Here are 100 books that Welcome to Parenting fans have personally recommended if you like
Welcome to Parenting.
Book DNA is a community of 13,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.
I’m a comic fan first, then a comic creator. I grew up on the classics—Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side and excitedly watched as new comics popped up online. I love comic strips and have rows of collections lining my bookshelves. The coolest part of starting my own series has been becoming a member of a cartoonist community that I have always been a huge fan of.
Vulnerability is My Superpower does something really well that I’ve always struggled to do in my own work—be vulnerable.
Jackie’s autobiographical comics are charming, honest, and a joy to read. I think it’s a brave move to put your life on paper and bare it for the internet, a historically critical bunch, and this collection does it in a beautifully illustrated manner.
I think comics are best read printed on paper instead of on a phone, but this series is especially suited to print, since it reads as a diary of sorts.
By being her anxious, honest, and just plain silly self, Jackie Davis' potato-shaped character proves that, even though opening up to others is scary at first, vulnerability can be a superpower.
Vulnerability Is My Superpower features Jackie Davis's relatable diary comics about self-discovery, mental health, relationships, and childhood. From bouts with anxiety and insecurity to the thrill of simple pleasures like secretly trying on other people's coats at a party, she's figuring things out as she goes along, navigating domestic life with her husband, Pat (aka "the Purple Guy"), and sharing her most embarrassing thoughts and habits so you don't…
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
I’m a comic fan first, then a comic creator. I grew up on the classics—Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side and excitedly watched as new comics popped up online. I love comic strips and have rows of collections lining my bookshelves. The coolest part of starting my own series has been becoming a member of a cartoonist community that I have always been a huge fan of.
I immediately loved Jake’s comics. The art style and humor is right up my alley.
They’re a perfect intersection of print comics like The Far Side and online ones like The Perry Bible Fellowship.
The internet seems especially suited for timely comics that don’t always age well, they’re scrolled past and never read again, but this collection is perfect for print because the comics are timeless and worth repeat reading.
The Book of Onions is a collection of darkly funny comics from Jake Thompson, creator of the celebrated bi-weekly webcomic "Jake Likes Onions."
Ranging from the relatable to the utterly nonsensical and bizarre, The Book of Onions focuses on themes of loneliness, desperation, and failure. And misplaced optimism. And perverted talking fruit. Sort of like Gary Larson's "The Far Side," if Gary were way less accomplished and suffered from depression.
I’m a comic fan first, then a comic creator. I grew up on the classics—Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side and excitedly watched as new comics popped up online. I love comic strips and have rows of collections lining my bookshelves. The coolest part of starting my own series has been becoming a member of a cartoonist community that I have always been a huge fan of.
Joshua has a really unique sense of humor that’s accompanied by absolutely stunning art.
The comics are really worth admiring in print, not to get lost amongst the sea of online ‘content’.
Both Joshua and I write comics that give readers a glimpse into the animal kingdom and I love seeing how our interpretations of the same world can differ, through our comedic voices and art… and yes, his work is art.
Based on Joshua Barkman's popular webcomic by the same name, False Knees is animal humor taken to a very absurd, darkly delightful place.
In Barkman's debut print collection, False Knees fans will find old favorites along with an abundance of all-new material. Featuring creatures found in the author's native Ontario, this always sharp, sometimes head-scratchingly bizarre collection of comics offers a view into the secret, surprisingly insightful world of blue jays, squirrels, geese, wolves, and rabbits.
The problem is not with the actions young women take but with the toxic, sexist conditions they are responding to.
Tanenbaum found, based on six years of interviews with young people ages 14-30, that young women are navigating a culture littered with gendered dress codes, revenge porn, and sexually explicit…
I’m a comic fan first, then a comic creator. I grew up on the classics—Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side and excitedly watched as new comics popped up online. I love comic strips and have rows of collections lining my bookshelves. The coolest part of starting my own series has been becoming a member of a cartoonist community that I have always been a huge fan of.
I remember discovering The Perry Bible Fellowship while I was in college.
It was like nothing I had ever seen before, like some underground secret being passed between friends. The comics were clever, vulgar, sometimes graphic, and always funny.
As a long-time reader of the Funnies Pages in newspapers, Nicholas’ comics opened my eyes to what comics could be in the age of the internet. The Perry Bible Fellowship inspired me, along with an entire generation of cartoonists, to start their own comics.
My comic might not look like it was influenced by Nicholas’ work, but it sparked my imagination and led me to rediscover my love for comic strips.
