Chemorella by Ken Phillips and Katy Franco

A wonderfully sweet book about beating cancer and seeing your dreams come true is our book review selection this week.  Chemorella uses the Cinderella story to teach us all that obstacles like cancer can be overcome with grace, good humor and most importantly with the love of others.

Inspired by author Katy Franco’s own battle with breast cancer the story of Chemorella follows a young woman from diagnosis to recovery.  Because of Ms. Franco’s Puerto Rican heritage, the book is bilingual in English and Spanish.

Chemorella is illustrated by Scott Sackett whose lovely art work depicts how a young woman must deal with hair loss while undergoing chemotherapy.  Not wanting to be known for her bald head, Chemorella uses her artistic talent to decorate sneakers with glittery designs.  The sneakers draw attention to Chemorella who is invited to participate in a charity fashion show event.

The ugly step sisters from Cinderella are replaced by Chemorella’s ugly roommates. The Fairy Godmother is a kindly elderly neighbor who convinces Chemorella to participate in the charity event.  And then there is the prince, Vince, a stylish artist who is looking for true love.  He tracks Chemorella down after she leaves her glittery sneaker behind at the charity event.

The story ends happily as all Cinderella stories do.   However, the  stronger lesson from this story is that it’s not what happens to you, but how you handle what happens to you.  This book will help any patient and her family with laughter and hope for the future.  I would recommend Chemorella to any one facing cancer or other serious illnesses.

Katy Franco is a stand up comedian and spokesperson for breast cancer awareness.  She was recently the keynote speaker at the 25th Annual Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor Conference “Beat the Blues with Humor”. She also frequently appears at children’s hospitals and her schedule may be found on the Chemorella Facebook page.

Leave a comment about this blog post and enter to win a copy of Chemorella.  Comments must be left by 12 midnight PST on Friday, June 22nd, 2012.

The 4-1-1 on Step Parenting

A couple of weeks ago I reviewed The 4-1-1 on Life Skills – a book perfect for starting your kids on a life of their own.  This week I am lucky to review another book by the same author.  The 4-1-1 on Step Parenting by Michele Sfakianos, RN, BSN is a must read for parents raising a blended family.

I am a member of a blended family, my father remarried five years ago after the death of my mother.  Although I have never had to live with my step-mother, there was still quite a bit of adjustment to having her and her family in our lives.  Reading this book has helped me with a different perspective on managing blended families.

The 4-1-1 on Step Parenting is broken out into 26 chapters addressing topics such as Relationship Building and Roles, Bringing in a New Baby, Adult Step Children and Planning Holidays.

The chapter on Planning Holidays will probably be very useful to many step-parents.  Holidays already create expectations and stress in even the most stable of families.  Adding in multiple step-relationships may lead to more stress and hurt feelings.  Ms. Sfakianos advice to “take on the attitude of ‘the more the merrier’ and everything will work out fine” is spot-on.  And discussing expectations before the holidays when emotions may not be running so high is also great advice.

The book devotes chapters to legal issues such as custody, medical consent and step parent adoptions.  The chapter on Same Sex Marriages and Step Parenting is also very relevant to current changes in society.

The 4-1-1 on Step Parenting will give readers in-depth information and understanding about the topics presented and will be helpful in opening up family discussions.  I’m sure parents can also use the book as a starting point for finding out more information where they need it.   I would recommend this book to any parent managing a blended family.

Leave a comment about this blog post and enter to win a copy of  The 4-1-1 on Step Parenting.  Comments must be left by 12 midnight PST on Friday, June 8th, 2012.

The Incredibly Awesome Adventures of Puggie Liddell

Calling all girls interested in Thomas Edison, electricity and adventure – The Incredibly Awesome Adventures of Puggie Liddell is the book for you.  Written by Karen Mueller Bryson, this fun book combines time travel with history lessons.  I even learned which plant was first used to manufacture rubber.

Puggie and his sister Gigi, two middle school siblings constantly bickering, learn that time travel is possible with a helpful Gameboy.  While the two are on a school field trip to the estate of Thomas Edison, they unexpectedly time travel to 1893.  Puggie, the geek of the two, knows immediately that they must find the real Thomas Edison for help in returning back to the present.

