Review of The Myth of Good Christian Parenting, by Marissa Franks Burt and Kelsey Kramer McGinnis

Christian, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

The Myth of Good Christian Parenting

How False Promises Betrayed a Generation of Evangelical Families

by Marissa Franks Burt and Kelsey Kramer McGinnis

Brazos Press, 2025. 225 pages.
Review written November 8, 2025, from my own copy, preordered on Amazon.com
Starred Review

This is a book that every Christian parent should read – to equip them to evaluate other “Christian” parenting books.

I preordered this book because I was already an avid follower of Marissa Franks Burt on Twitter – as she creates reels analyzing problematic Christian parenting content, explaining what’s harmful about it in a matter-of-fact way and spotlighting teaching that’s hurtful.

This book has research behind it. It examines “the history and theological assumptions behind ‘biblical’ family-life teaching, including the resulting impact.”

Together, we decided to take our study further. We set out to read primary sources, trace how different ideas developed, identify patterns across them, and consider the dynamics of American evangelicalism, which is itself a complicated subject to write about. We wanted to offer a careful theological analysis and historical survey in order to help those touched by these resources examine the impact. We don’t aim to speak authoritatively about every individual’s experience, especially since it’s impossible to state with certainty to what extent families adopted these ideas in practice. Our goal isn’t to take down any particular figure or to suggest that there was nothing of merit in any of these resources. That said, we do think it is high time to hold the teachers, pastors, writers, influencers, and self-platformed Christian parenting “experts” accountable for propagating some sweeping myths about parenthood (and, in some cases, about Christian faith itself). We also hope this book offers access points for readers to understand their own experiences and formation.

We wanted to hear directly from people who were impacted by the principles of popular Christian parenting books, so we conducted an informal survey with open-ended questions and invited adult children and parents to share their perspectives. We also interviewed some of the respondents. One thing quickly became clear: People felt betrayed by these teachings. We have included excerpts from the survey responses and interviews throughout the book; these are published with the participants’ permission.

The authors explain how the Christian parenting industry grew, playing on parents’ fears and desires for their children:

Christian parenting resources depend on promises made to parents: If you get it right, then there will be desired results – if not now, then somewhere down the road. The potent expectation for children to be discipled into right belief and right practice from infancy on up keeps families working hard, powered by everything from board books about systematic theology to prayer guides for grandparents.

Christian “experts” – often self-credentialed and self-platformed – explain how to bring meaning to the mundane, to wrangle the chaos of family life, to “do” parenting with excellence.

The book has three parts. First, it explains how the Christian Parenting Empire was built. Then the meat of the book is in the second part, looking at the central myths of Good Christian Parenting. And the final section looks at where we go from here, looking at the data about the fruit of these parenting methods, but also giving the reader solid guidelines for evaluating parenting materials for their own families.

The central myths covered include “Umbrellas of Authority” – about authoritarian structures with the man (and often the pastor) in charge; “Who’s in Charge Here?” – more about controlling children and making them comply with instant, cheerful obedience; “Are Children Human?” – looking at these teachings from the perspective of children as fellow human beings – and particularly vulnerable ones – with their own autonomy; “Sinners from Their Mothers’ Wombs” – this one is about seeing natural childish behavior as sinful and wicked; and “Spare the Rod” – about spanking taught as God’s design or even God’s command.

I could say a lot about my reactions to each of these topics – these authors have said it for me, though! Please, if you’re tempted to hit your child, with a “rod” or anything else, take the time to read through this book – it will help you think through what you’re doing, beyond blindly being told it’s God’s one right way.

I’ve already written about my own evangelical upbringing when I reacted to the video series “Shiny Happy People” about folks brought up in the Bill Gothard seminars. I called my blog series “Shiny Happy Childhood.” Especially relevant to this book was the post I did about spanking and my own experience with it. I mentioned that I attended Bill Gothard seminars from a young age. Also, when I was a teen, my church did a film series of James Dobson’s teachings.

