The Mother-Daughter Circle: Making Lifelong Connections with Your Teenager

In her prose companion to the Prayers on My Pillow and More Prayers on My Pillow books, Straus offers mothers a heartfelt guide to ""connecting with spirit"" to their daughters through shared emotions and experiences. Chapters such as ""Connected Since Birth,"" ""Connecting with Story"" and ""Connecting With Laughter"" reveal how Straus and other women bonded with their daughters-by talking to them while they were in the womb, reading them books at bedtime, telling them family tales and watching silly movies together. Poem-prayers from Straus's first two books bookend the chapters, which also feature writing prompts; mothers can fill in the spaces after ""I respect you for what you..."" and ""You and I might create an altar that would include..."" to personalize the volume (which Straus encourages they then give to their daughters). Some may find the project (and the poems) a bit cloying, but Straus's tone is rarely syrupy, and for women who want to feel part of a larger community of connected mothers and daughters, this book, prettily illustrated by Straus's daughter, may be a warm and encouraging resource. (Apr.)