The Perfect Baby Handbook: A Guide for Excessively Motivated Parents

By Dale Hrabi

Book Overview

New parents are hipper, more educated, and more sophisticated than ever, but they're also highly competitive--a lethal combination when turbocharged by the anxieties of raising a baby. And for many couples, it's not just any baby, but the perfect baby. These "excessively motivated" parents will not sabotage Junior's future by denying him Mandarin lessons, a nursery chandelier (just like the one Gwyneth's kids enjoy), or advanced infant yoga. A hilarious, highly visual satire of childrearing manuals, The Perfect Baby Handbook provides much-needed comic relief from the pressures of modern parenting, and gives comfort to moms and dads who can say with a sigh of relief, "At least, we're not this bad."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0061242918
• ISBN13: 9780061242915
• Release Date: March 2009
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.4" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

If you don't buy this, your baby will be stupid

Dale Hrabi is one of the funniest former babies ever. Though imperfect himself, he has penned a hilarious, truthful, perfect gift for the expectant or annoying parent. This brilliant parody of parenting books will help you laugh at OTHER PARENTS' mishegas, whether you're semi-self-aware about your own private-school-driven child-rearing competitiveness or whether you're self-congratulatory in your homeschooling and allow Phoenix and Amon-Ra to play only with sustainable hardwood marionettes they self-carve. Seriously, I could look at this book's baby name loser/winner matrix chart for hours (I'm slow) and laugh and laugh and laugh. (Girl loser names include Feebee, Wadine, and Poofia; Boy loser names include Testosteronald and Fudd; Girl winner names include Conquistadora and Elizabetter; boy winner names include Exacliburt and Overlord. Of course, gender-neutral winner and loser names are there too.) This book is really, really, really funny.

Seriously Funny

Just finished this and must have laughed out loud, what, 26 times or more. And I'm not the sort of person who laughs out loud (or even LOLs) very often. So if you enjoy laughter and/ or know a soon-to-be parent who enjoys laughter, this is an excellent (and pretty cheap!) gift. Highly recommended.

LOVED IT!!!

When I first heard of The Perfect Baby Handbook, I thought it would be just another book telling me all the things I'm doing wrong as a parent. Boy was I wrong! This hilarious look at raising a child is just what the doctor ordered. It gave me a good laugh when I desperately needed it!

Seinfeld funny!

I saw this book mentioned in New York Magazine then went to its website and then bought the book this morning. Mr. Hrabi sugarcoats the truth in the most appealing way. It's like The Simpsons masked as the Cleavers. Mr. Hrabi's take on today's parenting is astute and hilarious with the illustrations a cross between wickedly funny and adorable. My co-workers and I are giggling like little kids; very imperfect little kids.

Perfect Baby Present

Finally, an actually funny book about the care and feeding of newborns. Smart, savvy and reverently irreverent, the Perfect Baby Handbook combines elegant, pitch-perfect humor with terrific illustrations... it would make a great baby shower present and it should be the gift new parents give themselves to reestablish their frayed, sleep deprived senses of humor.