And so off they go to the Chicago World’s Fair to find Edison and his electricity exhibit.  Adventures ensue as they make their way from Fort Myers, Florida to Chicago, Illinois.  But the adventures get even better once they reach the fairgrounds.  Dwarfs, dancing bears and Tom Thumb join the fun as the children try to find Edison and ask for his help.  Other characters include Nikola Tesla and Mark Twain.  You’ll have to read the book to find out how they contribute to the story.

Interwoven throughout the book are little history lessons about the time period and the main characters.  The lessons are so neatly part of the story that a girl won’t even realize she is learning history, just enjoying a fun book.  But she will remember the facts when she is done and no doubt will want to find out more.

The book website notes that The Incredibly Awesome Adventures of Puggie Liddell is the first in a series of novels about time travel and historical figures.  I can’t wait to read the rest as I know I will learn something I didn’t know before.

Leave a comment about this blog post and enter to win a copy of  The Incredibly Awesome Adventures of Puggie Liddell.  Comments must be left by 12 midnight PST on Friday, June 1st, 2012.

The 4-1-1 on Life Skills – A Perfect Graduation Gift

I have just stumbled on to the perfect graduation gift.  The 4-1-1 on Life Skills by Michele Sfakianos, RN, BSN should go hand in hand with a high school or college diploma.  Packed with great information on home and money management, personal care, safety and much more, the book explains in detail how to navigate the world of living on your own and how to manage your everyday life.  Parents will still have to contribute some advice, but this book will make things much easier.

The 4-1-1 on Life Skills is broken out into 26 chapters starting with Cleaning Supplies: A Basic List and ending with Boomerang Kids.  There is even a chapter on making funeral arrangements!

My favorite chapter was Disaster Preparedness.  Growing up in California and living in Washington means being ready for earthquakes.  We keep emergency supplies on hand at home, but always worry that our kids living in their own apartments might not have what they need.  The Disaster Preparedness chapter lists types of disasters and ‘what-to-do’ advice for several common ones such as earthquakes, floods and tornadoes.  The importance of having a plan is discussed and a comprehensive emergency supply list is included.  Reading this chapter reminded me of several items we still needed in our emergency kit and gave me a good framework to discuss disaster preparedness with my kids.

For young adults just starting out in their first job, the Finances chapter is  a must read.  Banking, credit scores, retirement accounts and the all important credit score are explained.  And once the kids are ready to move out there is a chapter on Buying a Home/Renting an Apartment including how to manage a move.

We will be attending a college graduation party in a couple of weeks and I have already bought a copy of The 4-1-1 on Life Skills for our young friend who will be striking out on his own.  Give it as a gift to a graduating senior or your own child and help launch them into the world with lots of good information.

Leave a comment about this blog post and enter to win a copy of  The 4-1-1 on Life Skills.  Comments must be left by 12 midnight PST on Friday, May 25th, 2012.

Rocks to Riches – A Tween’s Guide to Wealth

Rocks to Riches by Elisabeth Donati and Jan K. Ruskin is a wonderful story about friendship, teamwork and the road to wealth.  Not just financial wealth, but the wealth of following your dreams and the support of friends.

The book follows four young teens – Ace, Jack, Millie, Nan and Nan’s five year old sister Kara.  As the hot summer unfolds, the children gather at Jack’s house each day to decide how to entertain themselves.  Ace and Jack are new step-brothers, Millie is the ‘rich’ kid, and Nan watches Kara while their mother works as a waitress and attends accounting classes.  For comic relief we also meet Jack’s pot bellied pig Chubbs who has been banished from the house to a backyard pen after causing havoc in the kitchen.

A chance discovery of an old gold mining pan starts the kids on a treasure hunt.  Millie is particularly interested in finding treasure as we later learn to save her family from financial ruin.  But what the children find is much more precious than gold.  Each chapter is a subtle financial lesson based on an inscription from rocks found by the children.  With help from the adults in the story, the lesson is discussed, understood and absorbed by the teens.

You must read the book to find the rocks that lead to riches.  However, the general theme is to plan, be ready and be open to opportunities.  Learning to readjust as new opportunities arise is also important.  The perfect example of this is told through Nan and Kara’s mother and I would be giving away the ending of the book if I said any more!

