The Lunch-Box Chronicles: Notes from the Parenting Underground

"Take Erma Bombeck, add the obsessions of a single mother with two boys under the age of 10, lace with a mild streak of wildness, and you have Marion Winik, as companionable a writer as a crazed parent ever found." So says the New York Times Book Review about this hilarious look at child rearing from NPR commentator Marion Winik. With the candidness of Anne Lamott's Operating Instructions, Winik never shies from sharing her "Bad Mommy" moments, for as every parent knows (and as is evidenced by her extensive instructions on conquering a mean case of head lice), the reality of parenting is not all cherubic kids sporting footie pajamas. As with her other compelling memoirs, Telling and First Comes Love, Winik lets it all hang out--sharing with readers not only the trials and joys of raising kids alone, but also debating in frank, funny terms the varied questions of being nude in front of your children, dealing with a "blended" family, and teaching kids about avoiding drugs when you've used them yourself. Parents (and anyone who has parents of their own) will appreciate the poignancy, honesty, and familiarity of this laugh-out-loud tribute to the enterprise of raising children. --Brangien Davis