I finally got around to reading this after noticing it on the new book cart a couple of years ago…
Natural Health for Kids by Sarah Wilson Parent and health journalist Wilson talks about combing standard and complementary health care in this handy reference guide. First, she goes over a whole host of different complementary treatments, from more well-known ones like nutritional therapy and standard Western herbalism to relatively obscure ones like iridiology and kinesiology, including homeopathy and essential oils along the way. She starts with a summary of each kind of alternative therapy, but the real meat of the book is a page-by-page listing of 50 common complaints – eczema, teething, colds, and more. For each issue, she lists possible symptoms and causes, conventional medical treatment, and treatment in what she’s determined to be the most relevant complementary therapies. Both conventional and complementary include when you can treat yourself and when you need to take your child to a practitioner. The British origins are obvious from such things as her saying that homeopathy is considered mainstream, if you didn’t get that from the article on nappy rash. The usefulness is limited, however, as Wilson does not include references for anything, neither books about the therapies she’s discussing nor citations when she occasionally says, that studies have shown xyz effective at reducing abc. On the one hand, it’s novel and useful as a reference to have different treatments together in one book. On the other hand, readers will either have to take her at her word or do their own research on her recommendations.
Parsley Sage, Rosemary and Time by Jane Louise Curry Conservative 10-year-old Rosemary sent unexpectedly to stay with her crazy Aunt Sibby, who lives at an old house in Maine called Wychwood. One beautiful June day, Rosemary follows Parsley Sage the cat to an old walled garden, clearly an abandoned herb garden. A large sundial is in a patch labeled Time – but it doesn’t look or smell anything like the thyme in the kitchen. When Rosemary eats it, she and the cat end up in the 17th century, where the woman whose house she – and a child named Baba and a baby named William – have unexpectedly arrived is being accused of witchcraft. If Rosemary can convince herself that they have moved back in time, how will they all get back to their proper time and save Goody Cakebread? Only with some teamwork involving Goody Cakebread’s magic cupboard, the local Abenaki tribe and Rosemary’s ingenuity. The plot twists are a perhaps more obvious to the adult me, but the story is just as entertaining. Curry is still writing tales of time-traveling children, like 2005’s The Black Canary.
Blindspot by Jane Kamensky and Jill Lepore Our story here is told by two separate narrators. The first is a disgraced and indebted Scottish painter by the name of Stewart Jameson. He is fleeing Edinburgh, both the debt collectors and in search of his friend, Ignatius Alexander. Jameson tells us, the Dear Reader, that Alexander is an African-born, British educated doctor, but not how or why they were separated. Jameson hopes both to find his friend and earn the money to repay his debt in Boston. Meanwhile, Fanny Easton writes letters to a former schoolmate telling her plans to escape the Manufactory. She is the daughter of one of a judge, but she was disowned and thrown out of the house after her art tutor impregnated her. Now she has seen Jameson’s advertisement in the paper looking for an apprentice and decides to disguise herself as a boy, Francis Weston, to take the job. Then, Samuel Bradstreet, prominent citizen, revolutionary and early abolitionist is murdered, found dead just after sitting for his portrait. Jameson and Weston are key witnesses. Suspected are Bradstreet’s slaves, whose verbal promise to free them on his death is all the evidence the court really seems to want. But one of the slaves recognizes Fanny and asks for help, and she, as a guilty former owner, feels obliged to help. Early revolutionary and racial politics, intrigue and a whole lot of gender-bending sexual tension make this a fascinating and page-turning historical. The authors are both historians; some notes on the accuracy of the piece are included in book, and more on their website.
An American Plague by Jim Murphy This is, as the subtitle says, the true and terrifying story of the yellow fever epidemic of 1793. Over the course of a few short months, the population of Philadelphia, then the capital of the United States, was laid waste by a disease with no cure. Everyone who could afford to fled the city, leaving masses of sick and poor and only a few officials with no authority to do anything. The book describes the panic, the reactions of authorities, the arguing among doctors as to cause or cure, the heroic efforts of black nurses sent by the Free African Society, and the eventual waning of the disease. The United States government was unable to do anything during this time, as no one dared to enter the city, but the Constitution forbade convening Congress anywhere else. We hear about the lasting changes to emergency systems and the medical disaster that could still happen today: while we now know the cause of yellow fever, there is still no cure. Every chapter begins with a reproduction of a document from the time, so you can read, for example, the letter that mayor wrote to the newspaper, different ideas for cures, and the names and occupations of the dead. The text is lively, and frequent quotes from diaries, letters and newspapers bring us close to this long-ago event. This is an exciting book that would go well with Laurie Halse Anderson’s Fever, 1793.
Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Wechsler (note: teen book available, too) This is the classic and recently revised guide to monitoring your own fertility. Most people won’t need anything else. Looking on her web site, I note that she’s also got a book for teen girls, with probably less on getting pregnant and more on understanding your body. 
Getting Pregnant the Natural Way by D.S. Feingold and Deborah Gordon, M.D. I found this book by the very scientific method of pulling all likely-looking books off the library shelf, and then skimming and reading bits to see which one looked best. Plus, of course, already carefully selected by our medical librarian. This book, as well as covering the basics fairly briefly, gives nice coverage of nutrition, herbal therapy, movement, massage and stress reduction for conception. This was my favorite for the even coverage of all kinds of therapies, including when they can be integrated with conventional drug therapy and when it is or isn’t safe to self-medicate. There have a lot of solutions to a lot of specific problems, as well. 
The Pinhoe Egg by Diana Wynne Jones. Narrated by Gerard Doyle.
Savvy by Ingrid LawMibs Beaumont can’t wait to turn thirteen. Her Daddy’s bought her a beautiful yellow dress and her Momma’s going to make her a yellow and pink cake with perfect roses on it. But she’s also a little nervous. The Beaumonts – at least her mother’s side of the family – all have savvies, and the savvy usually comes out on the thirteenth birthday. When her older brother, Fish, turned thirteen, he caused a hurricane so big they all had to move to the Midwest, where there wasn’t enough water to cause hurricanes. Her oldest brother Rocket can make light bulbs burst if he isn’t paying attention, and keep the old family car running if he is. Her Momma does everything perfectly. 
Graceling by Kristin Cashore I started this because it was on Booklist’s best youth and young adult Fantasy and Science Fiction of 2008 list. And wow. 
alibrarymama 