development and neuroscience. The good news is that there are simple everyday things that all parents can do to build these skills in their children for today and for the future. They don't cost money, and it's never too late to begin.

The Mindful Child. Susan Kaiser Greenland, $19.99

How to help your kid manage stress and become happier, kinder and more compassionate.

MIXED: Portraits of Multicultural Kids. Kip Fulbeck, $23.95

This joyful collection reflects the voices and faces of mixed race children, and celebrates family, individuality and identity.

A Moment’s Peace: a Mom’s Guide to Creating Calm Amidst the Chaos. Elizabeth Irvine, $21.95

Designed for those who may only have 10 minutes a day to call their own, this guide provides busy moms with the needed skills and techniques to create their own sense of peace and face daily challenges from a calm and grounded place. Maintaining that well-being comes from the inside, the guide teaches mothers to look at life with fresh eyes and to empower themselves to change the way they respond to their often chaotic and stressful environments. The step-by-step plans incorporate a series of relaxation techniques, hints for developing meaningful family rituals, instructions for gentle but powerful breathing, and body awareness skills that lay the groundwork for the development of peaceful moments that eventually lead to a life of steady, grounded calm.

Through her experience as an ICU nurse, mother of three, yoga instructor and author, Elizabeth Irvine believes we can create a healthier, happier way of being from the inside out and raise families who care—about themselves, about each other, and about the world around them.

Moving with Kids: 25 Ways to Ease Your Family’s Transition to a New Home. Lori Collins Burgan, $11.95

Before you pack the boxes and hire a moving van, help make your family’s next move a positive experience with this helpful collection of experiences from families who have moved many times. Whether you are moving across town or across the world, Lori Collins Burgan offers practical advice that will make the changes more exciting and less scary for children — and their parents.

My Child Is Gay: How Parents React When They Hear the News. Bryce McDougall, $21.95

A collection of parents' honest and revealing responses to the news their child is gay, My Child is Gay is a compilation of letters written by parents. The letters have been written to be shared — both to help parents come to term with their feelings, and for gay men and women who are contemplating sharing the truth. Together these letters reaffirm the regenerative power of love and allow those with first hand experience to outline the important steps on the road to understanding.

And Nanny Makes Three: Mothers and Nannies Tell the Truth about Work, Love, Money and Each Other. Jessika Auerbach, $29.95

Jessika Auerbach explores the complex and unique interactions between families and nannies. By presenting both perspectives, she gives a balanced view of this highly complicated, often emotionally charged relationship. Looking at issues of race and racism, class, power, sex, parental insecurities and guilt, Auerbach opens a dialogue that needs to be heard.

Nature’s Playground: Activities, Crafts and Games to Encourage Children to Get Outdoors. Fiona Danks & Jo Schofeld, $21.95

This wonderful book leads parents, teachers and children through fields, across streams, and over mountains. From making a dam with sticks and stones to cairn lanterns on the beach at night, Nature’s Playground is packed with activities, games, crafts and adventures that will bring children outdoors for year-round fun and bring back memories of one of the chief joys of childhood for adults – exploring the natural world.

New Father’s Survival Guide. Martyn Cox, $18.95

An informative and insightful overview of what new dads can expect before, during and after baby arrives.

New Medicine Complete Family Health Guide. Annabel Karmel, $8.99

Integrating complementary, alternative and conventional medicine, this is a comprehensive and balanced guide to the best treatments for you and your family.

No Child Should Grieve Alone. Emilio Parga, $19.95

A guide for parents, caregivers and professionals.

NurtureShock: New Thinking about Children. Po Bronson & Ashley Merryman, $29.99

In a world of modern, involved, caring parents, why are so many kids aggressive and cruel? Where is intelligence hidden in the brain, and why does that matter?  Why do cross-racial friendships decrease in schools that are more integrated? If 98% of kids think lying is morally wrong, then why do 98% of kids lie?  What's the single most important thing that helps infants learn language?

NurtureShock is a groundbreaking collaboration between award-winning science journalists Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman. They argue that when it comes to children, we've mistaken good intentions for good ideas. With impeccable storytelling and razor-sharp analysis, they demonstrate that many of modern society's strategies for nurturing children are in fact backfiring — because key twists in the science have been overlooked.

