Journal of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement (JMI - York University)

Dunlop, Rishma

Editor's Notes: Judith Arcana

Liebenberg, Linda

 Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering         237 
Book Reviews
evade their mandated responsibilities, in part because working to accommodate 
the needs of young mothers may be misconstrued as affirming their sexual 
behaviour and reproductive labour. 
Policy implementation, subject to the vagaries of local control rather than 
federal oversight, is inconsistent and contradictory. This pattern is intensified 
by the absence of case law on school-aged mothers as a basis for guiding or 
compelling services. Rather than working to provide equal opportunity, schools 
construct self-sufficiency and advancement as women’s individual responsibil-
ity (“it’s your mess, you deal with it”) to avoid the presumed fate as a future 
“drain” on social and economic resources. Young mothers bear the burden of 
such beliefs with education unequal to that of their non-mothering peers. 
Among the text’s most powerful chapters is Pillow’s analysis of contemporary 
abstinence-education initiatives (chapter 6) that not only dictate what constitutes 
legitimate sexual activity but provide the very backdrop for cultural narratives 
of teen mothers as deviant. In other chapters, Pillow exposes the intensely 
racialized/classed threads infusing narratives about pregnant/mothering teens 
as a “contaminating” force and “social problem,” as well as schools’ differential 
treatment of young women on the basis of race and class. Pillow ends the text 
with a vision of education for teen mothers, detailing ways schools can better 
serve students through providing “access to make up tests or work…the provi-
sion of appropriate seating” for pregnant women, “access to bathroom breaks,” 
and more flexible scheduling (62). Pillow charges schools to acknowledge their 
role as a “front line service provider” (79) for these young women. 
This informative, theoretically sophisticated text is a useful call to action 
for school workers committed to equitable schooling practices, for scholars 
interested in gender and education issues, and for advocates for the rights of 
young mothers to reach their full human potential. 
It Could Happen to You is both entertaining and enlightening. Martha Brock-
enbrough, a young professional who worked for Microsoft, takes the reader 
through her personal journey as a mother, from its beginnings when she decided 
to have a baby through to her daughter Lucy’s first birthday. Brockenbrough’s 
diary does not offer a prescriptive, academic, or theoretical view of motherhood. 
It Could Happen to You:
Diary of a Pregnancy and Beyond
Martha Brockenbrough.
Riverside, NJ: Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2002.
Reviewed by Linda Liebenberg
brought to you by COREView metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk
provided by Journal of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and...
238         Volume 9, Number  1
Book Reviews
Instead, by describing her fears and emotional turmoil in a raw and honest 
manner, leavened with humour, she provides an insider’s view of what it is to 
be a fallible mother. 
Included in Brockenbrough’s narrative are memories of childhood, family, 
dating, and marrying Adam, her partner. These memories are well placed and 
serve to contextualize Brockenbrough’s emotions and the reasoning behind 
her sometimes hysterically funny behaviour. She shares changes in personal 
perspective and how these changes come about—argely the result of the 
unfamiliar turmoil she experiences in her role as a new mother. We read of 
Brockenbrough’s decision to follow her childhood dream of pursuing a writing 
career and not return to her former job. She also weighs her relationship with 
Adam—before and after the arrival of their daughter—and, for perspective, 
includes commentary from Adam, himself. 
A down-to-earth writer, Brockenbrough addresses many niggling fears 
and concerns that parents-to-be may have, continually reminding readers 
that, despite best intentions, parents are ultimately human and babies are 
not automated washing machines that function in accordance with parenting 
books, guides, and manuals:
One of the baby books I read said that most parents understand their 
baby’s cries after three weeks. That wasn’t reassuring at all. Not only 
was I really tired and pretty much useless when she was three weeks 
old, I also had only a fuzzy idea of what she needed. Because the 
book said I should have known better, I was a confirmed failure. As 
a failure all I would do to soothe her was try a little of everything. I 
actually nursed her and changed her diaper simultaneously once. And 
once is the number of times I will ever do that. (130)
In this delightful book, Brockenbrough writes as a friend who shares her 
experiences and offers kind counsel: “it is not going to work out the way you 
think it is going to work out, all the books and manuals are not going to be all 
that helpful (but read them anyway), and in the end it is all going to okay!”
In the 30 years since Adrienne Rich’s groundbreaking Of Woman Born: Mother-
hood as Institution and Experience, there has been an explosion of literature about 
Great with Child:
Letters to a Young Mother  
Beth Ann Fennelly. 
New York:  W.W. Norton, 2006.
Reviewed by Jane Satterfield