I have to say that by the time I was a parent myself, I was not at all a fan of James Dobson and Focus on the Family. (When they came out against the Family and Medical Leave Act during the Clinton years because it was “bad for business” it made their whole “focus” questionable to me.) My then-husband had a similar background to mine, and we had both experienced spankings from the child’s perspective, and neither of us wanted to do that to our own children. A Christian friend said that they would slap their child’s hand and say “No!” – so we tried that for a bit. I put an end to it the day my toddler hit their head on a table, looked at the table, said “No!” and slapped the table. Did I want to teach my child to hit? No, I did not. We found other ways.

I also appreciate and will never forget something my mother-in-law said. My own mother had often said that my baby brothers and sisters showed that we are born with a sin nature. (That myth about “Sinners from Their Mother’s Wombs”) My mother-in-law, though, told me about an article she’d read that said that toddlers saying “No!” are learning self-autonomy. It became a joke. When my child was being difficult, we’d chant “Self-autonomy!” This matched some other resources I was reading – I admit I was avoiding Christian parenting resources because of my own experience – but making it a phrase I would remember in the heat of the moment was thanks to my mother-in-law. The whole idea that a toddler’s defiance is a natural developmental step as they learn they are their own person – that was an important lesson for me as a young mother.

So I mostly read this book for perspective on the way I was parented. It was healing to read well-reasoned arguments about what, exactly, is unhealthy about so many of those myths.

Something that turned me off of Focus on the Family and similar organizations long ago was when they put the “Christian” or “biblical” label on something that Christians had many different opinions about. And that’s the same thing with so many of these Christian parenting resources. They try to put the authority of the Bible behind their own particular interpretation of the Bible. And then they tell parents that their kids’ eternal souls will suffer if they don’t follow their teachings exactly. They tie up heavy loads and place them on parents’ shoulders.

This book will lift the burden. For parents of young children, it can help you evaluate parenting resources, and it can help you work through thoughts and feelings about your own parents’ beliefs, and if you have older kids, it can help you think through your own parenting choices. Highly recommended.

[I’d love to say more about some of the content in this book, but am not sure even where to begin, so let me encourage anyone else who reads this book to leave a comment.]

marissaburt.com
kkramermcginnis.com

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Review of The Five Sides of Marjorie Rice, by Amy Alznauer, illustrated by Anna Bron

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, Mathematical, Starred Review 0

The Five Sides of Marjorie Rice

How to Discover a Shape

by Amy Alznauer
illustrated by Anna Bron

Candlewick Press, 2025. 48 pages.
Review written October 3, 2025, from a book sent to me by the publisher.
Starred Review

Like another book I recently reviewed, Firefly Song, The Five Sides of Marjorie Rice is a picture book biography of a citizen scientist, a woman who made a notable discovery, even though she didn’t have formal training in that field. Marjorie Rice now has a special place in my heart, because in her case, the field was math.

The biography tells us how Marjorie Rice read an article in Scientific American by Martin Gardner and then got captivated with the idea of finding more five-sided convex shapes that tile a plane. And the stellar art by Anna Bron helps make it clear to the reader what this means.

We learn how she was inspired when a new tiling was discovered – to then search for new five-sided shapes of her own that would work. And she went on to find four of fifteen pentagon types that tile the plane. (Years later, other mathematicians found two more, and then another proved that there were no more.)

This amateur mathematician’s life is especially suited for a picture book biography because her work was so visual – and the artist did a great job of using pentagon tilings throughout the book. Back matter not only tells about the pentagon discoveries after Marjorie, they also give the reader great ideas for exploring shapes, tilings, and tessellations further.

I love that this is the story of a housewife with a curious and playful mind (if perhaps a somewhat obsessive one).

Oh look! I’m ready to post this review and looked up the author’s website. She has an MFA in Creative Writing and also teaches calculus and number theory. This makes me feel like she’s a kindred spirit with me, since I have Master’s degrees in Mathematics and in Library Science – not a typical combination. This explains her excellent picture book biographies of mathematicians. I’m going to keep watching for her books.

amyalz.com
candlewick.com

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Review of The Cassatt Sisters, by Lisa Groen

Fiction Review, Historical, Starred Review 0

The Cassatt Sisters

A Novel of Love and Art

by Lisa Groen

Black Rose Writing, 2025. 260 pages.
Review written November 5, 2025, from my own copy, ordered via Amazon.com
Starred Review

Full disclosure: The author of this book is a friendly acquaintance of mine. She was a regular customer back when I worked at Sembach Air Base Library in Germany, and we became Facebook friends, and I read and enjoyed her first book, The Mother’s Book of Well-Being.