Nothing like a parenting manual, the authors' work is an insightful exploration of themes and issues that transcend children's (and adults') lives.

One Big Happy Family: 18 Writers Talk about Open Marriage, Mixed Marriage, Polyamory, Househusbandry, Single Motherhood and Other Realities of Truly Modern Love.  Edited by Rebecca Walker, $20.00

An illuminating and provocative immersion into the modern family, celebrating love in all its diversity and complexity, with essays by ZZ Packer, Dan Savage, Neal Pollack, Min Jin Lee, asha bandele and more.

101 Ways to Tell Your Child “I Love You”. Vicki Lansky, $12.95

Letting your children know they are cherished is the gift that lasts a lifetime.

Only Child: Writers on the Singular Joys and Solitary Sorrows of Growing Up Solo. Edited by Deborah Siegel & Daphne Uviller, $13.95

“Whether you’re an only child, the partner or spouse of an only, a parent pondering whether to stop at one, or a curious sibling, Only Child offers a look behind the scenes and into the hearts of twenty-one smart and sensitive writers as they reveal the truth about growing up solo.”

Organic Baby: Simple Steps for Healthy Living. Kimberly Rider, $31.95

Interior designer and new mother Kimberly Rider offers parents dozens of solutions that fit their priorities and their lifestyle—and their budget. From cribs to bubble bath to baby's first foods, Rider highlights health concerns, navigates the range of available products, and guides the way to safe and appealing choices. Colorful photos, smart tips and guidelines, and tabbed sections make this an inspirational and practical handbook.

Overcoming School Anxiety: How to Help Your Child Deal with Separation, Tests, Homework, Bullies, Math Phobia, and Other Worries. Diane Peters Mayer, $18.95

School should be rewarding, not terrifying. This unique guide shows parents how to make their child's learning experience a positive one.

Filled with real-life examples as well as proven advice for working with teachers, principals, and counselors, this is the only comprehensive guide that will enable every parent to help a child cope, build confidence, and succeed in school.

Parenting a Child Who Has Intense Emotions: Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills to Help Your Child Regulate Emotional Outbursts & Aggressive Behaviors. Pat Harvey & Jeanine Penzo, $21.95

When your child has problems regulating his or her emotions, there's no hiding it. Children with intense emotions go from 0 to 100 in seconds and are prone to frequent emotional and behavioral outbursts that leave parents feeling bewildered and helpless.

Parenting a Child Who Has Intense Emotions is an effective guide to de-escalating your child's emotions and helping your child express feelings in productive ways. You'll learn strategies drawn from dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), including mindfulness and validation skills, and practice them when your child's emotions spin out of control. This well-researched method for managing emotions can help your child make dramatic emotional and behavioral changes that both of you will be proud of.

Parenting Your Anxious Child with Mindfulness and Acceptance. Christopher McCurry, $20.95

A powerful new approach to overcoming fear, panic and worry using acceptance and commitment therapy.

The Parent’s Guide to Family-Friendly Work: Finding the Balance Between Employment and Enjoyment. Lori Long, $18.95

Work and family are often opposing forces that cause stress and conflict for parents. The demands of work spill over into family life, while personal responsibilities create hurdles in succeeding at your job. However, you can solve this problem—and this book can help. Packed with helpful tips, success stories, and resources, The Parent’s Guide to Family-Friendly Work is a must-have for any parent who wants to take control and find more family time.

A Parent’s Guide to Raising Grieving Children: Rebuilding Your Family after the Death of a Loved One. Phyllis Silverman & Madelyn Kelly, $19.95

A comprehensive, thoughtful and commonsense book, A Parent’s Guide to Raising Grieving Children offers a wealth of solace, sound advice and hope.

Parents’ Lives, Children’s Needs: Working Together for Everyone’s Well-Being. Beth Roy, $18.95

Children grow up naturally, but parenting, in Beth Roy’s words, is a “learned activity”. In Parents’ Lives, Children’s Needs, Roy describes the developmental challenges facing parents at each stage of their child’s growth and offers concrete advice for a humane and gentle approach to parenting, that promotes growth and support for every member of the family.

