I’ve been needing to start reviewing books here. My friend, Mary DeMuth (aka Relevant Girl), finally pushed me into it by giving me an ARC of her newest book, Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture.
(ARC is publisher’s jargon for Advanced Reading Copy.)
This book is really good. No kidding. It approaches parenting on four fronts. I’ll share the four fronts over the next few weeks so as to participate in her blog tour with several successive wave of folks. And to keep this post to a bloggy length.
First, Mary teaches about parenting with…
Good Stories from Real Life
There’s a strong element of this book that functions as a memoir for Mary. She tells wonderful stories from her experience as a parent, then interprets them for the reader.
This was a surprise to me, but it shouldn’t have been. After all, Mary’s first work of fiction, Watching the Tree Limbs, was nominated for a Christy award.
She is a wonderful storyteller. And I’ll be honest. The personal stories were hands down my favorite part of the book. Many of them come from her experiences in France where she and her husband spent some time as missionaries.
Here’s a taste of those stories: Her son won my heart with his generosity at a school bake sale. I laughed out loud when her seven-year-old daughter confessed she’s in love with a young school boy. (The horror! The horror!) Another time, her daughter silenced some critical French students on a tirade against America with a simple question, “When was the last time you visited America?” I could list a handful of vivid stories that are still with me.
Mary also demonstrates the power of narrative by allowing other voices to appear alongside her own. She publishes excerpts from personal emails and letters and phone calls that are filled with insight.
Authentic Parenting is definitely worth checking out! That’s it. No gimmics. No stars or jalenpenos or cowboy boots or glowing golden pens.
If you are looking for a book to encourage you as a parent and offer some practical tips about helping your kids develop an authentic faith, this is it.
Other folks participating in the first week of the Authentic Parenting Blog Tour:
- 5 Minutes for Mom
- Be a Barnabas
- Cheaper by the Half Dozen
- Christian Preschool Printables
- Christian Work at Home Moms
- Dawn Morton Nelson
- Getting Real
- Good Word Editing (me)
- Illuminating the Word Through FictionÂ
- Radiant LitÂ
- Simplifying Motherhood
- Snapshot
- Spaghettipie
- Spoiled for the Ordinary
- The Journey of Writer Danica Favorite
Note to readers: I’ve done my best to review the book objectively, but I need to provide full disclosure. Mary is my friend. After I met Mary online through her blog, I presented her name to the TheHighCalling.org as someone we should hire to write freelance articles for us on occasion. (Her first article for us hasn’t appeared yet.) Naturally, my motives for endorsing a friend’s book could be a bit suspect. Also, I’ve been working with Mary and Tina on organizing this blog tour in return for their letting me help them analyze the data. It’s all part of my sick hobby of trying to figure out how social media can be most effective.
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Well, I suppose there’s nothing better to do when you’re sick than to curl up with a good book.
Very interesting.
It doesn’t matter to me you know the writer as a friend.
In a way it helps me as a reader to trust what she says.
I wish her good luck with the book.
What is meant by ‘authenticity’ and ‘post-modernism’ in this case? I feel like po-mo is like a scareword in this context.
Yes, I also would appreciate a little more information about how the title describes both the culture and the work within.
Spaghettiepie has a good explanation that M Chesnut and Susan might appreciate.
m chesnut, always good to hear from you. You’re right. A lot of Christians–especially Christian Book Association customers–are afraid of postmodernism. They reduce it to relativism and see it as a threat to the concept of truth.
For me, authenticity is about admitting my own lack of certainty. I don’t mind saying I believe in something with my gut. And that I ultimately have a lot of rational thought to support my belief.
But I hesitate to say, What I believe is demonstrably and assuredly true.
It’s not. It’s a passionate belief. A core belief. A belief that has changed my life. But a belief none the less.
L.L., you are absolutely right about Spaghettipie. She’s got some good stuff on her new Wordpress blog. : )
Susan, chapter 12 is titled “An Authenticity.” Here’s what I think Mary means by that, “The truth is, we are broken beings. To pretend otherwise is lying.” You should read the book ; )
As for Mary’s take on Postmodernism, she wisely avoids taking a direct stand on the issue. It is still a hot button for the CBA audience, and she knows it. So rather than argue for or against it, she just says, “As parents raising children who will live, breathe, labor, marry and raise our grandchildren in the context of postmodernity, we owe it to them to take a careful look at what it is.”
Laane, glad to have you visit! And I appreciate the benefit of the doubt toward my review here.
Aha! I found the review-and I like. I definitely will click now
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