If your family loves The Very Hungry Caterpillar, you’ll love this little parody! Written especially for the mom to be, it had me smiling from start to finish.~ Sandy

By the light of the moon, a very hungry pregnant lady starts to look for some food. As she snacks and samples her way through the pantry, her body is preparing for a big transformation… A lighthearted parody of Eric Carle’s much-loved classic The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Very Hungry Pregnant Lady celebrates an exciting, beautiful, and often surprising time in the lives of all mothers-to-be. Purchase here.

“How do I love you? Let me count the ways.
I love you as the sun loves the bright blue days . . .”

In this darling padded board book, the unconditional love of a parent for her child comes alive in exuberant comparisons found in the beauty of nature. Written by Newbery-award-winning author Marion Dane Bauer, inspired by the poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and with pictures by Caroline Jayne Church, illustrator of the bestselling I Love You Through and Through, this book is a must-have for every nursery bookshelf.

Purchase here.

Peas on Earth uses a simple play on words to portray the basic concepts of peace, harmony, getting along with all kinds of people, and being green in a manner that young kids will grasp. And it will resonate more as they grow older. Adult caregivers will chuckle over the peas/peace references while young children will relate to the important messages about our earth and those of us who live on it.  The artwork is colorful, charming, and perfect for the board book crowd. And, as an added value, there is a simple pop-up at the end of the book.

Purchase here.

As the breast vs. bottle feeding debate heats up, some experts believe breastfeeding advocates have gone too far. While breast is certainly best from a nutritional standpoint, thousands of mothers find themselves unable to breastfeed for physiological, emotional, or situational reasons. Once breastfeeding has “failed”, they are unable to find the support they need, and some are even feeling shunned or bullied. Suzanne Barston, journalist and creator of the popular The Fearless Formula Feeder blog, understands the debate on a level most don’t because she has engaged in the conversation on BOTH sides for nearly four years. Barston’s new book BOTTLED UP: How The Way We Feed Babies Has Come to Define Motherhood, And Why It Shouldn’t (University of California Press, October 2012), probes breastfeeding politics through the lens of Barston’s own experiences as well as those of the women she has met through her blog. Incorporating medical literature, expert opinions, and popular media, Barston offers a corrective to our infatuation with the breast. Impassioned, well-reasoned, and thoroughly researched, Bottled Up asks us to think with more nuance and compassion about whether breastfeeding should remain the holy grail of good parenthood.

Purchase this book at amazon.ca

In her early thirties, Kasey Mathews had it all: a loving husband, a beautiful two-year-old son and a second baby on the way. But what seemed a perfect life was shattered when she went into labor four months early, delivering her one-pound, eleven-ounce daughter, Andie.

The first time Kasey was wheeled into the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), nothing prepared her for what she saw: a tiny, fragile baby in a tangle of tubes and wires. All at once, Kasey was confronted with a new and terrifying reality that would test the limits of love, family, and motherhood.

In this riveting, honest, and often humorous memoir, Preemie chronicles the journey of one tiny baby’s tenacious struggle to hold on to life and the mother who ultimately grew with her. From hospital waiting rooms to the offices of alternative practitioners, from ski slopes to Symphony Hall, Kasey tries to make meaning of her daughter’s birth and eventually comes to learn that gifts come in all sizes and all forms, and sometimes… right on time.

Available at amazon.ca.

To learn more about Kasey Mathews and to read her blog, visit www.kaseymathews.com.

From dinners to snacks and grocery shopping with kids, Kathy Buckworth shares stories of one of life’s biggest challenges, in her words, feeding your family. Buckworth doesn’t write about ideal family meals in this book. She tells it like it is – and it is hilarious! This is one of our favourite meal time books for parents of kids at any age. ~ Steph

From the mysteries of why food tastes better to kids after it’s passed through a drive-thru window, to the beauty of slightly intoxicated dinner guests and the art of dessert bribery, Shut Up and Eat is every mother’s guide to successfully feeding a family while balancing work, husband, soccer practice, and teen drama—all without spilling her glass of chardonnay!

Full of solid advice from the trenches of a household with four kids and two very busy parents and with a few recipes thrown in to get you through breakfast, lunch, snack time, and the potential mine field that is dinner, Shut Up and Eat! is a laugh-out-loud, all-too-true account of what really goes on around a family dinner table.

Find out more at www.kathybuckworth.com.

The Mother of All Pregnancy Books (2nd Canadian edition, June 2011). This bestselling pregnancy guide includes chapters on preparing for motherhood, planning for a healthy pregnancy, coping with various pregnancy-related aches and pains, and making informed choices about your baby’s birth. Written in a friendly, almost conspiratorial, mom-to-mom tone, you won’t want to go through pregnancy without this book.

www.having-a-baby.com/books/