Partnership Parenting: How Men and Women Parent Differently — Why It Helps Your Kids and Can Strengthen Your Marriage. Kyle Pruett & Marsha Kline Pruett, $20.00

Partnership Parenting offers couples distinctly balanced ways to deal with everyday situations, from bedtime and feeding to discipline and schooling.  With wisdom and humour, the authors help you and your partner take advantage of your individual strengths to stay connected, improve your relationship and confidently raise children together.

The Philosophical Baby: What Children’s Minds Tell Us about Truth, Love and the Meaning of Life. Alison Gopnik, $29.95

For most of us, having a baby is the most profound, intense, and fascinating experience of our lives. Now scientists and philosophers are starting to appreciate babies, too. The last decade has witnessed a revolution in our understanding of infants and young children. Scientists used to believe that babies were irrational, and that their thinking and experience were limited. Recently, they have discovered that babies learn more, create more, care more, and experience more than we could ever have imagined. And there is good reason to believe that babies are actually smarter, more thoughtful, and even more conscious than adults.

This new science holds answers to some of the deepest and oldest questions about what it means to be human. A new baby’s captivated gaze at her mother’s face lays the foundations for love and morality. A toddler’s unstoppable explorations of his playpen hold the key to scientific discovery. A three-year-old’s wild make-believe explains how we can imagine the future, write novels, and invent new technologies. Alison Gopnik — a leading psychologist and philosopher, as well as a mother — explains the groundbreaking new psychological, neuroscientific, and philosophical developments in our understanding of very young children, transforming our understanding of how babies see the world and in turn promoting a deeper appreciation for the role of parents.

Piece by Piece: Stories About Fitting Into Canada. Teresa Toten, $20.00

This new anthology features stories by some of Canada's finest authors who were born in another country and who went through the experience of trying to "fit in." From the shock of first impressions to the first stirrings of "becoming Canadian" and what that meant to them, this collection speaks of a powerful desire to be accepted, to feel at home.

Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination and Invigorates the Soul. Stuart Brown, $20.00

From a leading expert, a groundbreaking book on the science of play, and its essential role in fueling our intelligence and happiness throughout our lives. A fascinating blend of cutting-edge neuroscience, biology, psychology, social science, and inspiring human stories of the transformative power of play, this book proves why play just might be the most important work we can ever do.

The Practical Guide to Weekend Parenting. Doug Hewitt, $22.95

Whether you are divorced, separated, or simply working during the week, it's getting harder and harder to have one-on-one time with your children, much less plan for weekend play-time. Instead of turning on the television and walking away, there's now an easy way to take charge and teach, strengthen your parent-child ties, and have fun with your kids, and all at the same time.

The Preschooler Problem Solver: Tackling Tough and Tricky Transitions with Your Two to Five Year Old. Carol Baicker-McKee, $21.95

Learn to make the most of these magical years by helping your child successfully negotiate new situations and to manage their expectations — and yours!

A Question of Commitment: Children’s Rights in Canada. R. Brian Howe & Katherine Covell, editors, $42.95

In 1991, the Government of Canada ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, requiring governments at all levels to ensure that Canadian laws and practices safeguard the rights of children. A Question of Commitment: Children’s Rights in Canada (2007) is the first book to assess the extent to which Canada has fulfilled this commitment. Contributors explore child poverty, child care, corporal punishment, sexual exploitation, youth justice and the participation rights of children. They also examine the situation of special populations – Aboriginal children, children and youth in care, the homeless, refugee children and children with disabilities.

Race: a History Beyond Black and White. Marc Aronson, $21.99 (ages 12 and up)

Historian Marc Aronson traces the history of racial prejudice in Western culture back to ancient Sumer and beyond. He shows us Greeks dividing the world into the civilized and the barbarian; medieval men writing about the traits of monstrous men and Enlightenment scientists scrapping all those mythologies and to come up with a new one: charts that spell out the traits of human races.

