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Contact: Holly Bemiss, Publicist E-mail: Holly.Bemiss@avalonpub.com

Toddler: Real-life Stories of Those Fickle, Irrational, Urgent, Tiny

People We Love

Edited by Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D.

The first and only collection of first-person stories of its kind,

Toddler is a heartwarming, sometimes shocking, book of real-life stories about parenting toddlers, complete with all the dirty diapers, shouting, cuddling, and wonder that comes along with the life-long task of caring for children.

Toddler includes original stories from well-known writers like Hope Edelman, Paul Kivel, Joyce Maynard, Louise Erdrich, NPR commentator Meredith Small and others, as well as stories from emerging talents. In it is the first prose piece by New Yorker poet and co-founder of Poetry in Motion, Elise Paschen, and original pieces by internationally known young adult writers Gordon Korman and Marie Myung-Ok Lee. Unlike most parenting books, it also gives voice to fathers—both stay-at-home dads and working men—who delight in their small children.

Clever, succinct, and poignant tales for parents and other adults whose lives are enriched and riled by toddlers, these stories describe the joy a father feels when his daughter looks at him and exclaims "dada!" (and the disappointment that follows when she addresses her Sippy cup by the same name), and the frustration a mother—who is also a doctor—feels when the potty-training advice she routinely gives to worried parents fails miserably with her own triplets.

“When my second daughter was born and I had a 19-month-old and a newborn, I scoured the bookstores for a book like this one and could not find it,” says editor Jennifer Margulis, the mother of two toddlers who, as an activist, scholar, and writer, has been an outspoken advocate of childrens’ rights. Margulis adds that she compiled Toddler to create a sense of community among parents and that one of her friends, a working mother with a willful two-year-old, was so excited about the book that she begged for sneak previews of the stories (Margulis sent some. Her friend stayed up late laughing and crying with her husband over the tales.)

Perfect for reading on stolen time—while the children are napping, in the peaceful moments after the nighttime ritual, in the silence of a still sleeping early morning house—these real-life stories revel in the all the hilarity, magic, and chaos of raising complex little people.

Toddlers exasperate us, defy us and devastate us, yet they fill us with wonder. Toddler reflects that joy and wonder, the frustration and heartbreak, which define this vital but fleeting time in a child and parent’s life.

Harriet Lerner, Ph.D., author of The Dance of Anger and The Mother Dance calls Toddler a “delightful, searingly honest, hilarious, sad and moving book that captures the whole rollercoaster of emotions that come with the territory of rearing a toddler.”

Editor Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D., is a freelance writer, writing consultant, and photojournalist, who has worked on child survival and literacy projects around the world. Fluent in four languages, she earned a B.A. from Cornell University, an M.A. from UC Berkeley, and a Ph.D. from Emory University. Her writing on parenting has been published in Mothering Magazine; Brain, Child, Valley Kids; Science and Children, and many other magazines. She lives with her family in western Massachusetts. Toddler is her second book.

October 2003 (ISBN 1-58005-093-x( $14.95 ( Paper 272 pp Published by Seal Press) Distributed by Publishers Group West. Contact: Holly Bemiss, Publicist. (646) 375-2570 x7913, _ HYPERLINK

"mailto:Holly.Bemiss@Avalonpub.com" Holly.Bemiss@Avalonpub.com

FYI (for the Interview Questions section of the Press Kit)

Toddler: Real-life Stories of Those Fickle, Irrational, Urgent, Tiny People We Love

Jennifer Margulis, editor

Interview Questions

1. There are literally hundreds of parenting books on the market. Do we really need another one?

2. How are toddlers “fickle, irrational, urgent, tiny people”?

3. One of the authors writes that “toddlers are, by their very nature, walking death threats to themselves.” What does she mean?

4. What are the things that every parent should be prepared for when their baby hits toddlerhood?

5. You have a four-year-old, a two-year-old, and a newborn. How did you find the time to compile this book?

6. How will this book help people become better parents?

7. Some of the toddler antics in this book are familiar to me though my children are much older. Are toddlers like teenagers?

8. Your mother, Lynn Margulis, won the National Medal of Science, is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and is an internationally acclaimed microbiologist. How has your parenting been affected by her mothering?

9. What’s your most embarrassing parenting story?

10. You chose to include several stories by men. There’s a story in here by writer Peter Fong about his flyfishing adventure with his son in a backpack and one by novelist Gordon Korman about his son’s obsession with cars and trucks. Another is by a freshly minted stay-at-home dad that starts with his two-year-old’s words, “I have to close my butt!” But we all know men don’t read about parenting. Do you really think men will enjoy this book?

11. What is the most challenging thing about raising a toddler?

12. What is the best thing about raising a toddler?

13. What is your favorite story in this book?

14. You worked on an Africare Child Survival Project in West Africa and you have spoken out against child slavery in Pakistan. Do you think parents need to be advocates for children?

15. Your first book was scholarly: a co-edited classroom edition of an 18th century play. Toddler is your second book. Now what’s next for Jennifer Margulis?