Chicken Soup for the Soul

by Mark Victor Hansen

Celebrate the joy, love, and wonder of motherhood with these 101 stories from new moms.

Share the excitement, the laughs, and the tears with other new mothers as you read their heartwarming, amusing, and inspirational stories
the pregnancy countdown births, bodies, and babies becoming a new person — a mother! breastfeeding battles struggling with infertility adoption and other paths to motherhood the ups and downs of new motherhood great ideas for the sleep deprived moving on to the toddler years adding a second child and lots of funny stories for comic relief!

Genres: Nonfiction

416 pages, Paperback

First published March 8, 2011

About the author

Mark Victor Hansen is an American inspirational and motivational speaker, trainer and author. He is best known as the founder and co-creator of the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" book series.


Mark Victor Hansen was born to Danish immigrants, Una and Paul Hansen. He grew up in Waukegan, Illinois. He graduated from Southern Illinois University in 1970 with a B.A. in speech communications.

Along with business partner, Jack Canfield , Hansen is best known for creating what Time magazine called “the publishing phenomenon of the decade”. Chicken Soup for the Soul books are one of the most successful publishing franchises in the world today, with more than 500 million books sold internationally and more than 100 licensed products. The name “Chicken Soup” was chosen because of the use of chicken soup as a home remedy for the sick. The first Chicken Soup book, published by Health Communications, Inc., sold more than 2 million copies. There are now over 500 million copies in print and in 54 languages worldwide.

In 2005 he co-wrote, along with Robert Allen, the book "Cracking the Millionaire Code" in which he highlights several self-made millionaires such as Bob Circosta, Michael Dell, Bill Gates, Alexander Graham Bell, Oprah Winfrey, and others, using them as examples of how to build wealth.

Reviews

[Batool · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently have been blessed with a baby girl who is now 4 months old. Being an avid reader, I was so concerned that I am not being able to read books. Finally, I found this book while randomly roaming around in a bookstore in Islamabad, and I could not put it down once I started it. The best thing about it is that each story is SO short that being a new mom you can still finish at least 4-5 stories everyday. The stories are very encouraging, hopeful, empathetic, relatable, heart-warming, and positive. You can easily relate to them and know that you are not struggling alone and there are delightful fruits of motherhood reaped after days of patience, devotion, dedication, commitment, and hard work. How little bundles of joy bring joy in our lives!

[Guillermo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did things a little different for this review. Instead of reading it myself and give you all my impressions, I gathered 4 New Moms friends I have and asked them if they were reading anything. The response from all four of them was. I can´t read anything! There´s no time to read being a New Mom.

Well, so I gave each of them a copy of the book and challenged them to read it.

Within the first ten days all four new mothers had gone through the 400 hundred pages book, mainly because the short chapters and the heartwarming stories, they could sneak a chapter in while on little five minute timeouts from full time momming.

Complete review here http://seriesandtv.com/chicken-soup-f...

[Lili Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this book. My friend sent this to me about a week after giving birth and believe me, it helped me go through those long nights of no sleep and tough moments. The stories were so encouraging, empathetic and hopeful, so I passed on the book to another new mom after I finished reading it. Good times.

[Kavitha Elamvaluthi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a thoughtful gift from my boss and a friend for 10 yrs. I could not put it down once I started with the first story. Several to be moms and new moms keep so much emotions to themselves; which leaves us confused, guilty and feeling of not doing good enough. But reading through each of these stories only makes me feel better that its absolutely ok to feel whatever im feeling right now and its all going to be ok at the end of it! TBH, ive never been a fan of Chicken soup for the soul series mainly because its too philosophical and emotional. I dont know if its me or the hormones - I did enjoy this one! The timing needs to be perfect for any book.

[Amanda Burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do truly enjoy the Chicken soup books. I decided to read this book, as a new mom. This time I am a new mom of 2 and now to a daughter. I have been a mom to a little boy for 4 years. I dealt with a lot after the birth of my beautiful daughter. I rated this 5 stars as how do you really rate anyone's personal life experiences. It is not my job to judge or rate anyone. But I do love these books in finding comfort in so many things. For instance seeing I am not the only mother who worries about how I will love my 2nd born just as I did my first. Definitely a comfort.

[Marie Reynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me awhile to read this but that’s okay because the chicken soup for the soup books are great little excerpts that you can pick up and read quickly. I loved the heartwarming stories about motherhood, especially being a new mom.

I did skip over the second child chapter since it didn’t pertain to me as I only have one little guy at the moment. Maybe I’ll go back and read it someday when we decide to expand our family.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started this book shortly after becoming a first-time mother and took my time reading every story. Here it is, 6 months later, and I finally finished the book. While I couldn't always relate to a story, I enjoyed reading about the experiences that others had. I will pass it on to another new mother.

[Michelle Eng · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice to know we're not alone on this journey. Some of the stories contained content that go against current AAP recommendations which is worrisome.

[Taelor Heemskerk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute and quick read. Lots of important lessons and times to reflect on. Sometimes faith is a common theme which I could do without

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good at first....then got kind of preachy. Then it just seemed to be the same old story over and over again. Wasn't bad, wasn't great.

[Lenore Webb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know that reading also helps clear my mind. And quite often just a lil page or two helps me focus on what has been wondering around in my mind. That is why I love the Chicken Soup for the Soul books so well. Granny M has one sitting on the front porch with her right now. It is how she relaxes, unwinds and prepares for an afternoon nap. I am happy to have a new one to share with my new mommy-to-be. Chicken Soup for the Soul: New Moms seems to be as close to perfect as I could get. I am going to add this one to her gift for the baby shower. Everyone needs a lil something for themselves, don't you agree?

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it! I laughed and cried as I read these heart felt stories of the struggles mothers have endured for love. It amazed me how even though some of the obstacles these women encountered like having a baby born with down syndrome, that somehow they had a positive spin on the situation. They each loved their children unconditionally, regardless of the circumstances or what it took to get there. I definately learned alot about scenarios I will encounter soon enough since I am expecting my first son.
The first story broke my heart, as it portrayed a woman in bed realizing she was going into labor and she talked to her unborn baby and said "this is the last night you will be inside me".

[Dayana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me preparaba para leer uno de esos libros donde todo es ideal, los niños son maravillosos, las madres son perfectas, el embarazo es la experiencia más maravillosa del mundo y los pañales cagados huelen a rosas.

¡Afortunadamente, no fue así! Si bien alguna que otra historia era un poco melosa, la mayoría mostraban a la maternidad como un difícil camino en donde si no fuera por el lazo de amor que se construye con el bebé recien nacido, estas mamás primerizas se volverían más locas de lo que están.

El resto de la reseña del libro pueden leerla en mi blog: http://www.dayanabarrionuevo.com/revi...

[susana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stories were lacking of creativity

I have always liked chicken soup for the soul books,as a first time mother I was expecting a little more in the stories than the boring articles I deal with everyday. Could have been better.

[Alicia Terrill · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice collection of short stories!