Good Moms Have Scary Thoughts: A Healing Guide to the Secret Fears of New Mothers

With humor and honesty, this illustrated self-help guide for new mothers offers an alternative to the earnestness of more traditional books on the subject. Eschewing the typical advice and information about baby care, the comics and information are entirely devoted to the experiences of women who have recently given birth. Difficult topics such as postpartum depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder get frank discussion, and the tone is reassuring without diminishing the potential seriousness of these issues. The illustrations are sunny and relatable, depicting women of diverse ethnicities and body types. The format is especially effective in conveying, through speech and thought balloons, the differences between what new mothers might say and what they are really feeling. However, the visuals also highlight the book’s narrow vision of who new parents are: the partners of new mothers are depicted as masculine, and all the pregnant people in the book are cisgender women. There is a helpful resource section of therapist listings, advocacy groups, recommendations for other books, and crisis hotlines, but a table of contents and index would have been helpful for those seeking information about specific issues. New mothers will find this work a reassuring companion in a challenging time. (Mar.)