Sandi Kahn Shelton

From beloved author Shelton comes a charming, witty, and poignant novel that asks the question: What if the person you can't stand turns out to be the person you can't live without?

A Novel

Kissing Games of the World

What Comes After Crazy

Sleeping Through the Night. . . and Other Lies

In a painfully honest look at child raising, Shelton tackles toddlers: the terrible twos (and ones and threes), inappropriate sexual comments, hunger strikes, birthday madness, preschool horror stories, and many other terrifying, hilarious, and embarrassing tales.

Preschool Confidential

"Laugh-out-loud comments and astute remarks will help lighten any mother's load and keep things in perspective...This is a refreshing look at child rearing, written in short sections that can be read in five to ten minutes a perfect fit for a mother's schedule." – Library Journal So you thought the difficult stage was over: the midnight feedings, the colic, the breast pumps, the endless diaper changings. Just when you thought you'd reached the blissful stretch of parenthood...here come the toddler/preschool years! Only Sandi Kahn Shelton could deliver such a dead-on, hilarious, true-ringing look at the walking, talking, crazy years. In Preschool Confidential, she explores such universal topics as: --Dealing with the mutiny in the checkout line (aka: begging or bribing?). --Presenting scientific proof that toddlers ask 437 questions per day. --Unveiling the four "answers" that any parent can recycle to respond to any toddler's question. --Understanding day-care romances. to ask (at the most inopportune moments). --Dissecting the anatomy of a birthday party (or how to control a group of four-year-olds without ropes or sedatives). --Cooking purple mashed potatoes, and emergency tactics to stave off a hunger strike. --And much more! Preschool Confidential will have you howling at the apt, accurate, and painfully honest look at the preschool years!! "The true successor to Erma Bombeck's throne." –WorkingMother magazine "For frazzled working moms, columnist Sandi Kahn Shelton's funny essays on parenting are a fail-safe way to lighten up." – Wall Street Journal "I'm thankful that this very funny and observant lady is not a cartoonist!" – Bil Keane, creator of "The Family Circus"

"Sandi Kahn Shelton's very funny, very compassionate, very knowledgeable book is like a day at the beach-or more precisely, a day at the beach when you have an au pair. She makes the difficult appear delightful and the challenging seem charming." –Gina Barreca, Ph.D., Professor of English at the University of Connecticut and author of Perfect Husbands Sandi Kahn Shelton takes readers on a wild ride through the journey of parenting -- from the first disillusioning night home from the hospital with a brand-new baby, to the joys of toilet training, and the hair-raising terrible twos. Candid, uplifting, and side-splittingly funny, this book is just what every new mom and dad needs to help them see the lighter side of changing diapers, meddling in-laws, baby's first curse word, and, of course, sleepless nights. “Shelton touches on almost every parenting topic imaginable, with brief essays grouped by subjects such as sleeping, crying, nursing, dressing, feeding, talking, worrying, calming, separating and, of course, potty training. Shelton's book is a welcome addition to the parenting bookshelf.” –Publishers Weekly "The true successor to Erma Bombeck's throne." –WorkingMother magazine "Sandi Kahn Shelton's very funny, very compassionate, very knowledgeable book is like a day at the beach-or more precisely, a day at the beach when you have an au pair. She makes the difficult appear delightful and the challenging seem charming." –Gina Barreca, Ph.D., Professor of English at the University of Connecticut and author of Perfect Husbands "For frazzled working moms, columnist Sandi Kahn Shelton's funny essays on parenting are a fail-safe way to lighten up." –Wall Street Journal "I'm thankful that this very funny and observant lady is not a cartoonist!" –Bil Keane, creator of "The Family Circus"

Sleeping Through the Night

A collection of anecdotes explains how to tackle "sock bumps," speak "parental conversationese," and how to decipher telephone messages from a three-year-old

Surviving the Joys of Parenthood

You Might As Well Laugh

Dear Lily . . . At age thirty-four, Lily Brown has her life just the way she likes it. And what’s not to like? She’s got a great job as an advice columnist for the local newspaper, an adorable four-year-old son, and an ex-husband, Teddy, who still thinks she’s wonderful. She even lives in the same beach house where she grew up, with a great view of Long Island Sound and plenty of beach roses to smell. So what if she won’t let herself date anyone until she finds a new girlfriend for Teddy, who happens to still be hung up on her? So what if she hasn’t changed a thing in her parents’ house, even twelve years after their tragic deaths? So what if it’s been ten years since she’s heard from her younger sister, Dana, who stormed out of the house in a rage when she was a teenager? Lily is fine. But it’s funny how life has a way of upsetting even the most perfectly laid-out plans, and when one night Lily finds herself painting ghastly orange highlights into her lovely auburn hair, even she suspects that she’s been in something of a rut. And then, when her long-lost little sister shows up, bringing with her the fun and drama and hell-raising spontaneity Lily has missed, her life suddenly takes a turn for the unexpected. To Lily’s chagrin, Dana’s energy seems to enthrall everyone, especially Teddy. As the tension between the sisters escalates, Dana reveals decades-old family secrets that she’s been burdened with all these years, and Dear Lily must heed her own advice about accepting life’s messiness and chaos. With her trademark blend of sparkling wit and characters you can’t forget, Sandi Kahn Shelton tells a compelling and universal story of two sisters who learn what they need to let go of, and what they have to hold on to as tightly as they can. From the Hardcover edition.

A Piece of Normal

Fast-paced, warm, and laugh-out-loud funny, What Comes After Crazy chronicles a quest for normalcy that nearly drives a woman nuts. Maz Lombard craves a nice, quiet life—and who can blame her? Having grown up as the daughter of Madame Lucille, “Fortune Teller to the Stars,” she spent her Southern childhood traveling from town to town, wondering which of the many men her mother brought home would become her next stepfather (in a long line of stepfathers). Maz’s soon-to-be-ex-husband Lenny left for Santa Fe after his very public affair with a fetching young daycare teacher imploded. And Maz’s daughter Hope has become convinced she’s inherited the family “seeing” gene and is scaring her classmates with séances and dark prophecies. When Lenny shows up on the doorstep wanting another chance, and Madame Lucille pulls into town with her newest husband, any chance Maz has for a simple, ordinary life seems to go out the window. But is life at its craziest also at its most instructive? Will seeing her family in all its complicated, infuriating, and mystifying splendor enable Maz to define herself on her own terms and live the life she’s always wanted? Delightful, rollicking, but most of all unforgettably touching, What Comes After Crazy marks the debut of a radiant new talent in women’s fiction.

Sandi Kahn Shelton

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