I’ll admit that I don’t like the term ‘webcomic’, they’re all comics, whether they’re online or in print. And while I might have a preference, one format isn’t inferior to the other, after all—the internet has been an invaluable tool…
The award-winning Perry Bible Fellowship has a achieved a cult following both online and in its weekly appearances in newspapers and magazines around the world. Now, for the first time, the hilarious cartoons of Nicholas Gurewitch are being collected in this handsome hardcover edition.
I've been a psychologist for 35 years, and for my whole life I've been fascinated by our inner worlds and concepts that are hard to grasp but affect us significantly. I read these books to help myself and my clients, and I keep developing as a person through them. I have read a lot about ego and development, and many of the books in this genre are difficult to access for the general reader. I have chosen these five books for their skill in making complex issues easier to understand. I truly believe that a commitment to self-development leads not just to reaching your goals and realising your potential, but to contentment and happiness.
I found this book full of practical wisdom from a veteran Australian parenting expert.
His many case studies are very relatable, and his whole idea that if you want to really be a good role model to your kids, you have to mature yourself is spot on. And Cheetham does tell us how. He writes about finding the middle way between over-parenting and under-parenting.
There are great tips on negotiating and creating strong boundaries, and the chapter on “The Strength to Watch Them Fail” is excellent and something many parents struggle with. It made me feel more normal in the sense that parenting can be a struggle for all of us, and it constantly reminded me that all I can control is my own attitude and behaviour.
For all parents worried about how their kids will respond to drugs, alcohol, the internet, computer games, and more, this funny and accessible guide holds the key
Presenting an entertaining book full of memorable case studies, this guide will forever change the way readers look at parenting. It shows parents how they can help their kids become happy, well-adjusted young adults—and avoid the pitfalls. A simple message—you have all the skills you need—provides moms and dads with the insight to approach parenting challenges as they would other challenges in life, rather than slipping into "parent mode." This refreshing approach includes…
I began writing my book when my older son was two, and my youngest was less than six months. And if that sounds like a bad idea to you–it was! But despite the madness of trying to write a novel in 5-minute parcels of time, for me, it was a necessary way to reclaim some of my individuality at a time when I often felt I was losing it. I’m so glad I have my book to remind me of the very particular challenges of new parenthood. These are some books I found that helped me do just that.
Books offering support to parents have come on in leaps and bounds since the days when Gina Ford and Supernanny-style discipline reigned supreme. This book is my go-to book for practical advice.
Perry, a psychotherapist with more than 20 years of experience, is not interested in manipulating children’s behaviour with naughty steps and sticker charts. Her approach may incidentally help to get your children to brush their teeth and eat their vegetables, but her emphasis is on the far deeper and more important business of how to build a mutually respectful and cooperative relationship. Her voice is wise and refreshingly nonjudgmental.
This is one for parents who, in Perry’s words, "Not only love their children but want to like them, too”.
From the UK's favourite therapist, as seen on Channel 4's Grayson's Art Club.
'A wonderful book' Richard Osman
'So clear and true ... Helpful for all relationships in life' Nigella Lawson
'A fascinating read on the emotional baggage we all carry' Elizabeth Day ______________________________________________________________________________________
How can we have better relationships?
In this Sunday Times bestseller, leading psychotherapist Philippa Perry reveals the vital do's and don'ts of relationships. This is a book for us all. Whether you are interested in understanding how your upbringing has shaped you, looking to handle your child's feelings or wishing to…
Crossing is a vividly human re-imagining of the love, sacrifices, and accomplishments that two Chinese brothers - American Immigrants - experience as they travel to California to build the Transcontinental Railroad.
Allan D. Hunter came out as genderqueer in 1980, more than 20 years before “genderqueer” was trending. He decided that women's studies in academia was the proper place to discuss these ideas about gender, so he headed to New York to major in women's studies as one of the first male students to do so.
This tale is the autobiographical account of a married man who, when his wife gets an especially nice promotion opportunity, agrees with her that it makes more sense for him to stay at home with their young girl child.
He takes his role and its responsibilities seriously. His story is mostly the story of what is involved being the domestic partner on a day-to-day basis, but braided into that is the specifically gendered experience of doing all that as a male person in this society.
Lincoln Menner is finding out just how hard it is to be a woman. When his wife Jo was offered her dream job, Linc supported her wholeheartedly, leaving his thriving landscape business in Los Angeles and moving to Rochester, New York. This was a chance to escape the cloying needs and atrocious tastes of his celebrity clientele, start over in fresh surroundings, and spend a little quality time with their three-year-old daughter, Violet.