Aronson's journey of discovery yields many surprising discoveries. Illustrated with over one hundred images, this is a dynamic, thought-provoking work.

Raising Baby Green: the Earth-Friendly Guide to Pregnancy, Childbirth and Baby Care. Alan Greene, et al, $19.99

In this illustrated and easy-to-use guide, noted pediatrician Dr. Alan Greene, a leading voice of the green baby movement, advises parents how to make healthy green choices for pregnancy, childbirth, and baby care—from feeding your baby the best food available to using medicines wisely. Consumer advocate Jeanette Pavini includes information for making smart choices and applying green principles to a whole new universe of products from zero-VOC paints for the nursery, to pure and gentle lotions for baby’s delicate skin, to the eco-friendly diapers now in the marketplace, as well as specific recommendations for hundreds of other products.

Raising Twins after the First Year. Karen Gottesman, $21.50

Everything you need to know about bringing up twins, from toddlers to preteens.

Reading Together: Everything You Need to Know to Raise a Child Who Loves to Read. Diane Frankenstein, $18.50

This engaging guide shares advice for parents, teachers, librarians, and caregivers on how to help children find what to read, and then through conversation, how to find meaning and pleasure in their reading. With more than 100 great book recommendations for kids from Pre-K through grade six, as well as related conversation starters, Reading Together offers a winning equation to turn children into lifelong readers.

The Role of the Father in Child Development. Edited by Michael Lamb, $114.00

The definitive reference on the importance role fathers play in child development today.

From pre-trip planning to dealing with challenges along the way, The Rough Guide to Travel with Babies and Young Children is the ultimate comprehensive guide to hassle-free family travel … The guide comes complete with listings of resources, websites and further reading, plus handy checklists, first-hand stories and advice from travel industry experts and parents who’ve been there and done it.

The Safe Baby: a Do-It-Yourself Guide to Home Safety and Healthy Living. Debra Smiley Holtzman, $19.95

This comprehensive, readable book tells you how to make your home and environment safe for kids. This expanded, revised edition includes:

• Latest up-to-date-information on baby safety
• How to select safer toys
• Expanded section on selecting green products
• Tips on choosing the safest fish to eat
• How to buy safe baby care supplies

The Secret Lives of Teen Girls: What Your Mother Wouldn’t Talk about But Your Daughter Needs to Know. Evelyn Resh, $18.95

In The Secret Lives of Teen Girls, Evelyn Resh — a certified nurse-midwife, sexuality counselor, and mother to a teenage daughter — explores the provocative world of female adolescent sexuality. Resh explains how developing a sexual identity — often without adult guidance or a basic knowledge of what is happening physically and emotionally — can have lifelong effects on a girl’s well-being.

In this insightful book, Resh confronts serious issues of adolescence, including sex, eating disorders, and substance abuse; as well as less serious but still troubling issues like battles with parents over clothing and curfews, the importance of being “cool,” and the complexity of friendships. Drawing from both her professional and personal experiences, Resh shares with us revealing, humorous, and occasionally surprising anecdotes that parents of teenage daughters everywhere will relate to.

73 Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep. Ann Treistman, $17.95

As every exhausted new parent knows it takes a full bag of tricks to get more than three consecutive hours of shut-eye from your little bundle of joy. So Ann Treistman—herself the mother of two—compiled 73 simple techniques for sending your infant off to Dreamland. These baby-tested tips will be manna from heaven to sleep-deprived moms and dads. Designed for definite gift appeal, 73 Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep is illustrated with beautiful color photos of slumbering babies.

Shared Parenting: Raising Your Children Cooperatively After Separation. Jill Burrett & Michael Green, $19.99

This practical book provides straightforward advice to parents facing separation who wish to pursue the shared parenting approach. The authors emphasize the importance of children having significant time with both parents, allowing them to maintain meaningful relationships. By presenting the benefits and challenges, debunking the myths, giving practical tips on communication between the two households, and providing concrete tools to aid in creating parenting plans, this book steers parents past their personal feelings toward a successful resolution that is in everyone’s best interest.

