Mom, Will This Chicken Give Me Man Boobs?: A review

Sometimes, a book on the library shelf just screams to be picked up.

This time, it was a subtle pink one that just wanted to be green. And the title was too good not to read: Mom, Will This Chicken Give Me Man Boobs?: My Confused, Guilt-Ridden and Stressful Struggle to Raise a Green Family? by Robyn Harding.

Have mommy guilt? Have green guilt? Harding makes you feel better about your life. She chronciles suburban mommy life in ultra-green Vancouver, where parents are out to save their children and the trees simultaneously, trying to out-sustain each other in the process. I couldn't stop laughing through the book -- and my husband kept fighting me to read the copy.

Maybe Harding's book just hit a little too close to home. Do you buy local or organic or simply the best price? Drink from milk organic, conventional or cooped-up cows? Send out a stack of Christmas cards to long-lost relatives? Buy birthday presents for every kid in the class or go "low-impact?" Avoid that glass of wine after a stressful day just because it's "Buy-nothing day?" Or just say forget it, and enjoy that steak for once, because if we eat the cow, it can't fart methane gas anymore? When one news article seems to contradict the next, where does it all end?

Harding tries to strike that balance between education and just being smart, something that's tough to do and even tougher to impart on the next generation. Her children stress about polar bears and pesticides, sweat the small stuff and realize that not-organic food may actually be OK sometimes - especially when it comes in the form of cake.

We have a lot to stress about in this world, and weighing the environmental impact of every single choice we make can be painful. Harding reminds us that we don't have to worry each moment of the day and that sometimes, it's OK to breathe and live - and laugh - a little.