(William Morrow, 2019)

Practical, reassuring, and beautifully written and illustrated, A IS FOR ADVICE provides a brief and compelling reflection on pregnancy, birth, and the early postpartum period for expectant mothers of all kinds–whether you prefer a water birth at home or a scheduled C-section in a hospital, whether you believe in painkillers or an all-natural labor, breast milk or formula, this book speaks to you and your pregancy. Written in the approachable and friendly tone of a best-friend blogger but informed by the insight of a Registered Midwife, A IS FOR ADVICE seeks to comfort and inspire, providing realistic and soothing advice at a time when most women desperately seek out information.

Through 26 lesson/letters of the alphabet (C is for Control; F is for Fear; W is for Water), A IS FOR ADVICE ffers practical and emotional insights into the often overwhelming transition to motherhood. Using a combination of humor, story-telling, research distillation, and personal reflection, A IS FOR ADVICE speaks to concerns common to all women as they approach birth and motherhood. Eschewing the “birth wars” for a women-centered, feminist perspective,A IS FOR ADVICE does not argue for any one type of birth experience, but rather empowers each woman to be her own advocate. If the book could be summed up in one line it would be, simply, “be gentle with yourself.” Read it cover-to-cover or in the short bursts available to an expecting mom (each letter stands alone), this book offers a compelling call for well-informed, judgment-free, and forgiving birthing and mothering.

Ilana Stanger-Ross is a Registered Midwife and novelist based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Originally from Brooklyn, New York, she received a BA at Barnard College, an MA in Fiction at Temple University, and a Bachelors in Midwifery from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. For more on Ilana please visit her website ilanastangerross.com