Rocks to Riches is targeted to 9 – 14 year children.  I believe it is also appropriate for older teenagers and I even copied the rock inscriptions to post on my bulletin board.  For adults, the same lessons may be found in Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.  The story is told in an engaging manner that held my interest the whole time I was reading the book.  It is an excellent tool to help teach your children about wealth in all it’s many forms.

Leave a comment about this blog post and enter to win a copy of  Rocks to Riches.  Comments must be left by 12 midnight PST on Friday, May 18th, 2012.

How to talk to your daughter about sex, periods and STD’s.

Start Talking: A Girl’s Guide for You and Your Mom about Health, Sex, or Whatever is THE book with all the answers for you and your daughter.  Written by psychotherapist Mary Jo Rapini (of TLC’s series Big Medicine) and OB/GYN nurse practitioner Janine J. Sherman, Start Talking lays out chapter by chapter all the information you need to know about such topics as menstruation, birth control, sex and STD’s.

I learned so much from this book while I was reading it.  And I regretted I didn’t know about Start Talking when my daughter was younger.  It would have made certain conversations so much easier.  To compensate I plan on giving a copy to my sister who has an 8 year old daughter.

Each chapter has the same format.  Information about the particular topic is thoroughly explained in the text and with simple drawings.  The authors also provide real life stories from patients they have treated. A series of questions that a daughter or mom may ask about the topic are then presented with the authors providing answers and scripts on how to approach the topic with each other.  This is nicely exhibited in the ‘Table Talk’ section of each chapter.

Both being doctors (and mothers of daughters), the authors also stress the importance of girls having a health provider that they can trust.  Although we hope that our daughters will always share what is going on with their bodies with us, that might not always be the case.  Your daughter may be embarrassed about something as simple as a yeast infection and having a relationship with a doctor before any issues arise is important.  In the end, our daughter’s health and well-being is the main goal.

Mary Jo Rapini and Janine Sherman do not shy away from any topic in this book – date rape to eating disorders is discussed in a way that provides information and gives you confidence to approach the topic with your daughter.  You can read the book with her or pass it back and forth and have discussions or ‘table talks’ about the different topics.  I would highly recommend this book to every mom with a daughter.

Leave a comment about this blog post and enter to win a copy of  Start Talking: A Girl’s Guide for You and Your Mom about Health, Sex, or Whatever.  Comments must be left by 12 midnight PST on Friday, May 11th, 2012.

How to Help Your Daughter Love Herself

On my flight back from Miss Expo on Monday morning I had the wonderful pleasure of reading More Than Saying I Love You: 4 Powerful Steps that Help Children Love Themselves by Dr. Andie Goodman Weiner, Ed.D. Dr. Andie, in very simple prose and with exercises at the end of each chapter, lays out the steps to help children learn to love themselves.

Dr. Andie’s premise is that every child is born a loving being.  As a child grows though, she is exposed to outside influences that shape her perception of herself.  These outside influences are parents, other family members, teachers and caregivers, and other people that will regularly be in a child’s life.  These people will have either a positive or negative impact on the child. And as Dr. Andie also points out in her prologue, children are growing up in a very complex world and they need to be able ‘self-love’ in order to avoid destructive behavior.

Dr. Andie starts each chapter with a letter to her daughter, Aly.  The letters are written at each stage of Aly’s life, from birth to when she was packing to start college.  The letters are very moving and reflect Dr. Andie’s internal struggles on how best to guide Aly through her growing up years and give her the tools to be self-loving.

I think the most important lesson I learned from this book was Dr. Andie’s use of ‘YOU’ when talking of various situations with her daughter.  Instead of saying ‘I love the crayon drawing you did in school’ Dr. Andie would ask Aly ‘what do YOU think of the drawing?’, wait for a reply and engage Aly in her own thoughts about the drawing.  By turning the ‘I’ to a ‘You’ Dr. Andie removes herself as the one giving approval.  Therefore her daughter is not looking outside of herself for approval, she is turning inward and validating her own feelings.

