Grab a cup of tea, curl up on the couch and enjoy our Baby Project Book Club selections and reviews for February! 

Love in the Time of Contempt: Consolations for Parents of Teenagers by Joanne Fedler (Hardie Grant Publishing, $22.50)

It’s enough to make the toughest parent tremble: changing bodies, drinking and drugs, sex, friendships, appearance, family relationships, attitudes and ethics, schooling and authority. Welcome to the teenage years. If you are the parents of teenagers, grab a copy of Love in a Time of Contempt, if only for its comforting and informal tone! It’s also packed with heaps of information from a variety of experts, mixed with personal experience, and will provide you with the tools you need to guide your kids safely into adulthood. Shop the book. 

Growing Great Kids: Helping Them Become As Good As They Can Be by Father Chris Riley and Sue Williams (Harper Collins, $13.99)

Catholic priests may not be an obvious choice for parenting advice, but there’s no doubt that Father Chris Riley from Youth Off the Streets is qualified. In his work, he has brought up nearly 100,000. He regularly encounters kids who steal, take drugs, self-harm, see themselves as irredeemable failures, hate everyone and everything, and he’s nearly always managed to find a way to get through to them. Father Chris believes the lessons he’s learnt from them are invaluable to all parents. Inspirational and at times heartbreaking. Shop the book.

Baby Owner’s Manual: Father’s Edition by Steve Bedwell (Rockpool Publishing, $16.75)

It’s a baby book that looks like a car manual – and reads like one too! Written by a man for men, this book likens a new baby to the other love in a man’s life: his car. 
It covers everything from delivery of baby from Mother Nature Heavy Industries, regular servicing of your baby, standard equipment, the cooling system and liquid waste disposal, warning signs, even optimising economy and getting the most out of your baby. A fantastic (and oddly practical!) gift idea for the new dad. Shop the book.

The Greengrocer’s Diet by Judy Davie (Pan MacMillan Australia, $33.95)

By now we all know that diets don’t work. Healthy living means incorporating healthy eating into our everyday. The Greengrocer’s Diet is a lifestyle plan, which teaches how to become healthy eaters. Recipes are based on seasonally available ingredients and draws from all the major food groups – meat and fish, grains, dairy, and of course fresh fruit and vegetables. It includes over 220 delicious recipes, seasonal lists, meal plans, nutritional guidelines for every dish and clear, safe advice on occasional fasting. Shop the book.