She Looks Just Like You: a Memoir of (Nonbiological Lesbian) Motherhood. Amie Klempnauer Miller, $30.95

After ten years of talking about children, two years of trying to conceive, and one shot of donor sperm for her partner, Amie Miller was about to become a mother. Or something like that. Part love story, part comedy, part quest, She Looks Just Like You is a candid memoir and a much-needed cultural roadmap to what it means to become a parent, even when the usual categories do not fit.

For parents concerned about their child's growth, this authoritative resource presents comprehensive information to reassure and guide them in seeking help. Two of America's leading pediatric endocrinologists present reliable guidance on the diagnosis and treatment of growth disorders, from helping parents determine whether their child's height is normal to understanding when it's necessary to seek the advice of a specialist. Parents will also learn about the role of genetics, nutrition, and hormones in their child's growth as well as medical conditions that cause short stature. The Short Child includes current research on treatment; including the controversial use of growth hormone, so you and your physician can decide what's right for your child.

Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier and More Secure Kids. Kim John Payne, $29.95

Simplicity Parenting teaches parents how to worry less — and how to enjoy more. For those who want to slow their children’s lives down but don’t know where to start, Payne offers both inspiration and a blueprint for change. By doing less and trusting more, parents can create a sanctuary that nurtures children’s identity, well-being, and resiliency as they grow — slowly — into themselves. A manifesto for protecting the grace of childhood, Simplicity Parenting is an eloquent guide to bringing new rhythms to bear on the lifelong art of parenting.

Slow Death by Rubber Duck: How the Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Life Affects Our Health. Rick Smith & Bruce Lourie, $19.95

Funny, thought-provoking, and incredibly disturbing, Slow Death by Rubber Duck reveals that just the living of daily life creates a chemical soup inside each of us. Pollution is no longer just about belching smokestacks and ugly sewer pipes — now, it’s personal.

The most dangerous pollution has always come from commonplace items in our homes and workplaces. Smith and Lourie ingested and inhaled a host of things that surround all of us all the time. This book exposes the extent to which we are poisoned every day of our lives. For this book, over the period of a week — the kind of week that would be familiar to most people — the authors use their own bodies as the reference point and tell the story of pollution in our modern world, the miscreant corporate giants who manufacture the toxins, the weak-kneed government officials who let it happen, and the effects on people and families across the globe.

Ultimately hopeful, the book empowers readers with some simple ideas for protecting themselves and their families, and changing things for the better.

Sneaky Fitness: Fun, Foolproof Ways to Slip Fitness into Your Child's Everyday Life. Missy Chase Lapine & Larysa Didio, $25.00

Sneaky strategies for fitting in more exercise and calorie-burning activities into their child’s daily routine, including:

• Age-appropriate exercises and games to get any resistant little exerciser up and moving (with targeted chapters for preschoolers, grade-school kids and ‘tweens)
• Tips on specific toys and games that encourage exercise
• More healthy (and sneaky) recipes for fueling newly-active kids

Stay Close: 40 Clever Ways to Connect with Kids When You’re Apart. Tenessa Gemelke, $11.95

How do you keep up with your son’s interests when you’re a hundred miles away? What can you do to express your love to a granddaughter you rarely see? How can you make sure a young person grows up happy and healthy even when you’re not physically there? When you’re away from a young person you love, concerns like these can make the distance seem insurmountable. Stay Close: 40 Clever Ways to Connect with Kids When You’re Apart offers adults fun and creative solutions for nurturing long-distance relationships with kids. This new resource uses activities, real-life anecdotes, and helpful tips to show adults how easy it is to bridge the physical (and generational) gap. Whether you’re 200 or 2000 miles apart, Stay Close will keep your young person just a heartbeat away.

Table for Eight: Raising a Large Family in a Small-Family World. Meagan Francis, $18.00

Smart strategies for the larger-than-average family.

Despite the growing number of larger families — including blended families and a rise in multiple births — contemporary cultural expectations are geared toward two-child families. In Table for Eight: Raising a Large Family, Meagan Francis offers advice, encouragement, and tips for living for families with three or more children.

