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jwinchell's review against another edition
5.0
This was a great little collection of essays about mothering boys. It left me with an awareness of just how short babyhood is, and now that I've been done with it for a few hours, it is making me appreciate the physicality of my relationship with Max all the more. He won't always need me so intimately, and the way we are together will have so many stages. I liked that this book helped me to think further about gender roles, about the varying ways "boyness" manifests, and about what it means for mothers to have sons.
I don't feel very sharp these days--my ability to critically think and express the nuances of my thoughts is not what it used to be (I blame it on the baby!)--so I realize that this review is not very eloquent or specific. Right now, I can't do much better than this: I really loved this book.
I don't feel very sharp these days--my ability to critically think and express the nuances of my thoughts is not what it used to be (I blame it on the baby!)--so I realize that this review is not very eloquent or specific. Right now, I can't do much better than this: I really loved this book.
marie_gg's review against another edition
4.0
Very interesting essays by women writers on raising their sons! But I was looking for the essay by the mother of three boys, and didn't find one...
mrsfligs's review against another edition
4.0
Like many books about the experience of motherhood, this is a compilation of different mothers talking about their experiences. In this case, the common thread is the challenges and joys of raising boys. (There is a "girl" version of the book as well). The essays range from mother's discussing their disappointments on finding out they were having a son instead of a daughter to the advantages of raising a son versus raising a daughter. The mothers are at all different points in their motherhood -- some have teenagers, some with toddlers, some with grade schoolers. As with any compilation with essays written by different writers, the reader will find they like some more than others. But, overall, as a mother of a son, I enjoyed reading the viewpoints of other women raising this most "alien" of species to me!
sandeestarlite's review against another edition
2.0
The first essays are mothers who really wanted girls or wanted their boys to be less boy-like (or more boy-like). Not much about the raising of sons but more about how their expectations of their children were not met.
The later essays are about boys turning into teenagers which I'm not ready to face yet. I only read the first one, realizing I'd read later essays by same author and know her son-in-transition is now dead after falling in with the wrong crowd and developing a drug problem. Too sad to think about where kids may end up.
I think I like my clueless parenting where I'm not sure what will happen next but it's all an adventure.
The later essays are about boys turning into teenagers which I'm not ready to face yet. I only read the first one, realizing I'd read later essays by same author and know her son-in-transition is now dead after falling in with the wrong crowd and developing a drug problem. Too sad to think about where kids may end up.
I think I like my clueless parenting where I'm not sure what will happen next but it's all an adventure.
mrsthrift's review against another edition
3.0
like most anthologies, this was rather hit-or-miss. it's not a how-to guide to raising boys, or very much like a "parenting book." a lot of the stories are irritating in that charming gender-assumptive way. i really appreciated katie kaput's piece on being a queer trans teen momma, and a few of the other pieces were insightful or clever as well. it wasn't a total wash, but it lacked a lot of the critical thinking, feminist perspectives, insights, and commentaries on raising boys that i was hoping for.
devon's review against another edition
3.0
Read July 2008
I really enjoyed this collection of essays on raising sons. I have three of them myself and was very excited to get my hands on this book that tells the tales of mothers and their challenges and joys when raising their sons from conception to the dreaded teenage years. There were obviously some essays that I enjoyed more than others such as Susan Ito's "Samuel" about a woman and the son she never had. "Things You Can't Teach" by Katie Kaput a transgender woman trying to raise a son, "Pretty Baby" by Catherine Newman a hilarious essay about a woman trying to raise a son without the confines of societal norms and Jacquelyn Mitchard's "The Day He Was Taller" a touching essay about the day she realized her son was becoming a man. All of these above mentioned essays made me laugh or cry and I thoroughly enjoyed them all.
So one may wonder if I liked all of these essays so much why am I only giving the book three stars. Well that is because many of the essays despite being fairly entertaining did not touch me...I could not relate. The beginning essays mostly focused on women's disappointment at learning they were having a boy. Now, trust me when I tell you no one has wanted a little girl more than I did and when I found out I was having twin boys after already having a three year old son I was a bit miffed to say the least. However, no matter how much I wanted a girl I never cried over the fact that I was having boys, my disappointment did not run as deep as many of these women's seemed to have at the news of a boy. I was just happy to be having healthy babies. So on this issue while I could totally understand, I couldn't completely relate.
