Christina's Parenting Book Reviews

Reading is one of my favorite things to do! Currently, I have four books piled on my bedside table or dispersed throughout the house. I am notorious for reading multiple books at a time. This is probably the reason I often have a hard time finishing them, but here is my current stack and thoughts on each:

The Vaccine Book by Robert Sears, MD

Dr. Sears explains each vaccine in great detail including pros and cons about the vaccine and disease itself. This book seems fairly unbiased, well organized and well written. The information is very up-to-date as it was just released. The amount of information can be overwhelming, but my background in Biology makes it appealing to me. I would highly recommend this book as a starting off point if you are questioning some things about vaccines (as I am).

I know vaccines have been requested as a topic for the blog. I also know vaccines are a HOT topic and my intention is NOT to open this up for a debate of any kind at this point. I simply wanted to offer my recommendation for this book as it has helped me gain a great understanding of vaccines and how best to approach this issue.

How to Raise a Healthy Child in Spite of your Doctor by Robert Mendelsohn, MD

This book was recommended to me by both Margaret and Krista (quite some time ago, I might add). I cannot give full recommendation since I haven't finished it yet, but so far its a great resource! The author is a pediatrician and desires to arm parents with the resources to make medical decisions for their children.

Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp

While 2 of the 3 above books do not directly address "parenting" issues such as discipline, I would still classify them as parenting. There are so many decisions we have to make for our children. Shepherding a Child's Heart has probably been the #1 most recommended parenting book to me. I have bought it, just haven't gotten around to it yet! After Leah's review, I have a renewed desire to read it now! I'm really looking forward to it.


Treasuring God in Our Traditions by Noel Piper (wife of John Piper)

I cannot speak highly enough of this book. It was a Christmas gift to me last year and I finally got around to it this year! It has really challenged me and I have enjoyed it so much. The description on Amazon.com summed it up better than I could so here is what it says:

God is the treasure of our lives. He is part of everything we do, think, act, and say—literally, he is a part of us. This precious heirloom of Christ himself must be passed on to future generations. But how?

Treasuring God in Our Traditions presents the importance of passing along Christ-centered traditions and a Bible-saturated legacy in Christ to future generations. Noël Piper helps her readers recognize how the “everyday” routines of life and the “especially” celebrations of holidays and dates can be practically passed down to future generations. When parents and grandparents seek to pass along the treasure of God to their children and grandchildren, they will develop and deepen their love for him.

When family traditions are rooted in the Bible, the next generations will see that the greatest treasure that anyone can have is the treasure of God.

The last recommendation I would like to make is for several books, all from Focus on the Family. This is the ministry founded by Dr. James Dobson, in case you aren't familiar. If you visit the Focus on the Family site, they include a parenting link under their books. (Click here to go directly to the link.) I like it because it is divided by age and topic even further. I would definitely recommend checking it out! The following books from Focus on the Family have been recommended to me and are currently on my wishlist:

Dare to Discipline by Dr. James Dobson

Bringing Up Boys by Dr. James Dobson

Sacred Parenting by Gary Thomas

Grace Based Parenting by Dr. Tim Kimmel


You can visit the Focus on the Family site to get more info on these books. They come highly recommended to me, so I thought I would pass that on! Happy reading!