Take Your Temperament! A Workbook for Parents and Children. Nanci Burns & Nancy Rubenstein, $25.00

Temperament is at the core of how we see and respond to our world … it is the significant reason that children act differently even within the same family — in spite of having the same parents, culture and environment. Individual differences in temperament among family members can also be a major factor in making family life positive … or stressful.

This workbook is designed to be a fun, interactive opportunity for you and your children to get to know each other better in an engaging and meaningful way. It invites parents and children to explore how they react to the world – and to do so without guilt or shame.

A Tale of Two Daddies. Vanita Oelschlager, illustrated by Kristin Blackwood & Mike Blanc, $9.95

Beautifully illustrated and fun, A Tale of Two Daddies is a little love story about a girl and her Daddy and Poppa.

Talk About Anything with Your Kids: an Easy Guide to Great Conversations. Catherine Wakelin, $22.95

Great conversations don’t always happen easily — especially with kids. Many parents find that as their children grow, those chatty preschoolers become mono-syllabic teenagers.

Talk About Anything with Your Kids shows parents how to have open and satisfying conversations with kids from six to 14, with the emphasis on learning to truly listen to what our kids have to say. The book shows you how to develop effective and rewarding communication in your family effectively.  

The Teen Guide to Global Action: How to Connect with Others (Near and Far) to Create Social Change. Barbara Lewis, $16.95

Kids everywhere are deciding they can’t wait to become adults to change the world. They’re acting right now to fight hunger and poverty, promote health and human rights, save the environment, and work for peace. Their stories prove that young people can make a difference on a global scale. This book includes real-life stories to inspire young readers, plus a rich and varied menu of opportunities for service, fast facts, hands-on activities, user-friendly tools, and up-to-date resources kids can use to put their own volunteer spirit into practice. It also spotlights young people from the past whose efforts led to significant positive change. Upbeat, practical, and highly motivating, this book has the power to rouse young readers everywhere.

Three-Ring Circus: How Real Couples Balance Marriage, Work and Family. Dawn Comer Jefferson & Rosanne Welch, editors, $20.95

Finally, here is a book that replaces spin with the spit-up covered truth, offering a variety of real situations and honest stories by … couples in the trenches.

Time-In Parenting. Otto Weininger, $16.95

Time-In Parenting explores the ways in which parents can share their own emotional control in order to teach children self-control, life and problem solving skills. These ‘time in’ sessions help children learn that their parents are not afraid of their emotions and know how to handle them, giving children a feeling of self-confidence and security.

Too Safe for Their Own Good: How Risk and Responsibility Help Teens Thrive. Michael Ungar, $22.99

Internationally respected social worker and family therapist Michael Ungar tells us why our mania to keep our kids safe is causing us to do the opposite - put them in harm’s way. By continuing to protect them from failure and disappointment, many of our kids are missing out on the “risk-taker’s advantage,” the benefits that come from experiencing manageable amounts of danger. In Too Safe for Their Own Good, Ungar inspires parents to recall their own childhoods and the lessons they learned from being risk-takers and responsibility-seekers, much to the annoyance of their own parents. He offers the support parents need in setting appropriate limits and provides concrete suggestions for allowing children the opportunity to experience the rites of passage that will help them become competent, happy, thriving adults.

In our mania to provide emotional life jackets around our kids, helmets and seatbelts, approved playground equipment, after-school supervision, an endless stream of evening programming, and no place to hang out but the tiled flooring of our local mall, we parents are accidentally creating a generation of youth who are not ready for life. Our children are too safe for their own good.

—From Too Safe for Their Own Good

The Top 50 Questions Children Ask: Pre-K through 2nd Grade. Susan Bartell, $12.25
The Top 50 Questions Children Ask: 3rd through 5th Grade. Susan Bartell, $12.25

The best answers to the smartest, strangest and most difficult questions kids always ask.

Trouble-Free Travel with Children: Over 700 Helpful Hints for Parents on the Go. Vicki Lansky, $14.95

Enjoy your trips with kids — whether they are fussy newborns, busy toddlers or bored school-age children. This handbook of advice and ideas comes straight from the experiences of parents like you, and can help make any trip —– short or long — more enjoyable and stress-free.

