YOU: Raising Your Child: The Owner's Manual from First Breath to First Grade Book

If books had pedigrees, YOU: Raising A Child would be a champion. Dr. Michael Roizen and Dr. Mehmet Oz's YOU books have earned a reputation for their careful, cutting edge information and balanced, reader-friendly organization. The proof is in the numbers: YOU: On a Diet has sold nearly 3 million copes; YOU: Staying Young, 2 million; and YOU: The Owner's Manual, close to 2 million. This 416-page tutorial takes the sting out of parenting in those eruptive first five years. With reassuring advice and up-to-date scientific research, the co-authors describe how to best support your child's emotional, intellectual, and physical development. Think of it as an investment with many happy returns.

Publishers Weekly

This seventh volume in the YOU series (following YOU: Having a Baby) by Oprah's favorite physician-authors continues yet further dilutes the well-known brand. Apparently making full use of the data collected for the previous books, radio show, and Oprah programs, the book lacks structure and is uneven and scattershot, providing advice on a select number of not especially essential child health topics in chapters on the biology of infant education; child gastrointestinal issues; infectious diseases, allergies, and the immune system; and preventing childhood accidents and dealing with doctors and hospitals, thus forgoing the traditional structure of most parenting resources, which present information along developmental ages and stages. Some useful material may be found in a section entitled "YOU Tools," which features minimal hands-on instructions for diaper changing, interpreting infant cries, and the like; a number of short lists of required gear--but this section seems more an afterthought, a place to put all the good stuff that didn't fit into chapters. Although readers would expect the media star authors and the pediatric experts they recruited to create a real go-to guide, they will be disappointed, and the familiar, casual tone doesn't work. (Oct.)