Mean Baby

Selma Blair has played many roles: Ingenue in Cruel Intentions. Preppy ice queen in Legally Blonde. Muse to Karl Lagerfeld. Advocate for the multiple sclerosis community. But before all of that, Selma was known best as … a mean baby. In a memoir that is as wildly funny as it is emotionally shattering, Blair tells the captivating story of growing up and finding her truth. "Blair is a rebel, an artist, and it turns out: a writer."—Glennon Doyle, Author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller Untamed and Founder of Together Rising The first story Selma Blair Beitner ever heard about herself is that she was a mean, mean baby. With her mouth pulled in a perpetual snarl and a head so furry it had to be rubbed to make way for her forehead, Selma spent years living up to her terrible reputation: biting her sisters, lying spontaneously, getting drunk from Passover wine at the age of seven, and behaving dramatically so that she would be the center of attention. Although Selma went on to become a celebrated Hollywood actress and model, she could never quite shake the periods of darkness that overtook her, the certainty that there was a great mystery at the heart of her life. She often felt like her arms might be on fire, a sensation not unlike electric shocks, and she secretly drank to escape. Over the course of this beautiful and, at times, devasting memoir, Selma lays bare her addiction to alcohol, her devotion to her brilliant and complicated mother, and the moments she flirted with death. There is brutal violence, passionate love, true friendship, the gift of motherhood, and, finally, the surprising salvation of a multiple sclerosis diagnosis. In a voice that is powerfully original, fiercely intelligent, and full of hard-won wisdom, Selma Blair’s Mean Baby is a deeply human memoir and a true literary achievement.

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 I was told I was a mean baby. I was also called Baby Bear. Both are questionable. -> I was born with a glower, and was often labeled as mean by my peers. I was also called Baby Bear because of my fur-covered head. #2 I was called Selma, but I mostly went by Blair. I shared a room with my sister Lizzie, and I would always get out of bed very quickly, startling her. I was a mean baby. #3 Me and my brother would be called mean by our peers, and I would always get out of bed very quickly, startling my sister. I was a mean baby. #4 I was a mean baby, and I would fake I’d lost my earring so I could get out of playing with my friends.

Claudia's participation in the Baby-sitters Club is curtailed when Grandmother Mimi suffers a stroke and Claudia finds herself "Mimi-sitting" and fighting more frequently with her sister.

The baby-sitters are back in their fourth graphic novel! Claudia and her sister, Janine, may as well be from two different planets. Claudia, who pays more attention to her art than her grades, feels she can't compete with her perfect sister. Janine studies nonstop, makes straight As, and even takes college-level courses. The girls are nothing alike, and they can't agree on anything. While Janine devotes all her time to working on her Web site, The Baby-sitters Club is busy with their new summer play group. But when something terrible happens to their grandmother, Mimi, the two sisters discover they're more alike than they originally thought.

Here is an expanded, new edition of the pro-life classic, "Who Broke the Baby?"--more than 120,000 sold. This small, straightforward handbook addresses the slogans of the pro-choice movement, with new chapters giving up-to-the-minute answers to the latest pro-choice arguments. "This book gets to the heart of the matter".--C. Everett Koop, M.D.

A revolutionary memoir about domestic abuse by the award-winning author of Her Body and Other Parties. In the Dream House is Carmen Maria Machado's engrossing and wildly innovative account of a relationship gone bad, and a bold dissection of the mechanisms and cultural representations of psychological abuse. Tracing the full arc of a harrowing relationship with a charismatic but volatile woman, Machado struggles to make sense of how what happened to her shaped the person she was becoming. And it's that struggle that gives the book its original structure: each chapter is driven by its own narrative trope--haunted houses, erotica, bildungsroman--in which Machado holds the events up to the light and examines them from different angles. She looks back at her religious adolescence, unpacks the stereotype of lesbian relationships as safe and utopian, and widens the view with essayistic explorations about the history and reality of abuse in queer relationships. Machado's dire narrative is leavened with her characteristic wit, playfulness, and openness to inquiry. She casts a critical eye over legal proceedings, Star Trek and Disney villains, fairy tales, as well as iconic works of film and fiction. The result is a wrenching, riveting book that explodes our ideas about what a memoir can do and be.

"The book is written in an engaging and accessible style and the passion of the author is evident. ...an interesting and timely text that will be useful to those working with very young children and their families." British Journal of Educational Studies "a challenging and worthwhile read" Nursery World The first year of life is the year of opportunity. It is when the foundations for our emotional and social well being together with our motivation and ability to learn begin to be laid down by an ongoing interplay of physical, neurological and psychological processes Maria Robinson draws upon up to date research to illuminate this process and highlights the importance of understanding the meaning and influence of adult interactions, reactions and behaviour towards their child and the child's impact on the adult. She indicates how the outcomes of early experience can influence the direction of future development so providing insight into the potential reasons for children's behavioural responses. The powerful nature of working with babies and young children is addressed in a separate section which encourages practitioners to reflect on how personal attitudes, beliefs and values can influence professional practice. This fascinating book is a valuable resource for all early years practitioners including teachers, social workers and health visitors who wish to understand behaviour within a context of early developmental processes.