The 24/7 Baby Doctor. Victoria Rogers McEvoy, $18.95

A Harvard pediatrician answers all your questions from birth to one year.

Vegan Lunch Box: 130 Amazing, Animal-Free Lunches Kids and Grown-Ups Will Love! Jennifer McCann, $21.00

Vegan Lunch Box Around the World: 125 Easy, International Lunches Kids and Grown-Ups Will Love! Jennifer McCann, $24.00

If you think vegan lunchtime means peanut butter and jelly day after day, think again! Vegan Lunch Box and Vegan Lunch Box around the World offer an amazing array of meat-free, egg-free, and dairy-free meals and snacks. All the recipes are organized into menus to help parents pack quick, nutritious, and irresistible vegan lunches. Ideal for everyday and special occasions, the books feature recipes the entire family will enjoy.

Waiting for Daisy: a Tale of Two Continents, Three Religions, Five Fertility Doctors, an Oscar, an Atomic Bomb, a Romantic Night and One Woman’s Quest to Become a Mother. Peggy Orenstein, $29.95

Waiting for Daisy is about loss, love, anger and redemption. It’s about doing all the things you swore you’d never do to get something you hadn’t even been sure you wanted. It’s about being a woman in a confusing, contradictory time. It’s about testing the limits of a loving marriage. And it’s about trying (and trying and trying) to have a baby … Waiting for Daisy is an honest, wryly funny report from the front, an intimate page-turner that illuminates the ambivalence, obsession, and sacrifice that characterize so many modern women’s lives.

The War for Children's Minds. Stephen Law, $23.95

How do we raise good children? How do we make good citizens? Tackling authoritarian rhetoric head-on, The War for Children’s Minds takes on neo-conservatives and religious and media commentators in a candid and controversial call for a liberal, philosophically informed approach to raising children. Rejecting accusations that liberal parenting is a Sixties hangover that entails an aimless ‘whatever’ attitude to morality, philosopher Stephen Law exposes the weaknesses of arguments calling for a return to authoritarian styles of moral education. He clearly shows that thinking for oneself does not mean that all moral points of view are equally good, or that we must reject faith in order to think freely. A staunch defense of the humane, liberal life, The War for Children’s Minds is a much-needed guide to an urgent moral conundrum.

We Want You to Know: Kids Talk About Bullying. Deborah Ellis, $21.95

Through her association with a community anti-bullying campaign launched in Haldimand, Norfolk, and neighboring communities in Southern Ontario, children’s author Deborah Ellis asked students from the ages of nine to nineteen to talk about their experiences with bullying. The results are thoughtful, candid, and often harrowing accounts of “business as usual” in and around today’s schools. The kids in this book raise questions about the way parents, teachers, and school administrators cope with bullies. They talk about which methods have helped and which ones, with the best of intentions, have failed to protect them. And some kids reveal how they have been able to overcome their fear and anger to become strong advocates for the rights of others.

This is a book for reading and sharing. Each interview is followed by questions that will encourage open discussion about the nature of bullying and the ways in which individuals and schools could deal more effectively with bullies and their victims. And additional comments from international students reveal how much kids the world over have in common in the way they experience and deal with bullies.

These kids have something to say. It’s time we listened.

What is Adoption? Helping Non-Adopted Children Understand Adoption. Sofie Stergianis & Rita McDowall. $15.99; Bundle price - 3 copies for $43.00

This book helps adults explain and talk with children about adoption, answering their many questions with clear, factual and loving answers. For parents, relatives, teachers, counsllors, caregivers and other caring adults.

What Kids Really Want to Ask: Using Movies to Start Meaningful Conversations — a Guide Book for Parents and Children Ages 10-14. Rhonda Richardson & A. Margaret Pevec, $15.95

Real questions asked by kids aged 10 to 14 led to the topics in this family-focused guide. Using popular movies and related activities, a wide variety of issues are approached in this unique book, keeping lines of communication open during the transformative middle-school years. What Kids Really Want to Ask gives families opportunities to approach a range of topics in a fun, supportive and respectful manner.

