Building your wishlist: Valuable parenting books, recommended by readers

Not all parenting books are created equal. Some provide practical, actionable advice. Buy this stroller. Put baby on her back for sleeping. Some dig in to the cultural context within which we are parenting. Others provide insights into child development, which can shed light on why living with kids can be so difficult, and goes hand in hand with discipline strategies. And some help you feel less alone, more capable, or so empowered that they inspire you to give the book to someone who really needs it.

When we asked you guys which parenting books you recommend, we got some of each.

1) Baby 411; 2) The Happiest Baby on the Block (a Rookie Moms favorite, though we recommend the DVD even more strongly); 3) Brain Rules for Baby; 4) Free Range Kids

5) The Your # Year Old series by Ames.

Your Two-Year-Old: Terrible or Tender ; Your Three-Year-Old: Friend or Enemy; Your Four Year Old: Wild and Wonderful

“The 3 year old one literally kept me sane when my kids hit 3.5,” said one reader.

6) Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood
7) The Blessing of a Skinned Knee: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children
8) Buddhism for Motherhood
9) Whole Brain Child

10) Minimalist Parenting (See our review of this one, and file under “makes me feel capable”)

11) I was a really good mom before I had kids
12) The Girlfriend’s Guide to Surviving the First Year of Motherhood (This one is old, maybe a little dated, but I loved it and it made me laugh out loud. Requires a sense of humor.)
13) Eat Sleep Poop
14) Parent Fatigue Syndrome “Very different than the others!” says our contributor Olivia. The subtitle is “What to do when conventional wisdom is not very wise.”
15) Mama Zen: Walking the Crooked Path of Parenthood
16) I just want to pee alone is a series of essays by the very funny blogger Jen from People I Want to Punch In the Throat. One reader says a copy of this book goes along with each one-year old gift she gives. “It’s the light-hearted laughter that a new momma needs.”

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Whitney

RookieMoms.com co-founder Whitney lives with her husband, son, and daughter in the San Francisco Bay Area where she writes about parenting, crafts, and activities that moms can do with babies in tow. She and Heather also publish 510Families.com, a site for East Bay parents.