Catastrophic Happiness: Finding Joy in Childhood's Messy Years

A comic and heartwarming memoir about childhood's second act from Real Simple journalist Catherine Newman.

Much is written about a child's infancy and toddler years, which is good since children will never remember it themselves. It is ages 4-14 that make up the second act, as Catherine Newman puts it in this delightfully candid, outlandishly funny new memoir about the years that "your children will remember as childhood."

Following Newman's son and daughter as they blossom from preschoole...