English

It Could Happen to You: Diary of a Pregnancy and Beyond

Hillyer, Tara Mae

Mother, Woman, Healer

Rose
					, Rachel

 Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering         7 
          —for Susan, for Alec Michael
The night my water broke, a week early,
I held my wide sides and rocked, knowing
that before another day came, no matter what the pain,
you would be born. And then I went upstairs
to my quiet study. It was two a.m. and my last chance
to be alone with poetry for what I knew,
the second time around, would be a long
exhausted, milk-pocked haul. Every time I stood
to take a book down from the shelf, your waters
poured out of me. I sat and wrote until the contractions
became too strong. Slowly I was drawn by the rope
around my hips, dipped in and out of that well
of pain. In between I sipped rose tea,
marked a few last-minute changes on a manuscript,
dripped and dripped and dripped.
In the hospital a day later, they handed me you
in the recovery room. My abdomen had been
stapled shut and I was still numb from the ribcage
down. We were in a room full of the knock and rattle
of jackhammers. Plastic sheeting covered the drywall remodel.
 “You should breastfeed her now,” said the nurse,
and I couldn’t quite believe it. “Now?” I complained,
more child than mother, “I’m pretty tired right now,”
Delivery Room Under Renovation
Rachel Rose
brought to you by COREView metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk
provided by Journal of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and...
8         Volume , Number 2
Rachel Rose
but the nurse set her lips, untied my hospital gown,
helped that tiny rosemouth yawn and latch
onto the breast. I gasped as the baby’s tugs burned
the thin skin, then laughed at her fine round face
as she squinted at us, blinking her eyes, 
and we were blessed, and wiped our eyes.
The nurse, leaning over my bed, said to us
they were bringing in a woman to recovery
whose baby had just died. She did not need
to ask us to stifle our delight. The woman was wheeled in,
moaning but sedated. The nurse pulled the curtain
around her bed, and I held my newborn, her eyes
still glistening with erythromycin, the small white bonnet
pulled over her wet hair, and only a thin curtain
separated me from the mother whose baby had died: 
I don’t mean a metaphorical curtain, I mean a thin
green hospital curtain on a metal track,
and I wished, but dared not, pull it back.
Previously published in Event 35 (2) (Fall/Winter 2006). Reprinted with permis-
sion.


