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Book description: "High school isnt what it used to be. With record numbers of students competing fiercely to get into college, schools are no longer primarily places of learning. Theyre dog-eat-dog battlegrounds in which kids must set aside interests and passions in order to strategize over how to game the system. In this increasingly stressful environment, kids arent defined by their character or hunger for knowledge, but by often arbitrary scores and statistics."

"In The Overachievers, journalist Alexandra Robbins delivers a poignant, funny, riveting narrative that explores how our high-stakes educational culture has spiraled out of control. During the year of her ten-year reunion, Robbins returns to her high school, where she follows students. Robbins tackles hard-hitting issues such as the student and teacher cheating epidemic, over-testing, sports rage, the black market for study drugs, and a college admissions process so cutthroat that some students are driven to depression and suicide because of a B. "

I appreciated Robbins style of using real student's stories and backing them up with expert opinion, studies, and facts. Unforntunately, following a group of students' stories from beginning to end slowed the book down. I would have preferred a few stories about each student as a real world example of stress, pressure, suicide, crazy parents, kindergarten admissions, and so on.

Maybe too much detail was too much of a good thing. Still it's a good read for any parent of a future high schooler, especially one considering applying for an Ivy League (or West Coast equivalent) school.

Updated Sep 6, 2006

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24-Karat Kids: A Novel

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Book description: "Shelley Green, a nice top-of-her-class med school grad from Queens, has just been hired by the toniest, trendiest practice in Manhattan. A superb doctor, with a kid-friendly touch and a genius for diagnoses, Shelley soon becomes an Upper East Side necessity to the fabulously rich-with-kids crowd. Now shes dressing in Fendi, weekending in the Hamptons and baffling her schoolteacher fianc, Arthur, with her trappings of power and privilege. Shelley even takes the plunge and cheats with a blue-blood hunk who never seems to have his checkbook around. Finally, disgusted with East Side manic mommies, and busy, distant dads, Shelley begins to see the bleakness under the fashionable faade. Will she win back the love of her true-blue, but sorely tested fianc? Our moneys on Shelley. "

I predict that reading books is going to make a big come back due to the inavailability of iPods, GameBoys, and laptaps on commercial flights. In light of that, "24-Karat Kids" is perfect light plane reading. It's funny, well written, and very entertaining. The only disappointment is that the story seems too good to be true. But who cares when you're having fun?

Updated Sep 6, 2006

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The Early Birds: A Mother's Story for Our Times

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From the book description: "In the winter of 2002, Jenny Minton delivered twin boys. She was thirty-one weeks pregnant, and her boys, conceived through in vitro fertilization, were more than two months early. Both boys were placed on immediate life support, and for sixty-four days they hovered, critically ill, in the neonatal intensive care unit of a New York City hospital. The Early Birds is a record of their time there and the story of Minton’s harrowing, triumphant quest to bring her sons home."

It's a well written story of the ups and downs of fertility treatments and premature birth. (I've been there having given birth to a 33-weeker and a 36-weeker.) However, it doesn't go far enough. Jenny wonders if fertility treatments give rise to premature births and possible birth effects, but never nails down the evidence or only gives a glimpse of a few studies on this subject.

Honestly, this book needs a follow up in about 10 years. Did the fertility treatments result in a risky birth? Was the babies' prematurity cause for any worry down the road? If a child is conceived through "artificial" means, does this affect their intelligence, development and health? Jenny needs to take this story farther.

Updated Sep 6, 2006

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Happiness Sold Separately

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From the book description: "Elinor Mackey has always done the right things in the right order -- college, law school, career, marriage -- but now everything's going wrong. After two painful years of trying, Elinor has learned that she can't have children. All the doctors can tell her is that it's probably because of her age. As she turns forty, she withdraws into an interior world of heartbreak. Elinor's loving husband, Ted, a successful podiatrist, has always done the right thing, too. Then he meets the wrong woman at the wrong time, and does the wrong thing. Ted's lover, Gina -- a beautiful and kindhearted nutritionist -- always eats the right thing, but is unlucky in love and always falls for the wrong men. Soon Ted has to fight to make everything right again. Can Elinor and Ted's marriage be saved? The answer is alarmingly fresh and unexpected as New York Times bestselling author Lolly Winston introduces us to characters as memorable as those of Anne Tyler and Nick Hornby, but who are indelibly all her own. "

I found this fictional book a more honest reflection of the strains of infertility than I did with "The Early Birds." Well written, real characters, good dialog and a twist to the ending make this book an enjoyable read.

Updated Sep 6, 2006

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Mommies Who Drink: Sex, Drugs, and Other Distant Memories of an Ordinary Mom

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3 people recommended this item

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From the book description: "For young single women, every night is Ladies' Night. For Brett Paesel and her friends, Friday happy hour is all they get-if they can wrangle the babysitting. Like most mommies, they support each other through pregnancies, sleep deprivation, and the need to talk about it all. Instead of meeting at the playground, they convene at the local watering hole while sipping Black and Tans and flirting with the cute bartender."

I really enjoyed this book. Sometimes it's hard to believe it's non-fiction - it's so OUT THERE, especially the thoughts of big, hairy penises.

Mommies Who Drink is hilarious, real life, and down to earth. As the book goes on, Brett becomes more comfortable in motherhood, and her observations on parenthood become more endearing and poignant.

A great baby shower gift for the expantant, yet hip, mother.

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