Parenting books telling you to try harder? This one tells you to laugh harder, lean in closer, and find your people. Because raising tiny humans is wild enough without doing it alone.

Parents are busy and often sleep deprived, constantly juggling the demands of multiple situations and yearning for a break, some encouragement, reassurance that ‘this too, will pass’, while secretly wondering how everyone else seems to be holding their shizzle together…

The reality of life in the parenting trenches calls out for a book that’s accessible in short, digestible chunks. Something parents can dip in and out of when they need to, something that will make you feel less alone on this journey, something that will make you laugh and feel understood.

In her illustrated debut, I Fed My Kid to a Bird of Prey: Poems for overwhelmed parents, developmental psychologist Mel Schmitz offers both solidarity, support and humour to fellow parents. Drawing from her own experiences of intermittently failing, flailing, and flourishing in the parenting trenches, she’s created a collection that feels like a warm, wise and lyrical conversation with a friend who truly understands. And yes, the title comes from an actual incident involving her child and a bird of prey!