So when I heard that she’d written a novel about the Impressionists, of course I preordered a copy!

Now, I didn’t know a lot about the Impressionists except having been thrilled to enjoy their work in Paris at the Musée de l’Orangerie and the Musée d’Orsay – which together are my favorite museums in Paris, or, yes, in the world. So I enjoyed finding out more – and especially about Mary Cassatt, the only American woman among the Impressionists.

This book covers her life beginning in 1877. Mary Cassatt had already been living in Paris, working to establish herself as an artist, living with her sister Lydia and her parents. They had settled in Paris as well, to support her. Mary’s close relationship with Lydia is a primary thread all through this book. Lydia was her muse, and often the subject of her work.

But the book begins with her admiring the work of Edgar Degas, meeting him, beginning to work with him – and starting a romantic relationship.

Now, honestly, if that were all there was to it, the book might have been a little trite. Let’s just say the relationship doesn’t last, and Mary coping with that – while grappling with who she is as an artist – deepens and enriches the book.

And life as an artist wasn’t the same for Mary as it was for the male Impressionists. Nor was it the same as for Berthe Morisot, who was a mother. This story of Mary Cassatt’s life, work, loves, and ambitions, makes the reader think about women and our place in the world – and how things have changed and not changed in 150 years.

I did laugh when Mary called Monet’s Water Lilies glorified wallpaper – apparently an actual comment of hers. The book included black-and-white reproductions of the specific paintings that got mentioned, which added richness to the narrative, since art was such an important part of Mary’s life. Another thing I thought was funny was when Mary used her nieces and nephews as models – and then her mother wouldn’t let her “sell the grandchildren.” She was more limited than the men in whom she could use as models – and then her mother didn’t want her to sell the paintings of family. What’s a woman to do?

By the end of the book, I felt like I’d spent time in Paris – only in such a way that I really need to go back as soon as possible. I will look at the Impressionists’ art with new eyes, now feeling like they are interesting individuals with personalities, instead of one big group. This book, as happens with the very best historical fiction, made these great artists of history come alive in my mind.

lisagroen.com
blackrosewriting.com

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Review of That Self-Same Metal, by Brittany N. Williams, read by Patricia Allison

Historical, Paranormal, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

That Self-Same Metal

by Brittany N. Williams
read by Patricia Allison

OrangeSky Audio, 2023. 10 hours, 31 minutes.
Review written August 4, 2023, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

That Self-Same Metal is a historical fantasy set in the time of Shakespeare, in fact, among Shakespeare’s acting company, The King’s Men. This book happens in 1605, shortly after King James has taken the throne – and the patronage of Shakespeare’s company. Our heroine is Joan Sands, a Black girl with a magical ability to manipulate metals, a gift given to her by her Head Orisha, Ogun. She not only makes swords for the company, but she stages their swordfights. Her twin brother James is an apprentice with the players, taking women’s roles, because of course it’s illegal for women to perform on stage.

Joan and James, as followers of the Orisha, have always been able to see when the Fae are among them, because they give off a glow under their skin. But they know that Fae cannot harm humankind. However, Joan’s godfather tells her that he needs to renew the pact between the Fae and the new king – and then he is arrested. The pact is not in effect, and Fae very much begin to harm people.

When Joan defends herself and others using blades she’s coated in iron, she makes some powerful enemies, both among the Fae and in the royal court. Can she protect her family and those she loves from these enemies?

It’s all played out in a well-drawn historical setting, with Shakespeare himself one of the characters, and his plays going on in the Globe theater. It turns out the characters from A Midsummer Night’s Dream are based on actual Fae, but they are quite different than he portrayed them. Joan’s adventures include needing to step in and act when James is injured, hoping no one will notice the difference, and watching another play with the queen and her ladies, who treat her like an exotic pet. And she’s not sure what to make of her attraction to one of the handsome players as well as to a mysterious girl who asks for her brother’s help.