Delivery Room Under Renovation

Briggs, Gemma

Brownwell, Marni

Roos, Noralou

Teen Mothers and Socioeconomic Status: The Chicken-Egg Debate

Corbin Dwyer
					, Sonya

Gidluck
					, Lynn

Postcards from the Middle: The Journey of Transracial Adoption

Scott, Jill

240         Volume 9, Number  1
Book Reviews
Judith Arcana’s What if your mother is more than a book of mother poetry; it is 
a trip through the history of women’s fertility rights. One might call Arcana a 
poetry journalist or a poetry activist. Her words speak the clear, bloody truth 
of women’s fight for reproductive freedom in accessible language heavy with 
the solid rhythm of story. Arcana’s voice is inviting and strong, taking readers 
with her on a journey through the dark underbelly of the unspoken and the 
unspeakable, of the real and the inevitable. The truth is often funny, like the 
tale of sperm cells—“But there they were, jerky, blind, hesitant little swimmers 
with tails of thread.” Arcana can be blunt and frank, as in the titular poem 
“What if your mother,” which lays out the old argument that we cannot sanc-
tion abortion because what if your own mother had aborted you—“I think 
you just have to tell these people, / Get real. That’s not what it’s about.” Some 
poems are poignant and poetically brilliant, as in “Loverchild,” which evokes 
breastfeeding in all its liquid abundance:
she broadens, she goes liquid
she runs with saliva, with sweat, dripping milk
…
bitten by the teeth of the loverchild
mother, I’m so hungry, feed me
I need to eat you mother
I love to eat you mother
I eat to love you mother
Arcana tells the real story about mothering, not the Hallmark version, one 
where “If that baby doesn’t stop crying / I don’t know what I’ll do,” and one 
that is so vexing in its complex, incomprehensible beauty that it defies syn-
tax—“blaze red angel baby / bleed purple magic mother.” Arcana uses biblical 
imagery—“King Soloman could not imagine this woman, / sobbing, crazy, lost 
in shock”—and mythical figures—she writes Oedipus from the perspective of 
Jocasta, the mother forced to forsake her baby. We also hear, in all its sordid 
nakedness, the story of a teenage couple who hide their pregnancy under a 
girdle, then collectively dispose of the unsightly bump’s contents—“When it 
came out, I turned it over and we pressed the head into a pile of towels for 
a while.” The politics of abortion unravels into etymological humour when 
“roe” becomes a “small species of deer inhabiting parts of Europe and Asia” 
What if your mother 
Judith Arcana. 
Goshen, CT: Chicory Blue Press, 2005.
Reviewed by Jill Scott
 Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering         241 
Book Reviews
and “wade” becomes “chiefly, to go through a tedious task, a long or uninter-
esting book.”
Mostly, though, Arcana evokes the gut-wrenching paradox that women 
love their bodies and their babies with every fibre of their being; that this 
unwavering love for the growing fetus forces them to make hard decisions 
because when the circumstances are not right for mothering, mothers turn to 
murder. No woman wants to be a Medea.
Renee Norman’s poems in True Confessions cover a range of experience, from 
her complex relationship with her mother to the daily struggles of woman-
hood. Her poems are bound together by the various experiences of women as 
daughters, mothers, grandmothers, and poets. The end result is a fresh, appealing 
collection that balances love, nostalgia, humour, fear, and anger.
Norman opens the first section, “This is How It Begins,” with “Chop.” 
The poem describes a parenting role-reversal, in which the speaker affection-
ately helps her mother undress like she does her “youngest child / when her 
head is stuck.” The tone quickly changes in “Repairing Damage” when the 
daughter starts to “break / and fight back” with her mother for lecturing her 
“children / who should have known better.” Mother-daughter tension also 
resonates in “Mother’s Madness,” as the daughter once again disapproves 
of her mother’s commands to her children: “is this what you want them to 
remember? / stop running up and down the stairs / stop teasing your sister.” 
Norman returns to the intimate bond between mothers and daughters in 
“For Sara at Twelve.” The mother here tenderly recognizes her connection to 
her daughter: “the same knots tangle / your hair and mine / we both squint 
through / glasses spotted with breath.” These moving poems best illustrate 
the profound emotions shared by mothers and daughters.
In the second and third sections, “If I Call Myself ” and “When Geese Fly,” 
Norman reflects upon the strength of women and the domestic responsibilities 
of mothers. With “On the Tongue,” she describes how women come together 
to share pain: “when Nicaraguan poet Daisy Zamora recites / a poem about her 
mother / when mature students read personal narratives aloud / one mother’s 
lost child is each particular sadness.” In the poem “In the Bathroom Thou Shalt 
Eat Stones,” Zamora reappears as a symbol of brave women who fearlessly “eat 
True Confessions
Renee Norman
Toronto: Inanna Publications, 2005.
Reviewed by Dorsía Smith Silva


What if your mother

Barrett
					, reviewed by Irene A.

