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

Gur, Doreen

284          volume 1, number 2
Book Reviews
The Question of David: 
A Disabled Mother’s Journey Through Adoption, 
Family and Life
Denise Sherer Jacobson. 
Berkeley: Creative Arts Book Company, 1999.
Reviewed by Doreen Gur
For author and mother Denise Jacobson, family, love, pain, doubt, and resil-
ience all play a significant role in The Question of David. This is a true story of 
a mother with cerebral palsy who contemplates adopting David, a baby who 
may have cerebral palsy. Jacobson deals with the complex and various issues 
surrounding adoption, and she does so from a social location that deems her 
an inadequate person and, more specifically, an inadequate mother. Since she 
is a woman with a visible disability, her opinions are often ignored. Jacobson 
struggles with her socialization as a disabled person in a nondisabled world 
and wishes she had been taught early on that she did not have to “overcome” 
her disability.
For Jacobson, living with cerebral palsy means dependence, care, and a gen-
eral disregard for her views, along with social barriers that circumscribe the 
lives of individuals who are considered disabled, handicapped, or crippled. 
Additionally, to be disabled and a woman intensifies the negative percep-
tion of one’s disabilities since these two social locations intersect to become 
interlocking sites of oppression. These negative perceptions are reinforced by 
the medical profession and its intrusive paternalistic ideology used to control 
women’s reproductive choices, birth, even the right to choose whether to live 
or die.
Jacobson questions the value of medical intervention as she recalls the 
physical, emotional, and psychological pain that she endured as a child in 
book reviews
 journal of the motherhood initiative          285 
medical offices, hospitals, institutions, and “special” schools. Seen only as a 
person with cerebral palsy, Jacobson’s various abilities were virtually ignored. 
She questions whether or not the goals and expectations she had for herself 
would have been different had she not been labeled “severely disabled” and is 
highly opposed to labeling anyone, especially David, “severely disabled.”
Non-disabled individuals often take their independence for granted, es-
pecially since they do not have caregivers in their lives. Jacobson strives for 
independence and her resistance towards her au pair is a sign of determina-
tion and motivation. However, the more Jacobson attempts to resist her need 
for care, the more she realizes how demanding a baby can be. Here, the issue 
of care versus choice arises as the interdependence of care limits life choices 
for those who are disabled.
Understandably, in light of her despair and isolation as a child, Jacobson 
was hesitant to start a family. However, with encouragement from her hus-
band and faith in her Jewish religion, Jacobson’s journey through adoption 
led her into the intimate world of mothering. When questions of disability 
and mothering arose, through moments of panic and excitement, Jacobson 
bravely faced her own insecurities.
In advance of adopting their son, Jacobson and her husband chose to name 
him David. They chose this special name to carry on the Jewish tradition of 
naming a child after a deceased family member. Jacobson’s book also evokes 
her strong emotional ties with her late mother, a bond that provided the im-
petus she needed to start her own family. When she lost her beloved mother, 
Jacobson became even more determined to build a foundation for David filled 
with support, care, and, most of all, unconditional love.
Denise Jacobson struggles to show the world that she is good enough to be 
a daughter, a wife, and a mother—a whole person of strength and determina-
tion. Against all odds, she does not give up and realizes her desire to become 
a mother. 
Call Me Okaasan: 
Adventures in Multicultural Mothering
Suzanne Kamata, ed. 
Oregon: Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing, 2009.
Reviewed by Ferzana Chase
Call Me Okaasan : Adventures in Multicultural Mothering includes twenty-one 
thought-provoking essays on the mothering experiences of women bridging 


English

The Question of David: A Disabled Mother's Journey Through Adoption, Family and Life

Smith, Katherine

 journal of the motherhood initiative            279 
katherine smith
Miracle II
If, as Kierkegaard said, self is
the center of the universe, Rebecca’s
mostly flashes on and off like a broken 
traffic signal. Today though her cerebral cortex
sucks in endorphins like oxygen, so
for the last ten minutes the small miracle
of belief redeems the world  
again. Her own body
that brought forth two sons
burns like Aaron’s Rod. Rebecca
once had red hair that gleamed
as she sunk into the plush banquette
of a Parisian restaurant and flaked 
off bits of trout almondine while a man leaned
over  her. Though self ’s 
more than Kierkegaard ever dreamed of, she
was pregnant and didn’t go
with this stranger but with another
whose presence flashed briefly and died
into memory like a firefly snagged by a fish
back into deep water. Rebecca’s hair turned
from red to brown. The baby was born.
For years the body lives without story, 
but now the myth of personal destiny bounds 
inside Rebecca like a delirious white sheep 
dog leaping after sunlight into dirty water.