Also, many of these women writers wanted to raise their sons to be free of the confines society forces on boys. Which is all well and good but I cannot, personally, relate to letting my son wear earrings and necklaces to preschool just because he felt like it. I cannot conceive of buying my son pink clothes and shoes from the girls section of the store just be cause he really likes pink and I don't tend to give my sons dolls over trucks because I want them to be more open minded. I am just not one of those mothers so again I couldn't relate.
Overall I think this is a good collection of essays centered around raising boys especially since there are not a lot out there like it. Therefore, I would recommend it to mothers of sons even if you cannot relate to all of the essays some are guaranteed to touch your heart.
I really enjoyed this collection of essays on raising sons. I have three of them myself and was very excited to get my hands on this book that tells the tales of mothers and their challenges and joys when raising their sons from conception to the dreaded teenage years. There were obviously some essays that I enjoyed more than others such as Susan Ito's "Samuel" about a woman and the son she never had. "Things You Can't Teach" by Katie Kaput a transgender woman trying to raise a son, "Pretty Baby" by Catherine Newman a hilarious essay about a woman trying to raise a son without the confines of societal norms and Jacquelyn Mitchard's "The Day He Was Taller" a touching essay about the day she realized her son was becoming a man. All of these above mentioned essays made me laugh or cry and I thoroughly enjoyed them all.
So one may wonder if I liked all of these essays so much why am I only giving the book three stars. Well that is because many of the essays despite being fairly entertaining did not touch me...I could not relate. The beginning essays mostly focused on women's disappointment at learning they were having a boy. Now, trust me when I tell you no one has wanted a little girl more than I did and when I found out I was having twin boys after already having a three year old son I was a bit miffed to say the least. However, no matter how much I wanted a girl I never cried over the fact that I was having boys, my disappointment did not run as deep as many of these women's seemed to have at the news of a boy. I was just happy to be having healthy babies. So on this issue while I could totally understand, I couldn't completely relate.
Also, many of these women writers wanted to raise their sons to be free of the confines society forces on boys. Which is all well and good but I cannot, personally, relate to letting my son wear earrings and necklaces to preschool just because he felt like it. I cannot conceive of buying my son pink clothes and shoes from the girls section of the store just be cause he really likes pink and I don't tend to give my sons dolls over trucks because I want them to be more open minded. I am just not one of those mothers so again I couldn't relate.
Overall I think this is a good collection of essays centered around raising boys especially since there are not a lot out there like it. Therefore, I would recommend it to mothers of sons even if you cannot relate to all of the essays some are guaranteed to touch your heart.
jenny_n's review against another edition
5.0
If you are a mother of a son of any age you have to read this collection of essays. I read it just after my son was born and it gave me such a glimpse of what might be down the road for us. I checked it out of the library, after reading a review of it in Brain, Child Magazine. I liked it so much I bought it. I expect I'll get more out of it as my son gets older.
katrinadalythompson's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed most of these short essays about mothering boys. It was a little repetitive, with many of the essays echoing similar themes: I didn't want a boy but now that I have him I love him; I wanted my boy to break gender stereotypes but he's very masculine; or having a teenage boy living with you is like living with something non-human. The few that broke this mold were refreshing, and all were well-written.
library_brandy's review against another edition
3.0
I'm a little better than halfway through this, and I'm waiting to see if the balance will ever shift away from women who are SO FLUMMOXED by having a boy, and then marvel at their boys who act like, well, boys, but are still remarkably gentle and kind. On the whole, I like personal essays, but there's not a lot of diversity of opinion (or even socioeconomic class) represented in this collection, so it seems like the same essays over and over.
To be fair, I may just be grumpy with this book because the binding broke and the text block split in two after I'd turned only a couple of pages, and it's hard to juggle while they're both stuck to the cover.
[edit] Finished. Opinion unchanged, despite having a friend in Tech Services fix the binding for me.
To be fair, I may just be grumpy with this book because the binding broke and the text block split in two after I'd turned only a couple of pages, and it's hard to juggle while they're both stuck to the cover.
[edit] Finished. Opinion unchanged, despite having a friend in Tech Services fix the binding for me.
lmrajt's review
4.0
If you have a son, I recommend this book wholeheartedly. It definitely helped me explore some of the ambivalence I have about raising a boy, especially in this world.
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