A reassuring and practical health guide.
A pediatrician offers parents a practical framework for caregiving during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Fradin, a doctor and a mother, survived a serious childhood illness and wrote an undergraduate psychology thesis on stress, and these experiences allow her to bring a unique perspective to this Covid-19 child care guide. Early on, she reviews coronavirus basics and recommends strategies for mitigating the impact of the pandemic crisis on kids’ lives. The first section summarizes current science regarding the virus, its symptoms, testing, and risk assessment, offering readers helpful, if somewhat technical, background. The remaining three sections discuss numerous specific scenarios in more detail, such as how to help protect newborns, pregnant women, and elderly people from infection. The prose occasionally dips into medical formality, using terms such as nidus and fomites, but it still provides a great deal of value for the layperson. Indeed, parents may feel less alone after reading Fradin’s calm, matter-of-fact assessment of pandemic-related challenges. For example, the author candidly shares her own personal experiences and feelings (“When I hear of coronavirus parties and the ‘let’s get it over with’ idea, I want to cry”) as well as professional medical recommendations. The section that focuses on children presents best practices for physical and mental health for various age ranges, from infants to teens, while emphasizing the importance of routine health care. “Coronavirus & Parents” strongly encourages caregivers not to neglect their own well-being while preparing for unexpected problems. The book also addresses how to deal with differences of opinion between co-parents. The last section effectively acknowledges the ongoing stress many families are feeling and gives down-to-earth tips for dealing with such challenges. Finally, a useful appendix provides a list of resources and more than 50 references.
A reassuring and practical health guide.Pub Date: Aug. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73559-270-1
Page Count: 181
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.
A noted actor turns to verse: “Poems are a Saturday in the middle of the week.”
McConaughey, author of the gracefully written memoir Greenlights, has been writing poems since his teens, closing with one “written in an Australian bathtub” that reads just as a poem by an 18-year-old (Rimbaud excepted) should read: “Ignorant minds of the fortunate man / Blind of the fate shaping every land.” McConaughey is fearless in his commitment to the rhyme, no matter how slight the result (“Oops, took a quick peek at the sky before I got my glasses, / now I can’t see shit, sure hope this passes”). And, sad to say, the slight is what is most on display throughout, punctuated by some odd koanlike aperçus: “Eating all we can / at the all-we-can-eat buffet, / gives us a 3.8 education / and a 4.2 GPA.” “Never give up your right to do the next right thing. This is how we find our way home.” “Memory never forgets. Even though we do.” The prayer portion of the program is deeply felt, but it’s just as sentimental; only when he writes of life-changing events—a court appearance to file a restraining order against a stalker, his decision to quit smoking weed—do we catch a glimpse of the effortlessly fluent, effortlessly charming McConaughey as exemplified by the David Wooderson (“alright, alright, alright”) of Dazed and Confused. The rest is mostly a soufflé in verse. McConaughey’s heart is very clearly in the right place, but on the whole the book suggests an old saw: Don’t give up your day job.
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781984862105
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.
The late actor offers a gentle guide for living with more purpose, love, and joy.
Mixing poetry, prescriptive challenges, and elements of memoir, Heche (1969-2022) delivers a narrative that is more encouraging workbook than life story. The author wants to share what she has discovered over the course of a life filled with abuse, advocacy, and uncanny turning points. Her greatest discovery? Love. “Open yourself up to love and transform kindness from a feeling you extend to those around you to actions that you perform for them,” she writes. “Only by caring can we open ourselves up to the universe, and only by opening up to the universe can we fully experience all the wonders that it holds, the greatest of which is love.” Throughout the occasionally overwrought text, Heche is heavy on the concept of care. She wants us to experience joy as she does, and she provides a road map for how to get there. Instead of slinking away from Hollywood and the ridicule that she endured there, Heche found the good and hung on, with Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford starring as particularly shining knights in her story. Some readers may dismiss this material as vapid Hollywood stuff, but Heche’s perspective is an empathetic blend of Buddhism (minimize suffering), dialectical behavioral therapy (tolerating distress), Christianity (do unto others), and pre-Socratic philosophy (sufficient reason). “You’re not out to change the whole world, but to increase the levels of love and kindness in the world, drop by drop,” she writes. “Over time, these actions wear away the coldness, hate, and indifference around us as surely as water slowly wearing away stone.” Readers grieving her loss will take solace knowing that she lived her love-filled life on her own terms. Heche’s business and podcast partner, Heather Duffy, writes the epilogue, closing the book on a life well lived.
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781627783316
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viva Editions
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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