It’s all woven together in a way that hooked me, and the narrator’s British accent is a delight. The author clearly did her research – naming the characters who were actual people at the end of the book.

My one word of warning is that there are some excessively gory scenes, so you may not want to listen if you get squeamish easily. They did establish that the stakes were very high.

There is a reversal at the end, and yes, I will want to read or hopefully listen to the next installment.

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Review of Creaky Acres, by Calista Brill & Nilah Magruder

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Graphic Novel, Starred Review 0

Creaky Acres

by Calista Brill and Nilah Magruder

Kokila, 2025. 268 pages.
Review written October 15, 2025, from a copy sent to me by the publisher.
Starred Review

Creaky Acres is a sweet graphic novel about moving – with a horse. Nora is in upper elementary school, and as the book opens, we see her saying good-by to friends at school – and then much more warmly to her friends at the barn. Her horse, Hay Fever, has many blue ribbons by his stall.

Their first stop at their new home is Hay Fever’s new barn, Creaky Acres. Nora is not impressed. There’s a goat and possums roaming around, and one kid rides on a cow. And they don’t even go to riding events. Nora’s the only Black girl in the whole school.

So this is a book about learning to love a new place, and it’s got all kinds of charm. Although Nora has won plenty of riding events in the past and takes care to do things right, now she’s got a persistent problem of not keeping her eyes up when she goes over jumps.

We watch Nora make quirky new friends and come to terms with Creaky Acres, and even lead a team to a riding event. This is one of those books that will leave you with a smile.

calistabrill.com
nilahmagruder.com

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Review of Hell Bent, by Brian Recker

Christian, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

Hell Bent

How the Fear of Hell Holds Christians Back from a Spirituality of Love

by Brian Recker

Tarcher (Penguin Random House), 2025. 253 pages.
Review written November 1, 2025, from my own copy, purchased via Amazon.com
Starred Review

A great big thank you to my friend Nathan from church for bringing this book to my attention!

In the 1990s, despite all I’d been taught growing up, I let the writer George MacDonald persuade me that God will save everyone. That there is no such thing as everlasting conscious torment after death. Because a loving God would not do such an unjust thing. There may be judgment after death, but it will be restorative and will end when every tongue gladly confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord. (See David Bentley Hart’s translation of Philippians 2.)

Since then, I’ve read many, many more books about universalism and why this view is biblical – and even historical. I’ve got a whole webpage of reviews of those books.

But this new book by Brian Recker, although, yes, explaining why we can get the message of universalism from the Bible, also explains how belief in hell has infested the message of the church and damaged our witness. And he gives a beautiful vision of changing that.

He talks about the things I slowly discovered after I first started believing universalism. That it’s harder to dismiss your neighbor when you think he’s going to wind up in heaven with you some day. That it’s easier to listen to the opinions of others when you don’t think having exactly the right opinion saves you. But most of all, that it’s easier to love yourself and enjoy your own quirks without guilt when you don’t think God is keeping accounts, making sure that every small sin you commit is confessed so that it can be paid for with Jesus’ blood. For that matter, it’s easier to think of God as a loving Father if you don’t think someone has to die before God can forgive you.

Here’s how Brian Recker puts it in his Introduction:

In this book, I’ll explain why hell is not a biblical doctrine, but I want to go further than that. I want to trace how hell corrupts our spirituality to the very core. When I refer to the spirituality of hell, I mean more than just the belief that everyone who is not a born-again Christian will burn in hell. This is a toxic theology. But this toxic theology also creates a toxic spirituality – a misshapen way of relating to God, others, and yourself. The spirituality of hell is fear-based. It is motivated by avoiding punishment and rescuing other people from a punishing God. It results in guilt, shame, judgment, alienation, condemnation, othering, superiority, and paternalism – and it calls these things righteousness. If your spirituality is animated by hell, you may feel at your most holy right at the very moment you’re behaving at your most unloving. I have had countless conversations with people whose parents disowned them in the name of saving their eternal souls. These parents literally cast their children aside and called it love. Their love is twisted by hell – it is hell bent.

