When friends are wanting or having babies, I naturally want to point them to resources. And so many friends are going through this right now and I’m going over the same information over and over in emails, which is tiresome. So I’m going to start a small series on my recommendations for the best in books, internet resources and other services. I’ll link to my original reviews, if I did them in the first place.
Books I’ve Read
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.
Fertility, Cycles and Nutrition by Marilyn Shannon. This is put out by the Couple to Couple League. On the one hand, it is aimed at Catholics. On the other hand, Catholics appear not to believe in using drugs to solve fertility problems. That means a whole lot of cycle and fertility problems with really detailed nutritional solutions. This could probably be used well in conjunction with other methods, according to your own beliefs and situation.
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 Vegetarian Mother’s Cookbook by Cathe Olson has detailed notes on nutrition for preconception as well as pregnancy and lactation, including suggested recipes. The recipes are full of micronutrients, include nutrient breakdowns, and are really, really yummy.
You Could Also Try
The Garden of Fertility by Katie Singer – recommended by Toni Wechsler
Healing Gourmet Eat to Boost Fertility by the Healing Gourmet – on Amazon
Web Sites
http://www.ovusoft.com – Toni Wechsler’s site, with her ovulation-tracking software (not free.)
http://www.fertilityfriend.com – Free ovulation tracking software, lots of FAQs, plus support communities for all types of trying to conceive – by age, number of children already, using donor sperm, etc.
Good luck and sticky vibes, as they say!
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. 
Swan Sister edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri WindlingDatlow and Windling are the queens of fairy tales retold, often for adults, though I found this shelved not too inappropriately in children’s. Here are mostly-familiar tales retold by authors such as Jane Yolen, Kathe Koje, and Neil Gaiman (though I must admit that his contribution was disappointingly short.) Bluebeard, a story that gave me nightmares as a child, is told from the point of view of a survivor. The Old Man and the Fish is told from the other side of the lake, with very different characters. There’s a beautiful retelling of Cruel Sister, and two very different versions of Little Red Riding Hood. In the title story, one which seemed to intersect ’s worlds of medicine and magic, a young girl sees her prematurely born sister’s arm as a swan wing. As always, lovers of fairy tales old and new will not be disappointed.
Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins by Eric Kimmel. Illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman I’m not anywhere close to Jewish, and I know that Hanukkah is a pretty minor Jewish holiday as such things goes. Still, I’ve always loved both the holiday and this cracking good story, which I first read when it was published in Cricket magazine in the early 80s, with small black-and-white illustrations by Trina Schart Hyman. Her full-color, full-size illustrations here are a delight (as well as winning a Caldecott Honor). Though I brought Mr. FP all sorts of holiday books home from the library, my copy of this is the one that he wanted to read every day. 
The Return of the Light by Carolyn McVickar Edwards I’m a little late writing this book up, as the winter solstice has now been and gone. However, here is a nice little collection of folk tales from around the world for the winter solstice. Most of them don’t talk about the solstice per se, but about the sun. The introduction talks about historical solstice practices (including some of the saltier ones), but the stories are well suited both for adults and for telling to children of varying ages. Edwards helpfully provides a paragraph about the ethnic group that first told the story for each, so the stories aren’t as out-of-context as they often are in such international collections. It concludes with games and songs for people wishing to have family solstice celebrations. Read how the sun started as the wedding earring of a young Indian bride, how Loki killed Balder, the sun god, and how a young African girl married the sun.
The Good Neighbors. Volume 1: Kin by Holly Black. Illustrated by Ted Naifeh Rue Silver is sixteen years old. She has a boyfriend and a group of friends who like to break into abandoned buildings and take photographs. Her mother has been quietly missing for three weeks and her father is suddenly involved in a murder case. And she’s starting to see things that she can’t tell anyone about, because they’ll think she’s crazy. They are the faeries of the old tales, the ones called Kindly and Good in hopes of preventing unwanted attentions. Rue learns that her vanished mother was a faery herself. A battle is beginning, and Rue must decide whose side she is on, and how much she can tell her friends. This is the first volume of what’s obviously planned as a much longer series. It’s a very solid start. The story strikes just the right balance between realistic and spooky, and the shaded paintings bring this out perfectly. I got a strong Buffy vibe off of it, not in a copy-cat kind of way, but in the circle of high school friends with a snarky sense of humor and a smart, tough girl going it with some help, but mostly alone. Black is the author of The Spiderwick Chronicles, which I read only the first one or two of. This does feel like it’s coming from the same imagination, but more from real older legend, and definitely more sophisticated and for an older audience. I’m really looking forward to the next one.
