urbanmoms.ca - Book Reviews

We Generation

By Jen on February 10, 2009 10:14 PM | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks

I often find reason to reflect on how incredibly different my daughters' childhood will be than mine was. And it's not just cell phones and google or our relationship with technology that makes childhood different today; it's our relationship with childhood itself. Author Michael Ungar, PhD made the case for revisiting how we look at teenagers in his 2007 book Too Safe for Their Own Good, and now he takes aim at the modern cult of "me" so prevalent in today's youth culture in We Generation (McLelland, 2009). Engaging and timely, this book is an invaluable resource for parents... More »

"A Book is a Present You Can Open Again and Again"

By Jen on December 23, 2008 7:08 PM | 2 Comments | No TrackBacks

My Aunt Barb once gave me a gift of a book and a package of adhesive book plates inscribed with this phrase:A book is a present you can open again and again.I cherished both the book (the complete and uncut hardcover version of Stephen King's The Stand: an extraordinary read) and the book plates. The sentiment was so novel to me at first, and yet reflected a deep love of reading that I'd already possessed for a number of years. And over the years, Aunt Barb has been an excellent recommender of books to me: Ken Follet's The Pillars of... More »

Top 10 Holiday Gifts For Teens: Batteries Not Required

By Jen on December 9, 2008 12:51 PM | 50 Comments | No TrackBacks

Contest Alert! urbanmoms.ca is excited to support The Top 10 Gifts for Teens by offering two individual prize packs to be won by two lucky members. The Teen Girl Pack and Teen Boy Pack will each be filled with the books listed in the associated category below. Post a comment identifying your favourite teen book (make sure to include your email address) to be automatically entered to win! Don’t know what to buy your teenager this year? Forget the latest electronic gadget or expensive designer jeans and this year wrap up a book. In an unprecedented move book publishers in... More »

Will Work from Home Winner

By Jen on December 1, 2008 12:47 PM | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks

Congratulations to Chantal, winner of the Will Work from Home Giveaway! Here is Chantal's commuting story: "When I was pregnant with my first son I had a 35 minute commute to work. I lived out of town and drove though one small community on my way to the city. In my last trimester my son had taken up permanent residence on my bladder. I would go to the washroom as I was leaving work but within 10 minutes I had to go again. I would drive into that small community (which was half way home), frantically waddle my way... More »

Will Work from Home (and a Giveaway!)

By Jen on November 18, 2008 3:09 PM | 14 Comments | No TrackBacks

Here at urbanmoms.ca we're very supportive of the recent trend towards WAHMs (work-at-home-moms, for the uninitiated). After all, it's what we are! We even have an entire section of the site devoted to sharing stories from fellow mom entrepreneurs (work at home or otherwise) and to helping them promote their businesses - check out the urbanmoms.ca Marketplace for more. So we were really excited when the folks at Penguin offered to send us a copy of Will Work from Home: Earn the Cash Without the Commute to review and give away (including a nifty free bookmark and all). This... More »

Inspiration. Aspiration. Expiration?

By Jen on October 28, 2008 7:58 PM | 3 Comments | No TrackBacks

It's an odd thing, this desire to write. More to the point: to write and to be published. So many of us have it, and so few succeed. Are we drawn to criticism, failure and self-punishment? Or is the drive to express oneself and have that expression validated by others somehow universal? I often think that's the real beauty of blogs and the internet. They take away the middleman and bring writers and readers together directly. I've often said that there's a market for anything (although I did say it in the context of eBay, not books); and it's... More »

The Best Books for Baby

By Jen on October 21, 2008 4:15 PM | 2 Comments | No TrackBacks

My pregnant sister is here visiting from the UK and we threw a baby shower for her on Saturday. The theme of the shower was Build Baby's Library and guests were asked to bring their favourite baby or children's book. Seeing all of these wonderful stories (which my 5.5 yr old and 9 yr old have been reading every night) reminded me that there is some great children's literature. Listed below are the Top 5 from this weekend's event decided by my children. 1. The Munschworks Grand Treasury - By Robert Munsch We all love Robert Munsch and what could... More »

The Best Baby Books

By Jen on October 15, 2008 1:27 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

So, my little sister is expecting her first baby...I know! So exciting! I was in her living room the other day and noticed a book for new dads. One of those "Everything for New Dads" type of things. And I commented on it, saying something like, "awww, how cute! He has a New Dad book!" "Yeah, I've read it," she replied. It sounded so familiar. When I was pregnant -- especially with my first child -- I absolutely devoured books on pregnancy, birth and parenting. My husband? Not so much. I know most of my friends reported the same phenomenon.... More »

The Secret Life of Bees

By Jen on October 6, 2008 3:27 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

I read this book in 2 days. Forty-eight wonderful hours of characters to fall in love with. I adore this type of book - character driven but with a point. This book is not without its heartbreak. The Secret Life of Bees takes place in South Carolina in 1964 during the heart of the Civil Rights movement. The novel centres around Lily Owens, whose life was forever changed by the tragic death of her mother. Lily is haunted by these memories and when her surrogate mother, a spirited black woman named Rosaleen, insults three racists Lily decides they need... More »

The Wise Woman

By Jen on September 30, 2008 11:11 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Can you think of anything more wonderful than opening up your mailbox and finding books inside? Neither can I. So, as I said last week, I was thrilled to get a package with a number of books from the really nice folks at Simon & Schuster Canada this summer. The first book from this package was Philippa Gregory's The Wise Woman. This book was originally published following her Wideacre trilogy (which I haven't personally read yet), and is her first novel set in Tudor England. As the publisher puts it, Gregory takes the reader "on a journey to the outer... More »