Miracle II

Kalfopoulou, Adrianne

16           volume 1,  number 1  journal of the motherhood initiative            17 
In the hazed windows – tomorrow’s market wares.
Plastic containers stacked on one store shelf.
No takers this time of night, and I’m thinking she is unaware
Of this, on stage in another hemisphere, reciting lines, herself
Iphigenia. And like Agamemnon listening to her plea,
The sages will decide, judge the worth of her words, and grief.
She is giving of her heart, fighting Calchas’ decree
While I, the mother, walk the streets without relief;
Despite the hour, the drunks, a man chewing on a rusk
With something close to lust, I can’t stop thinking of her part —
What fate brought the man to this, some betrayed trust?
I pass parked vans, tomorrow’s meat in a lit shop, dark
Chopping blocks, clean behind the glass, see the skinned lamb last,
Imagine butchers making cuts, how the blood with run, how fast.
adrianne kalfopoulou
First Audition
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First Audition

Cade, reviewed by Roshaunda D.

book reviews
242           volume 1,  number 1
the seemingly minor (such as “Why Every Parent Should Take a Power Nap” 
and “Picky Eaters”) to the relatively significant (including “Should You Work 
or Stay at Home?” and “The Pain of Divorce”).  While the initial entries are 
specific to bringing home a new baby, the remaining entries are indiscrimi-
nately organized.  
Though the book jacket claims “Survival Notes does not preach,” the author 
also never admits to facing a situation for which the appropriate solution was 
not easy to come by, institute, or enforce.  In this way, the book seems to pres-
ent an idealized notion of parenthood to a population—new parents—that 
could stand to be reassured that there is no single best way to parent.  
The author’s writing style is conversational and the book reads like a com-
pilation of friendly advice.  In one section, readers are told that newborns 
“usually resemble cone heads”; on another page, readers are encouraged to 
“discipline the best you know how.” The author, a father of two, seems to be 
positioning himself as a sympathetic resource on parenting rather than an 
expert practitioner in child development.  
The book’s incorporation of biblical verses and the author’s background as 
a pastor contribute to the work’s overtly Christian focus.  Many of the sug-
gested courses of action seem to promote a particular moral perspective.  
In Stress-Free Pregnancy Guide, mother-daughter team Carol Livoti and 
Elizabeth Topp strive to lessen the anxiety associated with pregnancy and 
childbirth.  Although Livoti and Topp collaborate on the book, Livoti’s is the 
authorial voice.  With over 30 years experience in obstetrics, Livoti’s medical 
opinions permeate the pages of the book.  For women who regard pregnancy 
and childbirth as medical experiences, this book may lessen stress.  Women 
who do not believe in medical intervention, however, may find this book 
increases stress.  
During pregnancy, particularly a first pregnancy, so many things seem ab-
normal.  By presenting a range of normal occurrences, Livoti and Topp put 
readers at ease.  They divide each trimester into a “normal” and “abnormal” 
chapter.  While these terms may be unsettling, the division proves an ef-
fective strategy.  Once women read a “normal” chapter and see themselves 
reflected in the examples provided, they may opt to bypass an “abnormal” 
Stress-Free Pregnancy Guide: 
A Doctor Tells You What to Really Expect  
Carol Livoti and Elizabeth Topp. 
New York: Amacom, 2009.
Reviewed by Roshaunda D. Cade
book reviews
 journal of the motherhood initiative            243 
chapter.  Or they may read the “abnormal” chapter with less anxiety because 
they have already recognized their symptoms in the “normal” chapter.  Livoti 
and Topp present the information in the “abnormal” chapters in a way that 
neither frightens nor condemns.  They urge women to think of the rules 
of pregnancy (i.e., avoiding alcohol and specific foods) as “goals rather than 
threats” and insist that “it’s more important to be calm than vigilant” (15). 
So even if mothers locate their concerns in “abnormal” chapters, they can 
maintain low stress levels. 
The authors also use a supportive tone.  Livoti and Topp consistently reit-
erate that most women have healthy pregnancies and healthy babies, which 
is reassuring for all mothers.  While they divide the stages of pregnancy into 
normal and abnormal, they do not focus on age.  Instead, within both the 
normal and abnormal ranges, Livoti and Topp include issues that women of 
differing ages may face.  Not singling out young mothers or women of ad-
vanced maternal age forwards the authors’ efforts of lowering anxiety.  
While Livoti and Topp do not criticize mothers based on age or adherence 
to pregnancy protocols, the text suffers from its medical bias and its retell-
ing of Livoti’s office visits.  Livoti and Topp denigrate a large population of 
women by negating approaches to pregnancy and childbirth that do not cen-
tre on medical interventions.  At one point the authors glibly state, “All I’m 
saying is have your baby at the hospital” (268).  Livoti and Topp do not give 
fair treatment to alternate childbirth options.  Additionally, the book features 
sidebars that include Livoti’s recollections from her years in private practice. 
Largely anecdotal, these sidebars are not relevant to the topics under discus-
sion and interrupt one’s reading of the text.   
For women who desire a strictly medical perspective on pregnancy and 
childbirth, Stress-Free Pregnancy Guide offers detailed explanations that do 
not belittle readers.  Disappointingly, however, it denigrates mothers who do 
not prescribe to the authors’ medical approach.  Overall, Carol Livoti and 
Elizabeth Topp offer accessible insight into pregnancy and childbirth that 
Fit to Bust is a collection of Allison Blenkinsop’s breastfeeding-themed songs, 
additional comic writings, and information about breastfeeding. While the 
book contains some useful information, it lacks critical awareness. This might 
be expected in a book of humour. However, Blenkinsop has attempted to 
Fit to Bust:  A Comic Treasure Chest  
Alison Blenkinsop.  
 Brighton: Great Britain:  Pen Press Publishers, 2008.
Reviewed by Jessica Nathanson