But Linc had no idea what it really meant to be a househusband: To stay home every day, folding laundry, cleaning soap scum, and teaching his little…
As a social historian, I have helped to direct scholarly attention to the history of family life and helped to create the field of history of children. I'm the editor of a pioneering three-volume encyclopedia on the history of children and the author of six books and editor of three others based on extensive research about children’s experiences in the United States and the Western world. I've also been widely interviewed on the subject. The End of American Childhood brings this research experience and broad expertise in the field to a subject of urgent interest to today’s parents who want to understand how their own views about children and their child-rearing perspectives are grounded historically.
Anxious Parents: A History of Modern Childrearing in America probes what I consider to be the basic dilemma of modern American parenting – how the love for children and concern for their welfare has led to growing anxiety among parents eager to do it right.
In imaginative research into different dimensions of culture, Stearns shows that middle-class parents became increasingly self-conscious and self-questioning about meeting the needs of their children starting in the early twentieth century. The book probes the emotional consequences of modern parenting’s commitment to encouraging child expression and individual happiness.
Stearns’s exploration demonstrates one of the consequences of the revolution—from viewing children as having utility to having only emotional value—first defined by Zelizer. It suggests how even the best-intended changes can have unexpected consequences.
An examination into the history of modern parenting
The nineteenth and twentieth centuries saw a dramatic shift in the role of children in American society and families. No longer necessary for labor, children became economic liabilities and twentieth-century parents exhibited a new level of anxiety concerning the welfare of their children and their own ability to parent effectively. What caused this shift in the ways parenting and childhood were experienced and perceived? Why, at a time of relative ease and prosperity, do parents continue to grapple with uncertainty and with unreasonable expectations of both themselves and their children?
Peter N.…
I promise that will be the only egg pun I will use. Just the one. Eggsactly one. Oops.
While my debut novel, Ava, is primarily about the clash of reproductive rights with conservative politics set in the South, it is obviously also about eggs and my bias towards them as an amazing evolutionary triumph. Even the title of my book is an intentional nod toward my love of eggs as Ava means both “bird” and “life”. With that in mind, I wanted to highlight five books that I love that are very egg-centric (and I will maintain this is more of a portmanteau than a pun).
I loved this book as a kid, and I make a reference to this classic in a chapter of my book.
Whenever I want to quit a particularly frustrating endeavor, I still hear Horton’s voice in my head: “I meant what I said, and I said what I meant.” Those words, spoken by a cartoon elephant, have helped me persevere and taught me the importance of loyalty and keeping my word.
It’s a message as meaningful for adults as it is for children.
Horton the elephant babysits an egg in this classic tale of kindness from Dr. Seuss.
Everyone laughs when Horton the Elephant offers to sit on Mayzie bird's egg while she goes on holiday. Horton's kindness and faithfulness are sorely tested when he, and the egg, are kidnapped and sold to a circus - but his reward for being faithful is more wonderful than he could ever have dreamed!
With his unique combination of hilarious stories, zany pictures and riotous rhymes, Dr. Seuss has been delighting young children and helping them learn to read for over fifty years. Creator…
At five years old, Kasiel was found with the pointed ends of his ears cut off. Despite that brutal start, he’s lived twelve peaceful years with the man who took him in. Keeping his hair long over his mutilated ears helps him hide the fact that he is Vanrian, a…
I’m a child psychologist, mother of three, and parenting writer who reads way too much parenting content. My personal mission is to be a voice of science-based, compassionate, and realistic parenting guidance to counteract the pitfalls of modern parenting advice. As a psychologist, I know much of this advice lacks good science and even common sense. As a mother, I find a majority of parenting advice oppressive in its unrealistic expectations and a source of unnecessary guilt, shame, and feelings of failure—especially for mothers. I love highlighting the work of other parenting experts who share my mission: to empower and uplift parents with good information and authentic support.
I love Wenner Moyer’s warmth and humor interwoven with good old-fashioned science about how to parent kids to be decent human beings.
I devoured the book on Kindle and then immediately bought a hard copy so I could easily pull it off the shelf for reference. And I often do.
She is the furthest from preachy or self-righteous while giving rationales and tips for how to raise empathic kids who aren’t racist, sexist, or completely self-absorbed. It’s a must for every parent’s bookshelf.
As featured in The Guardian, How to Raise Kids Who Aren't Assholes is a clear, actionable, sometimes humorous (but always science-based) guide for parents on how to shape their kids into honest, kind, generous, confident, independent, and resilient people . . . who just might save the world one day.
As an award-winning science journalist, Melinda Wenner Moyer was regularly asked to investigate and address all kinds of parenting questions: how to potty train, when and whether to get vaccines, and how to help kids sleep through the night. But as Melinda's children grew, she found that one huge area…
