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Mitten Strings for God: Reflections for Mothers in a Hurry
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List Price:
$11.95
Special Price:
$5.95
Your Savings: $ 6.00 ( 50% )
Subject To Change Without Notice
Availability: N/A
Manufacturer: Warner Books
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Average Customer Rating: 
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 158
Format: Bargain Price
Label: Warner Books
Manufacturer: Warner Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 240
Publication Date: 2002-04-01
Publisher: Warner Books
Studio: Warner Books
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Editorial Reviews:
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Mothers are pulled in a million different directions while trying to give their kids fulfilling, productive, joyful childhoods. They mistake activity for happiness, and fill their kids heads with information when they ought to be feeding their souls instead. This is a book for mothers who yearn to find a balance in their own and their childrens lives. Through stories and suggestions, Katrina Kenison shares her insights into how to celebrate lifes quiet moments, softly reminding busy mothers to pause and remember the deep sense of well-being that comes from a listening ear, an open heart, and a quiet little space carved out of time. A former book editor, Katrina Kenison has worked with such distinguished authors as Jane Hamilton, Calvin Trillin, and Olive Ann Burns. Since 1989, Katrina Kenison has been the editor of the annual collection The Best American Short Stories (Houghton Mifflin). The 1999 edition, which she edited with John Updike, is a bestseller. Composed of short reflections that cover subjects ranging from Listening and Grace to TV and Play, mothers will want to buy this beautifully designed book for themselves and also give it to friends.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Amazing book--a must read for all Moms
Comment: This book hit home. One of my best friends gifted me with this book and it has been one of the best gifts ever. I work full time and have a 10 month old daughter. After reading just a chapter I felt relieved to know I am not the only one feeling stressed with all there is to do everyday while maintaining a home, work, relationships,etc. This book gives permission to slow down, and it says it's okay to stop and listen and not do the big birthday parties and attend all the holiday parties and events. Just being and listening and not doing anything together is time well spent.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Wise, gentle reflections
Comment: I truly enjoyed this book. It is not a religious book (despite the title) nor a parenting guide; it is a deeply spiritual look at what it means to be a family.
Customer Rating:
Summary: She feels like a friend.
Comment: Mitten Strings touched me in such a way that I felt like I was reading a letter from a good friend. There was a sense of peace reading it and imagining my family in her book. Her basic premise is to slow down, notice the details of your children's lives and be present with your family. But the book goes so much further than that. We all know to slow down...but to be reminded how magical it can be, with illustrations that are so tender is even better. I highly recommend this book and in fact purchased seven more to give to my friends as a special gift. I'd love to meet the author (Katrina) and sit over a cup of something on the front porch while our children run circles around the house!
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful, Thoughtful Book - Requires the right frame of mind to appreciate
Comment: As others have noted, this book is a series of reflections about motherhood and the importance of slowing down to savor daily life with loved ones.
This book energized me to make several changes in my own life. Part of my motivation for homeschooling this year was a desire to have a more conscious, contemplative, and purposeful life rather than a frantic-mad-dashing here and there life.
In fact, as the holidays approach, many of my friends are feeling "swamped", "overwhelmed", "stressed" - feelings I remember all too well from previous years. While I still have my moments, overall I am much less stressed than last year. The overall tenor of the holidays is much happier and calmer. I have done my best to pare the holidays down to the essentials, to keep things simple and personal, rather than grandly extravagant. Extravagance has its place, but when children are young, I think simplicity makes so much more sense.
I loved this book so much I chose it for my book club of busy suburban SAHMs. I was quite surprised to find only two (out of nine) loved it as I did! Three thought the book had "some good ideas", but they clearly didn't connect with the author.
The other four were quite negative about Mitten Strings. They felt it was too preachy and perfect and Pollyanna-ish, that "real" people couldn't live like the Kenisons without lots of money. But it's not a financial lifestyle she is talking about, it's an internal one, it is simply making a conscious effort to notice, appreciate, prioritize and streamline.
In trying to figure out the mixed response to this book in my book club, I came up with a couple of ideas. I think the crux of liking the book has to do with the following:
First, it depends on whether you are at a point in your life where you actually consider rushing madly to be a negative thing, rather than proof you are productive. Some people feel empowered and energized by rushing and being busy!
Second, it depends on how contemplative you are feeling when you read the book. The more contemplative you feel, the more likely you might enjoy the book.
Finally, it depends on whether you enjoy visual and poetic language. The author writes with a heartfelt, genuine sentimentality that, while I enjoyed it tremendously, can apparently be off-putting to people with more pragmatic sensibilities.
One reviewer said they would not give this book to a parent of an autistic child, or one with Down's Syndrome. I actually think this book has considerable merit for families with special needs children - the key is knowing WHEN to give the book. I have a child who was diagnosed with autism at 3, and when he was younger and we were rushing around madly from therapy to therapy, ransacking our home to make it an engaging learning environment, etc..., I would not have been in the frame of mind to appreciate it.
In fact, according to my three criteria above: the mad rushing was proof I was doing everything I could to help him; who has time to be contemplative when you are trying to save your child from autism; and poetic musings about the wonderful lives of families with typically developing children would have been quite upsetting.
NOW I see things differently. I think the ideas in the book have even MORE relevance for children with special needs, who often thrive in calm, centered environments. I think children with special needs deserve to have their progress, however slow or small, deeply savored and appreciated.
Well anyway. This is not a book that EVERYONE is necessarily going to love, in spite of the steady parade of 5 star reviews. Nevertheless, I join the parade and give this book 5 stars based on my own incredibly positive experience reading it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: This book changed my life...
Comment: It is rare to say but so true. It was given to me by an older woman and it truely changed the way I parent my two boys, see life and helped me create a summer that I will treasure. A must read for those who want to slow down and get off the "treadmill" of life.
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