Brian covers the topic in three parts. Part One talks about “how hell corrupts Christian spirituality by disconnecting us from God, ourselves, and others.”

A punishing God can only be loved in the way a child can love an abusive parent. It is a love soaked through with fear. As feminist theorist bell hooks writes in her book All About Love, “There is nothing that creates more confusion about love in the minds and hearts of children than unkind and/or cruel punishment meted out by the grown-ups they have been taught they should love and respect. Such children learn early on to question the meaning of love, to yearn for love even as they doubt it exists.” If God is both love and a punisher, we learn to question the meaning of love. We may not realize it, but we can even begin to doubt that love exists. If God is punishing, then reality is fundamentally punishing, not loving.

On the positive side:

The gospel – the good news – is that you are already loved and accepted. That’s the message of grace at the heart of Christianity. You don’t have to do anything to be loved. Not anything at all. The work is always to receive it, to believe it. You don’t need to “be saved” to be loved. Salvation is just a way of describing the moment we come to know and believe that we are already loved, that we have always been loved. And our belovedness is not in spite of who we are but simply because we are worthy of love.

In Part Two, he talks about what the Bible actually says about heaven, hell, and universal reconciliation. This part covers in four chapters what other whole books talk about, but does a nice job. (If it’s not enough, check out my Exploring Universalism webpage for more!)

He talks about the words in the original languages written in the Bible – which did not mean eternal conscious torment. He talks about what drew me to universalism after reading George MacDonald – the many, many “all” verses of the New Testament. Jesus as the Savior of the world.

But this story of ultimate reconciliation is not just a stack of Bible verses. It is a key theme of the whole Bible, and it is essential to how we relate to God. We connect to God and love God because God first loves us. God is not a punisher; God is a healer. We fail, but God’s steadfast love “endures forever” – Psalm 136 repeats this truth twenty-six times! The redundant message doesn’t make for the most subtle poetry, but some truths need to be drilled into thick skulls. Despite the way that Christian history shows how we are experts at missing the point, those who know God best have always known that at the very heart of God is unfailing love.

And we can see it all in Jesus.

The Father does not judge but entrusts judgment to Jesus. And Jesus does not judge like we judge. We’re the ones who punish. We judge by human standards of retribution. Only in the last few decades have people begun to formally study how restorative justice methods compare to those of retributive justice, and the data from these experiments in our penal systems confirm what Jesus has said all along: Retribution doesn’t work. Retributive justice is no justice at all. It is revenge.

Part Three is about “A Spirituality of Love.” He starts with questions:

What’s the point of Jesus if there’s no hell? Why did Jesus die if not to save us from hell? What does it even mean to be saved? And how should Christians think about other religions if there is no hell?

And in exploring those questions, he gives us a vision of a loving, joyful spirituality without the taint of hell.

So yes, this is a book about hell, but it’s not just about hell. In fact, it is about the beautiful possibilities that can still exist for us within Christian spirituality. I believe Christian spirituality can reflect the very love that Jesus showed – a love that connects us to the best parts of ourselves. A love that can save the world.

I was left inspired by this book. I want to reread it, but will probably wait until I have transcribed the many quotes I marked onto my Sonderquotes blog. There is a study guide on Brian Recker’s website, and I do think it would make for wonderful small group discussion.

Now is a time for excitement. Without the shroud of punishment, we are invited to explore the beautiful world that opens up before us. You are not bound to your past. Your spirituality does not have to conform to the patterns you were raised with. You are able to listen to your wild, wise heart. You are able to hear the voice of God. God is not disappointed in you and is not going to punish you for straying outside of the lines. You are invited to follow the Spirit with courage, curiosity, and compassion into a love without fear.

May it be so.

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Review of Song of a Blackbird, by Maria van Lieshout

Graphic Novel, Historical, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Song of a Blackbird

by Maria van Lieshout

First Second, 2025. 256 pages.
Review written October 27, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

This historical teen graphic novel is set in Amsterdam in 1943 and 2011, with maps on the endpapers showing important buildings in the city at both time periods. Notes at the back tell how the author took actual historical people and incidents to craft this story of Annick’s grandmother, who learns when being tested for a bone marrow match that the people she thought were her siblings aren’t related to her at all. Annick sets out to learn her grandmother’s background, using a series of prints of buildings in Amsterdam to lead her to the truth.

