A New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe and Indie Bestseller! Playful spaniels completely covered with snow--"There's no such thing as 'bad' weather." Two happy dogs sleeping, one on top of the other-- "Sometimes you need a pillow. Sometimes you are the pillow." The bulldog who's headfirst in her bowl--"Every meal is THE BEST MEAL EVER." Cynthia L. Copeland has a gift for discovering those sorts of simple, timeless lessons. She did it when her children were younger with Really Important Stuff My Kids Have Taught Me. Now she distills all-new wisdom from her lifelong love of dogs. Really Important Stuff My Dog Has Taught Me is tender, funny, warm, and utterly inspiring. Pairing an irresistible photograph with just the right sentiment, every page delivers a life lesson that appeals as much to our hearts as our minds. It reminds us again and again of what's important, like love: "Be there when others need you." Compassion: "Even the smallest act of kindness matters." Perseverance: "Keep going until you find your way home." A healthy sense of self: "Make it squeak until someone pays attention." Living in the present moment: "Scratch where it itches, when it itches." And that happiness is a choice: "Leap higher than you have to."

She's hilarious. She's also wise and full of empathy. And she helps new mothers maintain the one thing they can't survive without-a sense of humor. Cynthia Copeland, a mother of three (and author of "Really Important Stuff My Kids Have Taught Me," with 325,000 copies in print), knows the real poop-figuratively and literally-on being a new mother, and she has the wit, skill, and generosity to share it.
Illustrated throughout with the author's wonderful cartoons, "The Diaper Diaries" chronicles the first year of motherhood, from the hospital stay (nominees for the world's worst labor coach anyone?) to baby's first birthday and contemplating the unimaginable-having another. There are lists, quizzes, timelines, charts, and real-life stories. Birth announcement faux pas. Names and nicknames and what they really mean. Pacifier tales. A guide to Nana-speak. How a 4-mile car trip can take 2 hours. Why it's impossible to get to work without finding spit-up or rice cereal somewhere on your clothing. Ten reasons to be happy you're up at 3:15 a.m.
And, with Mr. Phrenology-like illustrations, a section on the new mother's brain before and after baby, featuring: The Travel Section (Then: How to flirt your way into first class. Now: How to sweet talk your jogging stroller onto the plane), The Television Section (Then: How to tell Carrie from Samantha from Miranda from Charlotte. Now: How to tell Laa-Laa from Po from Dipsy from Tinky Winky), and The Sex Section (Then: Exact location of G-spot. Now: ________).

Now she turns her attention to our mysterious, playful and surprisingly wise feline friends. Every page of this full colour gift book pairs a charming photograph with just the right sentiment, offering an inspiring life lesson we can learn from cats. 'Rub people the right way.' 'Be fearless...but have an escape plan.' 'Stay a little wild.' Whether they are hunting, snoozing, playfully wreaking havoc, or showering us with affection, cats have a lot to teach us about living a full life (after all, with nine lives, they have a lot of experience!). As Copeland reminds us, all we have to do is observe with an open heart and mind. Tender, funny, and warm, Really Important Stuff My Cat Has Taught Me is a loving tribute to the feline spirit.

Twelve-year-old Cindy has just dipped a toe into seventh-grade drama - with its complicated friendships, bullies, and cute boys - when she earns an internship as a cub reporter at a local newspaper in the early 1970s. A (rare) young female reporter takes Cindy under her wing, and Cindy soon learns not only how to write a lede, but also how to respectfully question authority, how to assert herself in a world run by men, and - as the Watergate scandal unfolds - how brave reporting and writing can topple a corrupt world leader. Searching for her own scoops, Cindy doesn't always get it right, on paper or in real life. But whether she's writing features about ghost hunters, falling off her bicycle and into her first crush, or navigating shifting friendships, Cindy grows wiser and more confident through every awkward and hilarious mistake.

Now it is reconceived in a brand-new, full-colour, photograph-filled format that is both pared down to its essential best and augmented with quotations, stories, lists. Collected by Cynthia L. Copeland, Really Important Stuff is filled with clear-eyed common sense that can make us start with surprise and delight. Here are children saying things that are smart, funny, innocent, completely sensible in a way adults just aren't. Things like: "Bees shouldn't be so nice and fuzzy." "You can't stop the sled halfway down the hill." "Don't blow out somebody else's birthday candles." "You're only little until someone littler comes along." And, "Milk tastes better through a straw."