How Not to Raise a Perfect Child by Libby Purves
A perfect child: * Dresses neatly and practises the violin before breakfast * Comes top of the class and is captain of everything * Is unfailingly obedient and sweet-tempered * Is a perfect credit to its perfect mother A real child: * Prefers shoelaces undone and mismatched socks * Shouts 'Bum!' at Granny * Turns breakfast and bedtime into a battleground * Is the normal offspring of imperfect parents With affectionate lack of illusion and a refreshing honesty about her own shortcomings, Libby Purves examines the pleasures and pitfalls of raising children from three to eight years old. Playgroup, starting school, rude words, pets - all these topics are tackled with frank good humour and down-to-earth advice. Best of all is her reassuring reminder that there is no such thing as a perfect child.Praise for More Lives Than One:
'An idiosyncratic blend of her journalistic voice.. With the skills of a writer who understands the proper balance in a novel between issue and narrative. ... This is her best novel ... [and] will find an answering echo in many readers'
All the compassion characteristic of her writing in her previous novels and columns. ... This is a humane and perceptive novel * Woman & Home *
A good story, crisply and lightly told, that touches on many of teaching's current preoccupations and dilemmas and that grows in depth as it unfolds * The Times Educational Supplement *
The kind of book that you race to finish and then think about for a long time afterwards * The Lady *
Libby Purves' prose is clean, sharp and in touch with things that matter * Daily Express *
Libby Purves is a writer and also a broadcaster who has presented the talk programme Midweek on Radio 4 since 1984 and formerly presented Today. She is a main columnist on the Times and in 1999 was named the Granada "What the Papers Say" Columnist of the Year, and awarded a O.B.E for services to journalism. She lives in Suffolk with her husband the broadcaster and writer Paul Heiney.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780340751374 |
| ISBN 10 | 0340751371 |
| Title | How Not to Raise a Perfect Child |
| Author | Libby Purves |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Hodder & Stoughton |
| Year published | 1999-10-07 |
| Number of pages | 176 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |