MPR's favorite parenting books of 2024

Many of our MPR News coworkers who are parents are also avid readers. Here are a few of their favorite family-oriented titles.

‘Sandwich’ by Katerine Newman 

Recommended by Kelly Gordon. Kelly produces Big Books and Bold Ideas with Kerri Miller (Fridays at 11 a.m. on MPR News). She’s loved so many of the books highlighted on the show this year, including  Louise Erdrich’s novel ‘The Might Red,’ Leif Engers’ novel ‘I Cheerfully Refuse,’ and Rachel Khong's ‘Real Americans,’ but she picks ‘Sandwich’ as her favorite.

Kelly says: As the title implies, this book is about sandwiches of all kinds, physical, generational and emotional. Narrator and protagonist Rachel, or Rocky, as she’s known, is 54 and menopausal, weeping with gratitude, love and rage, often all in the same moment.

We follow along as her husband Nick, her two young adult children, and her parents travel to Cape Cod for their annual summer vacation. Sunscreen is applied. People squabble and make up. Sandwiches are made, but the brilliance of the novel is Rocky’s voice. She’s hilarious.

I lost count of the number of times I had to stop reading to regain my composure. She’s achingly honest about the mess and beauty of mid-life. “Life is a seesaw,” she says. “And I’m standing dead center, still and balanced, living kids on one side, living parents on the other. Nikki here with me, the fulcrum. Don’t move a muscle, I think. But I will, of course, you have to.”

— Kelly Gordon 

‘There Are Moms Way Worse Than You: Irrefutable Proof That You Are Indeed a Fantastic Parent’ written by Glen Boozan, illustrated by Priscilla Witte 

Recommended by MPR News meteorologist Mandy Thalhuber.  

Many says: I absolutely loved this book because as a mother, I know how challenging and tough parenting can be at times. Now this book is a hilarious reminder that no matter how much you might doubt yourself, there are always other moms out there who are doing even worse. Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the book: 

Panda moms are perfect  

unless they're blessed with two. 

Twins are hard, so they'll ditch one.  

It's horrible and true.  

Carp seals, oh, they're super cute.  

Maternally, they're frightening.  

Two weeks after giving birth,  

they're out of there like lightning.

 

So when the panic rises  

and the pressure starts to mount,  

that you're trying 

and that is all that counts.

— Mandy Thalhuber 

(Note: there’s a Dad’s version of this book, too, with humorous examples from history and pop culture certain to make you feel better by comparison.)

‘Nine Coaches Waiting’ by Mary Stewart 

Recommended by Stephanie Curtis, Director of Programming at MPR News. This book was published in 1958 and is now marketed as a ‘Rediscovered Classic.’

Stephanie says: This is a romantic thriller, kind of like Daphne du Maurier’s “Rebecca,” about a young English governess named Linda who moves to a chateau in France to take care of an orphan boy named Philippe. Philippe keeps running into accidents, and Linda starts thinking that maybe somebody is trying to kill him. At the same time, Linda finds herself drawn to Philippe's older cousin, the mysterious Raoul, who's a bit of a playboy.

It’s tons of fun, a quick read. And for a bonus, for anyone who’s an English major, there’s all kinds of allusions to English poetry and William Shakespeare and William Blake, etc., both in epigraphs and the book itself.

— Stephanie Curtis

‘Everything Comes Next’ by Naomi Shihab Nye 

Recommended by Emily Bright, Weekend Host and Art Hounds and Ask a Bookseller producer.

Emily says: Naomi Shihab Nye is my favorite poet. She was Poet Laureate for Young People a few years back, and she writes these story-focused, conversational, deceptively simple poems, which are great for readers of any age. This year, I listened to her collection, “Everything Comes Next,” read by the poet herself. It contains new poems along with some of my favorites from her collected works.  

Nye is Palestinian-American, and her dual identity is key to this collection. The three sections of the book give you a sense of the arc: they’re titled “The Holy Land of Childhood,” “The Holy Land that Isn’t,” whose poems are centered in Palestine, and “People are the Only Holy Land.” 

What I love about Naomi Shihab Nye is her insistence at approaching this complicated world at the human level, person-to-person, with curiosity, kindness and empathy. 

Here, for a taste, is the end of her poem "Jerusalem:" 

There's a place in this brain

where hate won't grow. 

I touch its riddle: wind, and seeds. 

Something pokes us as we sleep. 

It's late, but everything comes next.

Nye has a new collection that came out this fall called "Grace Notes: Poems About Families," which is next on my reading list.” 

— Emily Bright

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

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