Stress-Free Pregnancy Guide: A Doctor Tells You What to Really Expect

278           volume 1,  number 2
katherine smith
Miracle I
The baby who slept in the apartment in Paris
while I washed bottles in a bucket
on the floor, whom I cradled inside my jacket
on endless walks past the black swan in the Buttes-Chaumont
now drives a car through the American suburbs, has suffered
her own losses, stays out all night with friends. My past,
our shared past, though she doesn’t remember,
has become my daughter’s mythology. I don’t long
for the courtyard in Belleville or her sleep, where
each spring a foxglove sprang from a crack in the wall.
When growth accompanies it, the real flowers
into myth, power, a question whether
that foxglove really did come back three years in a row.


Miracle I

O'Donnell, Angela Alaimo

98           volume 1,  number 2  journal of the motherhood initiative            99 
I.
As children well schooled in love and loss,
we gather in these last December days.
Her dying an abyss we have to cross,
yet none of us has found the proper way
to navigate the single plank of life
struck plain across the darkness far below,
its width as trim and narrow as a knife,
its length as long as sorrow and as slow.
We conjure the solstice and the sun
who runs his brief course across the sky.
The winter of our lives at last begun
as our mother has, at last, begun to die.
We honor conclusion, her final year.
We walk the brink of time, despite our fear.
II.
We walk the brink of time, despite our fear
and learn to love this living hour by hour,
the urge to cling together strong and clear
as Florida blue, the red hibiscus flower
that blooms against December’s brilliant day
and teaches us that beauty does not cease,
that life regales us on our joyous way,
and, when we’ve reached the end, provides release.
In the Valley of the Shadow
angela alaimo o’donnell
100           volume 1,  number 2
The place we walk cannot be seen by eye
or told by heart or touched by eager hand.
It is as high and wide as summer sky,
its birds as bright and many as the sands.
There is a music there we cannot hear—
a song so long and sweet it charms the ear.
angela alaimo o’donnell


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The Question of David: A Disabled Mother's Journey Through Adoption, Family and Life

Miracle II

First Audition

Stress-Free Pregnancy Guide: A Doctor Tells You What to Really Expect

Miracle I

In the Valley of the Shadow

Mothers and Blogging: The Radical Act of MommyBlog

Controlling the Russian Soldiers’ Mothers and Chechen Mothers: The Story of a Hidden War

Why Am I a Realist

Grieving Conceptions: Making Motherhood in the Wake of Infertility in Ireland

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