Customer Review(s)
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Gentle Encouragement, Firm Confidence
Comment: Katie Singer shares her plethora of knowledge in HONORING OUR CYCLES: A NATURAL FAMILY PLANNING WORKBOOK FOR KNOWING WHICH DAYS YOU CAN AND CAN'T GET PREGNANT.
I've been practicing Natural Family Planning (NFP) with success for several years and I know that many women hesitate to embrace NFP or Fertility Awareness because they are afraid to trust the method. With her gentle encouragement and ease of communication, Singer's confidence in the accuracy of fertility awareness transfers to the readers - at least it did for me.
It's very important to gain confidence in NFP if you are going to rely upon it. The examples helped clarify various issues and scenarios. I also learned a new technique by reading this book: the "coverline."
The cover design is so enticing that my teenage daughters were intrigued with HONORING OUR CYCLES. I highly recommend this book.
-Lynn M. Griesemer, Author of YOUR BODY, YOUR BIRTH: SECRETS FOR A SATISFYING AND SUCCESSFUL BIRTH
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Simple, Clear Information
Comment: This book was a very quick and simple read--I think that is one of the book's main strengths, it is written in very clear, basic English (maybe a sixth grade reading level?). However, it also makes it somewhat stilted or somehow "off" to read it though because it IS so simplistically written (makes you feel like you are none-too-bright or something! LOL!). Anyway, to be totally honest, one of the only reasons I wanted this book is because I'm so enraptured by the cover. I just love it. I think it is a beautiful, wonderful book cover.
The book is about using fertility awareness to avoid or promote pregnancy The book is clear and easy to follow. It contains some inaccurate breastfeeding information, which I'm very sensitive to--including such odd comments as, "sometimes, when a mother is away from her baby for an afternoon or more, her milk dries up." Huh?! This is where the overly simplistic approach does not succeed, because it is NOT correct (in this case).
I'm very interested and excited right now by fertility awareness--how coolly and magically women's bodies indicate where they are in their fertility cycle. I am regretful that I spend so many years hormonally manipulating my cycle rather than just paying attention to my own body (which clearly communicates with me). so, this book reinforced this "magic-ness." I guess I would recommend it to others. There is a certain "spark" missing because it is so basic (I think it is designed for use with low-literacy populations). That gorgeous cover makes up for a lot though! ;-)
Part of this review was originally posted to my blog, http://mollyreads.blogspot.com.
Customer Rating: Summary: THE EASIEST WAY TO LEARN AND PRACTICE NFP/FAM!
Comment: I have read "Natural Family Planning" and "Taking Charge of your Fertility" and have practiced NFP/FAM (fertility awareness method) for a while now. I bought this mostly so I wouldn't have to print and bind my own charts anymore because this one comes ready to use and is small and thin like a workbook. I am very pleased with the charts- they are the easiest to use of all the ones I've tried.
What surprised me was the incredible job the author has done of teaching the method in a very concise and easy to understand manner. I can't emphasize enough how much easier it is to learn how to chart to prevent or to plan a pregnancy with this book than with other books.
Most exciting to me was the way the author teaches how to use NFP while breast feeding. The other books make it so complicated and when I did finally think I de-coded what they meant, it didn't work for me because my mucus was too eratic while nursing to use their methods. But, Singer does an excellent job in this book explaining how to use NFP while nursing a baby and she does it in under one page! She makes perfect sense and her method is much, much easier to use and is actually doable.
Awesome, awesome book!