Dr. Andie believes that children who love themselves are “more accepting and compassionate toward others.  They appreciate their own talents, make wise decisions, and refrain from hurtful behaviors and relationships”.  For Aly this was confirmed when she wrote her college essay and described the lessons in self-love she learned from her mother.  The college essay starts off the book and you learn right away the meaning of self-love to a young woman.

I would recommend  More Than Saying I Love You: 4 Powerful Steps that Help Children Love Themselves to any parent.  The message is so important in today’s society, especially for girls, that loving oneself is the key to standing up for what you believe in and what you are capable of.

Leave a comment about this blog post and enter to win a copy of  More Than Saying I Love You: 4 Powerful Steps that Help Children Love Themselves. Comments must be left by 12 midnight PST on Friday, May 4th, 2012.

Anna-Mae Mysteries:The Golden Treasure

Is your daughter an amateur detective? Does she like thrilling mysteries?  Is she interested in the Civil War? Then The Anna-Mae Mysteries:The Golden Treasure by Lillian S. Cauldwell is just the book for her.  Based on the true story of Jefferson Davis and the lost gold of the confederacy, the book follows the 12-year old Anna-Mae, her brother Malcolm and her best friend Raul as they follow clues from mysterious sources to find the lost gold.

This book really grabbed my attention as I have always been a Civil War buff.  Basing the story on a true event provides a history lesson and some fun too.  What would your daughter do if she suddenly had a chance to find a treasure?  Anna-Mae, Malcolm and Raul are continually confronted with situations where they must figure out their own answers.  Along the way they are helped by some paranormal forces.  They also have to overcome bullies at school.  Through it all they stick together to find the answers to the lost treasure.

One of the neatest tricks in the book is how the trio uses ordinary items for extraordinary purposes.  For example, coat hangers as divining rods.  Ingenuity as it’s best.  Anna-Mae also relies on her steadfast Granma for much needed advice.  This was also one of my favorite parts of the book – the bringing together of the generations.  Ms. Cauldwell did a nice job of demonstrating how important elderly wisdom can be.

The Golden Treasure is the first in a series of three books featuring Anna-Mae, Malcolm and Raul.  I know that once your daughter is done with the first book, she will be eagerly awaiting the next two in the series.

Leave a comment about this blog post and enter to win an inscribed copy of The Anna-Mae Mysteries:The Golden Treasure. Comments must be left by 12 midnight PST on Friday, April 27th, 2012.

How to Create Happy Kids!

The goal of parents everywhere is to have happy kids since happy kids mean happy parents.  But what if you are struggling to find that right balance between happiness for you and happiness for your kids?  Well, you may look no further than this book written to help parents through this dilemma.

Written by our good friend, Shirin Sherkat Psy.D., Create Happy Kids provides practical parenting solutions to create motivated, respectful and compliant kids.  The book starts with a definition of a happy kid which is broken down into twelve important factors including feeling honored and loved unconditionally.  Important factors for everyone, not just kids.

The rest of the book is divided into 12 sections.  Each section covers a different topic on creating happy kids.  Parents learn how to understand their kid’s perspective, what motivates their children and how to use that motivation to create greater harmony in the home.

Dr. Sherkat gives an excellent example of how to use the tools she is teaching with a story about her four year old nephew.  Her nephew was yelling a Christmas carol for well over an hour, yelling not singing, and driving everyone to distraction.

Recognizing that her nephew was yelling for attention as he felt ignored, Dr. Sherkat approached him and asked to film him singing his favorite song. Notice that she asked him to sing, not yell and that she would tape him only if he was singing, not yelling.

Her nephew happily complied.  His negative behavior was ignored, his positive behavior was rewarded and as Dr. Sherkat concluded, yelling at him to stop yelling would not have solved the situation.

I have heard Dr. Sherkat speak several times and she continually stresses that it is important to listen to and acknowledge your child.  In her many interviews with families, she has found that this is what children want most from their parents.  And in the end that is also what we want most from our children.

After reading the book Create Happy Kids, you will have the tools to create children who will listen and also learn how to increase your own listening skills.

Leave a comment about this blog post and enter to win an inscribed copy of Create Happy Kids. Comments must be left by 12 midnight PST on Friday, April 20th, 2012.