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I’ve listened to his voice over the airwaves for hundreds of hours.  I was homeschooled because of one of his radio broadcasts.  But when I sat down to read his latest book, I realized I’d never read any one of his more than thirty books from cover to cover.

Of course, I still haven’t.  Because Bringing Up Girls is the sort of book one wants to read slowly and digest thoroughly.  Especially when one has two little girls in the house!

Dr. Dobson writes just like he talks.  You can almost hear his calm, reassuring voice coming through the pages.  First encouraging an overwhelmed mom, next inspiring a dad who doesn’t know how to raise a little girl.

Like his radio program of yester-year, the beauty of Dr. Dobson’s book lies not only in what he, the father of but one girl, has to contribute (because we all know how different two little girls can be!), but upon what he draws from others.  Interviews with girls and their parents.  Radio broadcast transcripts and selections from books and columns.  Q&A about puberty and adolescence.  Chapters titled “Why Daddies Matter” and “Girls and Their Mothers.”

Bringing Up Girls: practical advice and encouragement for those shaping the next generation of women is a solemn reminder that we are doing just that: shaping the next generation.  It’s a bit of a long and daunting read for a busy young mom.  But I’m looking on it more as a reference than a read-through kind of book.

From what I’ve read so far, it has a bit less of the practical and more of the psychological (as another reviewer insightfully outlines here).  But for this mommy that sometimes gets too caught up in the practical, it brings a balance to my bookshelf.

Ask me in 20 years, when my girls are planning their weddings, what book was most helpful and influential in raising my girls.  For now, I’m not going to stick just to Bringing Up Girls, but I do plan to make it a permanent part of my parenting shelf.

Thanks to Tyndale House Publishers for the complimentary review copy of Bringing Up Girls!