And we get a parallel story of a young woman in 1943 Amsterdam who learned that Jewish people were being deported, possibly to their deaths, and got involved with a group who were saving children from this fate. And then she got involved with a group of printers who were forging documents, because a priest wouldn’t take one more boy unless they had more ration cards.

There are more adventures in 1943, including a bank heist (based on an actual heist), but also some executions. In 2011, Annick follows the pictures to find out what really happened to her grandmother during the war.

It’s all skillfully done. A blackbird narrates both time periods, representing hope and art. Maria van Lieshout uses actual historical photographs of buildings in Amsterdam in the 1943 sections. And she makes you care about the children and about those who risked their lives in the resistance. The author goes back and forth between time periods smoothly, and helps us understand that the story plays out in the same city, in the same buildings, almost 70 years apart.

This graphic novel is a stunning work of art that makes a powerful statement.

vanlieshoutstudio.com
firstsecondbooks.com

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Review of Zero! The Number That Almost Wasn’t, by Sarah Albee, illustrated by Chris Hsu

Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Mathematical, Starred Review 0

Zero!

The Number That Almost Wasn’t

by Sarah Albee
illustrated by Chris Hsu

Charlesbridge, 2025. 40 pages.
Review written July 11, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

Fun fact: When Europeans set up the calendar we use today, they did not include a Year Zero. The year after 1 BC was 1 AD. Of course, they were given these names long, long after they happened. But because Europeans didn’t understand zero when they developed the calendar – the Twenty-first Century didn’t actually start until the year 2001. I tried to wrote a short article about this and tried to sell it to children’s magazines in 1999 and 2000, with no success. And I have to admit that switching from 1999 to 2000 feels much more momentous than switching from 2000 to 2001, even if it wasn’t actually the new century yet.

Anyway, all my thinking about when the century started sprang from the moment I learned that Europeans didn’t adopt the symbol zero or even the concept of zero until well past the Middle Ages – and that’s what this book is about.

This picture book explains the history of Zero in a way children can understand. (Yes, without touching on questions of what that means about the start of centuries.) It talks briefly about the concept of Nothing and the concept of Place Value, but it’s mostly about the history of writing numbers.

We hear about the Babylonians – who did use a place value and a mark for an “empty” place. We hear about the Greeks, who were especially strong in astronomy and geometry. The Mayans developed zero earlier than anyone else – but their knowledge was lost when Spanish invaders destroyed their records. Roman numerals came along next, which was difficult for doing complex calculations. But during the Dark Ages in Europe, mathematics thrived in India, where an unknown mathematician invented a symbol for zero.

The concept of zero spread to Baghdad, the center of the Muslim Empire – and writings from Arabic mathematicians took advantage of the concept, developing the field of Algebra.

The book chronicles all this, plus how long it took Europeans to adopt the concept. Sadly, some Christians were even then opposed to an advance of knowledge:

A few Christian leaders actually banished zero. They argued that God had created everything, so something that represented nothing must be the work of the devil.

Finally, the invention of the printing press helped the Hindu-Arabic number system spread as people came to appreciate how much it facilitates doing mathematics.

All that is present in this picture book, with engaging cartoon illustrations. There are even notes at the back about historical details present in the illustrations.

Those who read this book will get a grasp on the mind-blowing fact that Zero had to be invented, and was actually invented much later than you’d think it was. You’ll never take Nothing for granted again.

sarahalbeebooks.com
chrishsu.net

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Review of The Book Club for Troublesome Women, by Marie Bostwick

Fiction Review, Historical, Starred Review 0

The Book Club for Troublesome Women

by Marie Bostwick
read by Lisa Flanagan

Harper Muse, 2025. 11 hours, 10 minutes.
Review written October 13, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

I loved this one. In many ways it’s a standard story of four women bonding through the ups and downs of life because they’ve come together in a book club. But this book adds something special because they begin meeting in the early 1960s, and the first book they read together is The Feminine Mystique, by Betty Friedan.

