Mom, I'm Not a Kid Anymore: Navigating 25 Inevitable Conversations That Arrive Before You Know It

What a mom!

In her warm and inviting collection of essays, Sue Sanders takes you through a number of issues that she has addressed as her daughter, Lizzie, progressed from little kid to middle-schooler. Some are rather common -- body image, mean kids, bad language. One, in particular, is not common at all: the divorce of a mentally unstable father. Sue Sanders deals with all of them, however, in a straight-forward, patient, generous and caring fashion. She invites her daughter to be a partner in the conversations that form the structure of the book -- not dictating how things must go -- and she doesn't claim to have all the answers -- as if anybody does. Sue Sanders tells a parallel story, as well, about how differently she was raised by her parents, and how she wants her daughter to have a more supportive and understanding experience. As other reviewers have noted, reading the book is like having a chat with a very nice and very capable best friend. Not to mention a very funny one. "I recently discovered I have a superpower: I can embarrass my daughter simply by existing," she writes at one point. And the onset of puberty brings this exclamation from Lizzie: "Girls are so lucky. We get all the best stuff like tampons and periods and bras!" You don't have to be a parent to enjoy this book, but, if you are one, you might just learn something while having a great read. Read more