Soaring Solo: On the Joys (Yes, Joys!) of Being a Single Mother

A light and optimistic book, verging at times on silliness, Wendy Keller's song of praise to single motherhood should be an encouragement to anyone who has gone on a date with a smear of baby poop on her shirtsleeve. In very brief chapters, she describes such trials as the Homework Wars, her attempts to find balance, and her recurrent self-doubt as a parent. She provides quotes from her favorite performers and books, especially Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's Finding Flow, which advocates finding pleasure in duty.

Keller's emphasis on the positive can be very funny, as in her chapter on worry, "Crying in the Dark," in which she suggests facing the Worst Thing That Can Possibly Happen, and then realizing how you could survive it. "Let's say you get evicted," she argues. "It's better than being executed at dawn for a crime you didn't commit and having your child raised by the state to hate your memory. There are plenty of examples in history of this happening."

On a more sober note, the author's daughter Sophia is her third child. The first two were killed in a car crash. Maybe it is this horrific loss that has helped focus Keller's mind on how much is possible, after all, and on how not to waste precious present moments by brooding about the past or future. --Regina Marler