Announcing the completely revised third edition of What to Expect the First Year. With over 10.5 million copies in print, First Year is the world’s best-selling, best-loved guide to the instructions that babies don’t come with, but should. And now, it’s better than ever. Every parent’s must-have/go-to is completely updated.
Keeping the trademark month-by-month format that allows parents to take the potentially overwhelming first year one step at a time, First Year is easier-to-read, faster-to-flip-through, and new-family-friendlier than ever?packed with even more practical tips, realistic advice, and relatable, accessible information than before. Illustrations are new, too.
Among the changes: Baby care fundamentals?crib and sleep safety, feeding, vitamin supplements?are revised to reflect the most recent guidelines. Breastfeeding gets more coverage, too, from getting started to keeping it going. Hot-button topics and trends are tackled: attachment parenting, sleep training, early potty learning (elimination communication), baby-led weaning, and green parenting (from cloth diapers to non-toxic furniture). An all-new chapter on buying for baby helps parents navigate through today’s dizzying gamut of baby products, nursery items, and gear.
Also new: tips on preparing homemade baby food, the latest recommendations on starting solids, research on the impact of screen time (TVs, tablets, apps, computers), and “For Parents” boxes that focus on mom’s and dad’s needs. Throughout, topics are organized more intuitively than ever, for the best user experience possible."
Dismas Okombo –
Munira’s writing in Highland Cactus is emotive, charged, and lyrically gentle. Throughout the nine stories -Highland Cactus is a collection of short stories-, I felt the author was sitting beside me, that she was an understanding old friend; one who’s had the courage to face the hard questions of life, one who’s had the strength to dance in the chaos, and now she was telling me those stories personally.
Where the theme demands gentle handling -themes such as trauma, search for life’s meaning and complicated friendships-, her style of narration is rooted in a kind understanding of the human condition. An understanding of the strength it takes to find love within us, an understanding of our search for direction. Here is an insight she offers in Mother, Wake Up that will eternally stay with me: ‘There are no maps to life, so you will sail and find direction by losing it all the time.’
Where the theme demands stern handling -themes such as rape, corruption, tribalism, oppression-, she has the courage to hit the mark. One of my favourite stories from the collection (and I know it will easily be your favourite too) is Room 15. In the story, you will get to experience Halima’s frustrations and disappointments as she tries to secure a visa. Just because she has a Muslim name. Halima’s mother is forced to travel over 700 km to come and verify Halima’s identity and even that is not enough! This story deeply agitates, I strongly recommend not to read it on an empty stomach. 😅
And to make your reading thoroughly enjoyable, Munira has interspersed the stories with poetry. Highland Cactus is definitely one of Kenyan’s contemporary classic reads.