Rating: 
Summary: Original voices
Review: So many books about the experience of being a mother make a lot of assumptions. The mothers portrayed are often from mainstream, white america living in comfy surburbia with Mr Right. What sets Breeder apart from the beginning is that the reader will find all races within its pages, all income brackets and all manner of families. Breeder is chock full of original voices, from the mother-to-be studying Buddhism in India, to the counterculture back-to-the-land daughter laying down roots for her own family, from the performance poet who writes on the back of envelopes whilst cradling an infant to the mother who races heart in mouth to her child's day care center which has been the target of a bomb threat. This powerful, moving, and often laugh-out-loud funny book reinforces what savvy moms have known all the time - that mothers are a creative powerhouse of ideas, wit, action and, above all, love.
Rating:
Summary: Breeder
Review: The stories in this book are amazing. They show that we don't HAVE to be June Cleaver or Mrs Brady, we can be ourselves and STILL be excellent parents no matter our background. A must for every parent who has felt as though they were "out of the loop".
Rating:
Summary: Laugh, cry, exclaim out loud to no-one, but read this book!
Review: This book amazed me. I looked forward to it since before it was published; and I think if I knew what I was really in for, I would have been much more impatient.
Each essay speaks like a clear, strong voice from deep within the bosom of motherhood. We are not our mothers, though we spend lots of time in and money on therapy just to make sure. Whether you chose to become a parent because you had a clear idea of how to do it right, or it was thrust on you before you felt you could decide, this book should be required prenatal reading material. And each mama needs to hold onto her copy for when the baby is teething, the toddler screams "NO!" and your mother-in-law questions your intentions with the family bed...
In short, this books rocks!
Rating:
Summary: Diverse selection of essays inspire this new mom
Review: This book came out just in time to help me through the foggy first weeks of my son's life. What a relief to read a book about parents I can relate to! It is too rare to find anything about parenting that isn't all about the beautiful martyr the mother must turn herself into in order to fit into the image of Perfect Mom. Angela Morrill's story of her son's homebirth ("Birth") is the most beautiful birth story I've ever read. Ayun Halliday's "Neonatal Sweet Potato" brought back all the heart-wrenching memories of having my baby have to stay at the hospital after I was sent home. Her description of the feeling a mother gets the first time she brings her newborn to her breast gets me choked up every time I read it. I could relate to Coleen Murphy's frustration to people's constant inquiries about when I am going to quit the full-time parenting gig to get cracking on something "real" as I read her essay, "Progress". These stories just scratch the surface of the mosaic of diverse "modern motherhood" experiences. The format of the book itself is conducive to frazzled-mom reading habits as they can be absorbed during a nursing session or naptime! I highly recommend this book for any new mother.
Rating: 
Summary: Mamas and feminists come in all shapes sizes and colors
Review: This book is excellent proof that not all mothers are the white, rich, SUV driving, "What to Expect the First Year" reading burbanites that most parenting mags and book would like us to believe. We need to hear from mothers from all places in the world and all classes of society. The raw honestly and pervading sense of truth in this book was amazing, as was the diversity it's contributers. "Breeder" also makes us aware that not all feminists are upper middle class, childless, humorless drags. One can be a feminist and a mother and still be a good cross example of both. The book along with both it's contributers and readers prove that. My only complaint is that there wasn't more of Ariel's own writing. "HipMama's Survival Guide" helped me "survive" my last pregnancy and I love her attitude, her words and her work. I hope to see more of her own words in her next book. I'm sure Ariel will be writing and publishing for years to come. She is in the process of becoming a Parenting Icon, as much as she would hate that title.... From a "sweet" reader....
Rating:
Summary: Mamas and feminists come in all shapes sizes and colors
Review: This book is excellent proof that not all mothers are the white, rich, SUV driving, "What to Expect the First Year" reading burbanites that most parenting mags and book would like us to believe. We need to hear from mothers from all places in the world and all classes of society. The raw honestly and pervading sense of truth in this book was amazing, as was the diversity it's contributers. "Breeder" also makes us aware that not all feminists are upper middle class, childless, humorless drags. One can be a feminist and a mother and still be a good cross example of both. The book along with both it's contributers and readers prove that. My only complaint is that there wasn't more of Ariel's own writing. "HipMama's Survival Guide" helped me "survive" my last pregnancy and I love her attitude, her words and her work. I hope to see more of her own words in her next book. I'm sure Ariel will be writing and publishing for years to come. She is in the process of becoming a Parenting Icon, as much as she would hate that title.... From a "sweet" reader....
Rating:
Summary: Good book for the untraditional
Review: This book was recommended to me by a friend who is hipper (or perhaps weirder, depending on your point of view) than I am. The quality of writing in this book is very high, and I enjoyed reading each piece. For me, the most moving parts were the bits about very universal feelings of joy, fear, anger, pain, etc. The specific situations the authors found themselves in frequently seemed quite foreign to me, but I read it very quickly and found myself quite absorbed. For me, I think "Mothers Who Think: Tales of Real-Life Parenthood" hit closer to home. I'd expected friends who are more conservative than I am to find little to relate to, but one of my most conventional friends (who recently suffered a miscarriage) was moved to tears by an account of a similar story in Breeder. After hearing how much this story moved my friend, I changed my mind and sent the book to my mother, who I'd initially thought would be too distracted by the specific situations and attitudes of the authors to enjoy the book. No word back from my mother yet!
I think the moral is that there's something for everyone in this very well-written book. I applaud the editors for compiling stories to encourage mothers to give themselves a break, and for providing a much more diverse set of parent role models than mainstream publications do.
Rating:
Summary: Love it!
Review: This book was terrific! It showed so many of the different aspects of parenting and all the work and emotion that goes into it. I highly recommended, it's great reading!
Rating:
Summary: Tell it like it is, Mama!
Review: This breathtaking collection deserves a place on the nightstand of every politician, educator and health provider whose actions have direct bearing on today's families. If ever there was a myth-busting anthology, this is it. Ardent teenage mothers, homemaking lesbians, fully baked adults struggling to hang onto the coattails of their identity when the world seems to insist they give it up for the good of the children - the June Cleavers are few and far between in Generation X. Mothers of all ages will nod with recognition over the tedium, joy and heartbreak of the office, but it's the specifics that draw the reader in. Think that woman with a baby in her backpack pushing a toddler's stroller down the street is 'just' a mom, so generic she hardly rates a first glance? Think again, pal. These women have secret stories to share on pinworms and hitchhiking, surfboards and spinal taps. With Breeder the secret is out. Somebody get a copy to George Bush. I think he'll find it very illuminating.
Rating: 
Summary: Pardon the cliche, but big waste of trees
Review: This collection of essays by "the new generation of mothers" is an interesting and inspiring read. Stories of teen mothers, hippie mothers, gay mothers, infertile mothers, punk mothers, etc. shows the many forms "mother" can take. After reading "Breeder" the only question I have is what happens if you are a minivan driving soccer mom? Does that mean your not part of this new generation? DO you have to be an ex-punk, child-of-a-commune, lesbian to be a "new generation of mother"? One essay from a "main-stream mom" should not have been have been unheard of.
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