So the book isn’t simply about enduring friendships through life’s difficulties. It’s also about a woman’s role and society’s expectations for women.

The setting is a fictional suburb in northern Virginia called Concordia – that fits right in with the suburbs found here today. The four women of the book club are chafing under the expectations of running a home and caring for their husband and kids. One wants to be a writer, another wants to get her art into galleries, another wanted to be a veterinarian – but got married and dropped out of school shortly before getting her Bachelor’s in order to help establish her husband’s practice. And the fourth is a former combat nurse who now has six kids – and gets pregnant because she wasn’t able to get birth control pills without her husband’s permission, and he hadn’t gotten around to coming to the appointment yet.

A couple of the women have good relationships with their husbands, despite some ups and downs and working things out. A couple of them have very bad relationships with their husbands. The writer gets a job writing a column for a women’s magazine – but they only want her to write fluff pieces. The high point of the book is when she decides to write an honest essay about what The Feminine Mystique and the book club have meant to her.

I loved listening to this book right from the start. It got me thinking about my life and my mother’s life. My mother got married at the end of 1960, and I, her third child, was born in 1964 – so she was navigating marriage right in this time period. My mom did not achieve the perfect house and family – she had way too many kids to keep up (ending up with thirteen) – but she desperately wanted to. My mom would decidedly not have joined this book club, being staunchly against feminism, and despite the fact she didn’t meet society’s expectations for a housewife, she did pass those expectations on to me. So something else I had to deal with after I got married was realizing I couldn’t afford to be a stay-at-home mom even if I wanted to be. And keeping a clean house and good meals? An always failing proposition. In so many ways it was crazily liberating when my husband left me – because it pretty much threw out all those expectations, and I got to find out how truly wonderful a meaningful career can be.

But of course it’s all more complicated than can be put into a paragraph. Or an essay. But a novel – that’s a wonderful format to explore how attitudes were changing for women in the early 1960s and all that could mean for individuals.

And besides all that thought-provoking stuff, these characters were so much fun to get to know and spend time with. Troublesome women can be very entertaining! Highly recommended!

mariebostwick.com

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/book_club_for_troublesome_women.html

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Zip Zap Wickety Wack, by Matthew Diffee

Delightfully Silly, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Zip Zap Wickety Wack

A Story About Sharing

by Matthew Diffee

Neal Porter Books (Holiday House), 2025. 48 pages.
Review written October 24, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

This absolutely brilliant picture book makes me want to do story times again.

I’ve always loved books that subvert animal sounds. The classic Bark, George! by Jules Feiffer, was one of the first books my kid could read. And I loved to bring out The Cow That Went Oink, by Bernard Most, for story times. Zip Zap Wickety Wack reminds me of Froodle, by Antoinette Portis, which was a big hit when I gave it to my nieces. [Look at that! Froodle was also edited by Neal Porter. No wonder the similar brilliance.]

In this case, the book begins very deadpan. Completely traditional pictures and standard text tell us:

The cow says, “Moo.”
The horse says, “Neigh.”
The sheep says, “Baa.”

Could have been written in the 1950s! Except on that very same page, the goat is looking up at the sheep picture above him.

The goat says, “Wait a second. I say baa.”

So there’s an argument. They don’t want to share.

They start thinking of other things they could say, but oink, quack, cockadoodledoo and ribbit are already taken.

So the sheep declares that he will think of something that no one has ever said. He does a lot of thinking and then gets a full spread declaring:

“Zip Zap Wickety Wack
Bing Bang Walla Balla
Flip Flap Yackety Yack
Wing Ding Dilly!”

See why I want to read this book in story time?

But the book is only beginning to get silly at this point, because on the next spread we see a very small flying saucer coming to the farm. The alien inside says:

I hate to be a bother, but zip zap wickety wack bing bang walla balla flip flap yackety yack wing ding dilly is what I say. Why don’t you just wiffle?”

It turns out that wiffling is alienese for sharing.

And how they work it out is still completely deadpan and utterly hilarious.

And kids learn about sharing at the same time!

Trust me, you’ll want to find this book, and if you can read it without reading aloud, you have more self-control than I do.

matthewdiffee.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/zip_zap_wickety_wack.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?