What to Read When: the Books and Stories to Read with Your Child and All the Best Times to Read Them. Pam Allyn, $21.00

A celebration of storytelling, What to Read When shows parents how choosing the right books can shape thoughtful, creative, curious children with a love of reading that will last a lifetime.

When Baby Brings the Blues: Solutions for Postpartum Depression. Ariel Dalfen, $21.95

A leading expert on postpartum depression offers new mothers an insightful, medically sound guide to recovery. When Baby Brings the Blues leads women out of the maze of depression, offering medical and psychotherapeutic options, and practical lifestyle changes. Complete with a PPD diagnosis questionnaire, a treatment plan checklist, and a table of medications and side effects, this upbeat guide also includes an impressive array of resources for further support and programs available in the US and Canada.

When You’re About to Go Off the Deep End, Don’t Take Your Kids With You. Kelly Nault, $19.99

A step-by-step guide to permanently eliminate chaos and frustration in your home and unleash the “ultimate mom” within you.

Who Is In Your Family? A Celebration in Diversity. Susan Bowman, illustrated by Poppy Moon, $18.95 (ages 4-8)

In this full-color, illustrated book, children describe their families including what they like to do together. The wonderfully illustrated drawings bring out the uniqueness of each family. Children are encouraged to describe their own families and create some fun activities they can do together. Some of the families described include:

Parent in the military • Single parent • Incarcerated parent •Adoptive parents •Foster parents • Multicultural parents •Same-sex parents •Terminally ill parents • and others …

Why Good Kids Act Cruel: the Hidden Truth about the Pre-Teen Years. Carl Pickhardt, $16.95

Why Good Kids Act Cruel gives parents the tools they need to understand why cruelty happens at this age and how to help their child through this difficult stage. This highly informative and useful book explains the psychology of early adolescent change, the short and long term effects of social cruelty, what parents can do, what the school can do, and much more.

Why Is My Baby Crying? The Parent's Survival Guide for Coping with Crying Problems and Colic. Barry Lester & Catherine O'Neill Grace, $15.95

Each year, of the approximately four million babies born, 800,000 suffer from colic: excessive crying that causes extreme distress to parents and children. In this informative and accessible guide, renowned colic expert Barry M. Lester explores the science of colic and its long-lasting effects on the physical and emotional health of the child and family. He provides simple, proven strategies and detailed clinical suggestions for alleviating the array of symptoms associated with crying problems. With sympathy and candor, Dr. Lester gives encouragement, support, and hope to moms and dads as they navigate this first crisis in the parent-child relationship.

The Wonder of You: a Book for Celebrating Baby’s First Year. Nancy Tillman, $21.95

This is the perfect gift to welcome the little ones in your life. The Wonder of You celebrates milestones and creates memories in this exquisite and fully inclusive baby book.

The World Needs Your Kid: How to Raise Children Who Care and Contribute.  Craig Kielburger & Marc Kielburger, with Shelley Page, $19.95

Everything you need to know about raising kids, lending a hand and changing the world. Inside this guide is a profound philosophy that encourages children and their parents to become global citizens. Drawing on life lessons and success stories, Marc and Craig Kielburger demonstrate how small actions make a difference in the life of a child and ultimately change the world.

Yoga Planet: 50 Fun Activities for a Greener World. Tara Guber & Leah Kalish, $16.99 (all ages)

Whether you are seven or fifty-seven, whether you already practice yoga or want to learn, these informative and attractive cards are the ideal answer. They give detailed step-by-step instructions on how to perform the poses, but also increase environmental awareness with tips on how to reduce our impact on the fragile planet. Each of the cards in this fun and interactive deck is connected to one of the planet’s natural elements. Try the scorpion pose to feel the fire inside you or the swan pose to flow like water.

Your Child's Dog: How to Help Your Kids Care for Their Pets. Andrea McHugh, $16.95

This straightforward guide features step-by-step advice on teaching a child to care for and train a dog. Using examples and step-by-step photographs, Your Child's Dog explains how to respond to a dog's needs while at the same time raising a well-socialized and well-behaved companion pet.