280        Volume 9, Number 2
Book Reviews
infants.” This demand for infants also spurred social workers to expand the 
parameters of their notion of “adoptable infants.”
The epilogue notes current debates surrounding the institution of adoption. 
Berebitsky cites the fear of racial genocide expressed by the National Associa-
tion of Black Social workers who tried to prevent whites from adopting black 
children. The author also recognizes the effect of Roe v. Wade on adoption, 
as there are now fewer available children to be adopted. 
Like Our Very Own is clear, accessible, and painstakingly researched. It will 
appeal to readers interested in the history of the family and adoption.
The importance of understanding children’s education from a holistic stand-
point is a recognized topic within educational training and research. Children’s 
experiences both in and out of the classroom are now considered in relation 
to their academic success. The Family Context of Parenting in Children’s Adap-
tation to Elementary School is an in-depth study exploring the significance of 
family experiences on a child’s transition to elementary school.
This book examines seven themes within the family context: authoritative 
parenting; marital quality in relation to sex-typed parenting; children’s self-
perceptions; parental conflict; intergenerational context of parenting; parental 
work experience; and family process/structure. As a longitudinal study, the 
researchers were able to use multiple data gathering methods; thus, not only 
were the seven themes explored over time, the researchers witnessed gradual 
changes within the family contexts. The researchers also include voices of 
parents, children, teachers, and research observers who offer their points of 
view throughout the study.
I was troubled by the researchers’ noted population bias. For the purposes of 
this work, they recruited two-income, heterosexual, married couples whose first 
child was entering kindergarten during the time of study. Eighty-four percent 
of participants were Caucasian and 79% were equal to or above the median 
family income for the research region. The researchers targeted a population 
that was not “high-risk” and where the child’s experiences of school transition 
were at par with normal child development.
Given the sample population, the researchers’ findings come as no surprise 
The Family Context of Parenting in Children’s 
Adaptation to Elementary School
P. A. Cowen, C. A. Cowen, J. C. Ablow, V. K. Johnson, J. R. Measelle, eds. 
Mahwah,NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2005.
Reviewed by Irene A. Barrett
 Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering        281 
Book Reviews
to this reviewer. It was found, for example, that mothers who had control over 
their work schedule and autonomy in their position had children who were 
considered more academically competent by their kindergarten teachers. The 
researchers further found that “regardless of the number of hours fathers work 
outside the home, their psychological investment in their work may have potential 
benefits for their children’s development and their life as a family” (248). 
I question the value of these findings for many North American families. 
First, these results are aligned with the social belief that a mother’s first priority 
is her family. Second, this “ideal” scenario only seems possible for families that 
are financially secure. Finally, and most importantly, these findings reinforce 
traditional gender roles, where the father’s main contribution is his ability to 
provide for the family and the mother’s is to be accessible to her children for 
nurturance.
Especially useful are the four recommendations presented in the “inte-
gration” section of the text. First, the researchers confirm that it is possible 
to identify children at risk for academic and social problems. Second, they 
enumerate important opportunities for preventative intervention with families 
around the transition to elementary school. Third, they argue that study of 
low-income populations is needed. Finally, they recommend increased family-
based interventions. Although there is preventative support in place for families 
who are “high risk,” little to no research has been conducted to determine its 
efficacy. Moreover, these supports are not readily available to the general public. 
The researchers argue for the need to understand the already implemented 
supports so that they can be extended to all families. 
This work encourages further quantitative research in the field. As a scholarly 
work, however, it will not appeal to practitioners or the general public.
Nancy Gerber says Losing a Life is the story of her father’s stroke and the in-
tervening six years prior to his death in 2001. I would argue that it is equally 
the story of a father and daughter, of a daughter’s struggle to grow up, and 
of one family’s experience of the American health care system. In fact, there 
seem to be many lives lost.
As an academic, Gerber turns her family experience into a book that 
Losing a Life: A Daughter’s Memoir of Caregiving
Nancy Gerber.
Lanham, Maryland: Hamilton Books, 2005.
Reviewed by Gail M. Lindsay


The Family Context of Parenting in Children’s Adaptation to Elementary School

Keys, Deborah

Complex Lives: Young Motherhood, Homelessness and Partner Relationships

Nahoney, Katelyn

 Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering         179 
She’s my world
My little girl.
I can see myself in her eyes.
And even when she cries
She has a beautiful soul.
And that’s how I know
Her heart is as pure as gold.
I love watching her learn
play and earn.
And she’s good at doing what she’s told.
She’s my world
My little girl.
I can see myself in her eyes.
No matter how mad or frustrated I get
My love for her never dies.
I love teaching her things
and watching her grow
counting her fingers
and touching her toes.
She’s my world
My little girl.
And my little girl
Is my whole world.
Katelyn Nahoney
My World
180        Volume 9, Number 1
Katelyn Nahoney, “Moatherhood is Beautiful”


My World