Compassionate Souls. - Review - book review

Compassionate Souls (ISBN 1-930051-03-4) is 192 pages. It is published by Lantern Books and retails for $15. Look for this book in your local bookstore. You can also visit Lantern Books website at <www.lanternbooks.mm>. Reviewed by Debra Wasserman.

COMPASSIONATE SOULS--RAISING THE NEXT GENERATION TO CHANGE THE WORLD

In the introduction to her new book, JoAnn Farb states, "This is a book about conscious parenting. It is, therefore, a book about choices." Indeed, you or someone you know raising a child today definitely has challenges. And if you're bringing up your child vegetarian or vegan, there are additional issues to be dealt with on a daily basis.

JoAnn is a vegan activist. She has two daughters and has learned (and is still learning) a lot while raising them. In Compassionate Souls, JoAnn touches On issues such as birthing methods, breastfeeding, vaccination, nonviolent discipline, education, and dealing with family and community.

From the start, JoAnn indicates that the reader may or may not agree with all her ideas. Personally, as the mother of a 2-year-old vegan child, I do not concur with all of JoAnn's choices. Nevertheless, I feel this book would be an interesting read for anyone thinking of raising his or her children in as non-violent a way as possible.

Compassionate Souls is not a technically researched book. Rather, it is a book offering one person's opinion based on her own experiences. It will certainly make you think about the choices you have when raising children in a meat-eating and often violent world.

COPYRIGHT 2000 Vegetarian Resource Group
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group