Recommended Reading: Books
General Development
- Your Baby’s First Year Week by Week, by Glade B. Curtis and Judith Schuler
- Heading Home with Your Newborn, by Penelope Leach (AAP publication)
- Your Baby and Child: from Birth to Age Five (Revised Edition, AAP publication)
- Touchpoints, by T. Berry Brazelton
Breastfeeding
- The American Academy of Pediatrics New Mother’s Guide to Breastfeeding (Revised Edition), by Joan Younger Meek
Nutrition
- Superfoods for Babies, by Annabel Karmel
- Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense, by Ellyn Satter
- How to Get Your Child to Eat but Not Too Much, by Ellyn Satter
Sleep
- Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problems, by Richard Ferber
- Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, by Marc Weissbluth
- The No-Cry Sleep Solution, by Elizabeth Pantley
Parenting
- SOS: Help for Parents, by Lynn Clark (time-out)
- Positive Discipline, by Jane Nelson
- 1-2-3 Magic, by Thomas Phelan
- How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk, by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish
- The Parents We Mean to Be, by Richard Weissbourd.
- Premise: we need to help our children be “good,” not “happy.”
- The Blessing of a Skinned Knee and The Blessing of a B Minus, by Wendy Mogel
- Premise: parents need to give their children the chance to fail in order to build resilience and self-achievement
- Playful Parenting, by Lawrence Cohen
- Premise: sometimes a sense of humor and getting down on the floor and playing is the best thing we can do for our children
- Siblings without Rivalry, by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish
- Raising Your Spirited Child Rev Ed: A Guide for Parents Whose Child is More Intense, Sensitive, Perceptive, Persistent, and Energetic, by Sheedy Kurcinka
- The Explosive Child, A New Approach For Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children, by Ross Greene, Ph.D.
Body Awareness
- First Human Body Encyclopedia, DK First Reference Series
- General information about how the body works
- Amazing You! Getting Smart about your Private Parts, by Gail Saltz
- For younger children
- It’s Not the Stork, by Robbie H. Harris
Puberty/Adolescent Development
- The Care and Keeping of You 1: The Body Book for Younger Girls, by Valerie Schaefer (age 8 and older)
- The Care and Keeping of You 2: The Body Book for Older Girls, by Cara Natterson (age 10 and older)
- The Feelings Book (Revised): The Care and Keeping of Your Emotions, by Linda Madison (age 8 and older)
- What’s Happening to My Body? Books for Girls, Revised Edition, by Linda Madaras and Area Madaras
- What’s Happening to My Body? Book for Boys, Revised Edition, by Linda Madaras and Area Madaras
- American Medical Association Boys’ Guide to Becoming a Teen, by Amy Middleman, Kate Gruenwald Pfeifer
- It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie H. Harris
Parenting: Raising Girls
- Things Will Be Different for My Daughter: A Practical Guide to Building Her Self-Esteem and Self-Reliance, by Mindy Bingham, Sandy Stryker, Susan Allstetter Neufeldt
- Girl Wars: 12 Strategies That Will End Female Bullying, by Cheryl Dellasega and Charisse Nixon
- Odd Girl Speaks Out: Girls Write about Bullies, Cliques, Popularity and Jealousy, by Rachel Simmons
- Queen Bees and Wannabes, by Rosalind Wiseman
- Little Girls can be Mean, by Michelle Anthony and Reyna Lindert
- Lisa Damour Untangled, by Lisa Damour
Parenting: Raising Boys
- Raising Cain, by Michael Thompson
- The Men They will Become: The Nature and Nurture of Male Character, by Eli Newberger
- It’s a Boy! Your Son’s Development from Birth to Age 18, by Michael Thompson
- Speaking of Boys, by Michael Thompson
Social Emotional Health/Younger Children
- How are You Peeling, by Saxton Freymann
- The Way I Feel, by Janan Cain
- Today I Feel Silly, by Jamie Lee Curtis
- The Way I Feel Books, by Cornelia Maude Spelman, LICSW
- Moody Cow Meditates, by Kerry Lee MacLean
- I am Peace: A Book of Mindfulness, by Susan Verde
- When Sophie Gets Angry – Really, Really Angry, by Molly Bang
- Mean Soup, by Betsy Everitt
- Chocolate Covered Cookie Tantrum, by Deborah Blumenthal
- If You’re Angry and You Know It, by Cecily Kaiser
- When Mommy Was Mad, by Lynne Jonell
Managing Emotions
- What To Do When Your Temper Flares, by Dawn Huebner
- This series has many other books on managing other emotions such as worry, fairness, making mistakes, bad habits and more.
Anxiety
- What To Do When You Worry Too Much, By Dawn Huebner
- 6-12 year olds
- Helping Your Anxious Child, by Ronald Rapee, Ann Wignall, et. al
ADHD/Executive Function
- ADHD, 3rd Edition, What Every Parent Needs to Know, by Mark Wolraich and Joseph Hagan (AAP)
- Driven to Distraction, by Ned Hallowell
- Super Parenting for ADHD, by Ned Hallowell
- ADHD Now, by Elaine Taylor-Klaus and Diane Dempster
- Taking Charge of ADHD: The Complete Authoritative Guide for Parents, by Russell Barkley
- Smart But Scattered: The Revolutionary “Executive Skills” Approach to Helping Kids Reach Their Potential, by Peg Dawson and Richard Guare
Death
- The Fall of Freddie the Leaf, by Leo Buscaglia
- Talking with Children about Loss, by Maria Trozzi
Recommended Reading: Websites
General Resources
Media
- Common Sense Media
- Website to rate and describe appropriateness of movies, apps, electronics.
Raising Children
- Making Caring Common
- Website of a program through the Harvard Graduate School of Education on how to raise caring, ethical children. Resources on bullying, relationship issues, gender identity and more.
Teenage Health
- For teenagers
- For parents
- Talking to Your Kids About Sex (AACAP)
Autism
LGBTQ
Younger Drivers
- Checkpoints (U. Michigan, CDC)
Parenting & Psychosocial Development
- Podcasts on social emotional development in children:
Special Needs/Planning
Orthopedics