Dancing with My Daughter: Poems of Love, Wisdom & Dreams [Hardcover]

Jayne Jaudon Ferrer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2004

Dancing with My Daughter addresses the unique experience of being a mother to girls. In chapters named for dances, Ferrer explores the different stages of a daughter's life.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Dancing with My Daughter is pure music! Ferrer has caught the riffs and rhythms of life between mother and daughter. -- Mary Lou Carney, editor-in-chief, Guideposts for Kids/Teens

Jayne Jaudon Ferrer is the Shel Silverstein for mothers! -- Catherine Ritch Guess, author of Eagleís Wings Trilogy

About the Author

Jayne Jaudon Ferrer is a wife, mother of three, speaker, and writer of fiction, non-fiction, plays, and musicals. Ferrerís work has appeared in Better Homes & Gardens, Tampa Tribune, Palm Beach Post, and the Writerís Digest Writerís Yearbook Extra. She is a literary judge for entries in the national PTA contest Reflections and has won several dozen awards over the years, for her poems, copywriting, and magazine/newspaper articles. She and her family current reside in Greenville, South Carolina.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 100 pages
• Publisher: Loyola Press (March 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0829417680
• ISBN-13: 978-0829417685
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,420,303 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A writer and reader since the age of four, Jayne Jaudon Ferrer is the author of four books of poetry about the bliss and bedlam of motherhood and the role of women in these turbulent times. As a copywriter for Young & Rubicam, she won numerous regional and national awards and, as a freelance journalist, her articles have appeared in publications ranging from Boca Raton Magazine to Today's Christian Parent. Ferrer is a popular speaker at women's conferences, book festivals, libraries, and schools, where she enjoys teaching writing and communication skills and the unexpected pleasures of poetry. She is also host of Your Daily Poem (www.yourdailypoem.com), a website that showcases classic and contemporary poetry that is accessible and enjoyable.

Women who hate poetry are surprised to discover that Ferrer's observations on cuddling with a toddler in the wee hours, teaching a teen to drive, taking a chance on love at midlife, or finding sanity in a cup of tea resonate deeply. "This isn't poetry, this is my LIFE!" one mother of three pronounced at a book signing in San Diego. Ferrer's poems show up at graduations, weddings, birthdays, and baby showers, where women read them to celebrate a moment or mark an occasion. Even men are drawn to Ferrer's books: one middle-aged fellow bought "She of the Rib: Women Unwrapped" the week before his wedding, declaring hope for enlightenment prior to marrying Wife #3.

For book clubs in search of something different, Ferrer's books are a refreshing change of pace. Topics such as sibling rivalry, staying at home versus returning to work, a mother's impact on her child's values, and handling abusive relationships make can spark lively discussions. Reader questions are available for all four books, and Ferrer is happy to accommodate groups with a personal visit or e-mail or phone chat.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Mother-Daughter Dance, March 31, 2004

By 

Christine Louise Hohlbaum "award-winning auth... (near Munich, Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dancing with My Daughter: Poems of Love, Wisdom & Dreams (Hardcover)

Mother-Daughter Dance

Jayne Jaudon Ferrer possesses an unmatchable wit and precision of language which shine through in her latest collection of poems, Dancing with My Daughter: Poems of Love, Wisdom and Dreams. Breaking down the stages of her daughter's development from infancy to adulthood, each phase is represented by a dance: Waltz, Jitterbug, Tango, Samba, and Freestyle.

In the first section, Waltz, she shows a warmth and willingness to raise her daughter with dream-like wonder. Toddlerhood emerges in Jitterbug, and the dreams are less surreal. She tackles reality head on, for instance, in the poem "Mother Magic," which speaks to the heart of motherhood. Ferrer describes her daughter's foul mood as she awakens from her nap. With great triumph, she pulls her daughter out of her "royal huff." All the while, she acknowledges her own mother strength. Her daughter, the "Royal Highness" breaks out of her mood, declaring her ability to break the magic spell "because I am a Princess and I can do anything!" Ferrer looks on and replies inwardly, "Well, well. I am a mother, and I can, too."

Tango and Samba are both heart-breaking and witty. We know our daughters will say they hate us, but we dread the day it arrives. Ferrer removes the chrage of her daughter's emotions with supreme love and banter. Pressing her daughter clean her room, Ferrer treats this common issue with such grace and fun: "fill your ears with the mighty music of the vacuum cleaner, your lungs with the derelict dust of this dreadful domain." The reader can virtually smell the odiferous wet towel seeping mildew into the carpet.

Freestyle witnesses a mother's mixed emotions of letting go and wanting to hold on tight forever. The wisdom she imparts to her daughter as she prepares her wedding is telling of her love and affection. Ferrer's desire to give her daughter the world is palpable throughout the collection. She manages not only to offer up a "place you call Home" for her daughter, but a poetic respite for her readers, too.

The cadance of her poetry resembles a dance. Sometimes it is a Western swing, other times a true waltz. Harmony and discord meet in her lines. Mothers and daughters clash, cry, yell, and console each other through life's passions. Dancing with My Daughter is a wonderful companion for any mother or daughter who dreams big dreams, lives life with passion, and seeks the very best that this world has to offer.

Christine Louise Hohlbaum, American author of Diary of a Mother (2003), SAHM I Am (2005), and "American Housewife Abroad" at AnotherChapter.com, is a freelance writer living near Munich, Germany, with her husband and two children. Visit her Web site at: http://www.DiaryofaMother.com

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A lively dance with a poet, March 7, 2004

By 

Kay Day "Author, A Poetry Break and Killing Earl" (Jacksonville, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dancing with My Daughter: Poems of Love, Wisdom & Dreams (Hardcover)

Jayne Jaudon Ferrer is one of those unpretentious poets that zing words straight to the heart. Her poems are very much aimed at the moment, but their lines will linger far beyond the grade school years of our children.

Cleverly arranged in chapters named for dances and dance styles, her newest book plays on the rhythmical interaction between mothers and children. A favorite, "Table Talk," sets up the poem like a multiple choice test, beginning with "Dear Daughter," and offering options in lines like "a)you are not talking to me this week,"/b)there is a telephone in one ear and an earphone in the other..." Most parents on reading lines like that experience an immediate, "I've been there, done that."

Another poem, "Send-off," sets up a premise all parents understand. "I have only two requests:/come home without holes/in your body/(beyond those given you by God),/and keep in mind/that old saying about/nice girls/and newspaper headlines..."

Sprinkled with humor and homily, Dancing with my Daughter can offer pleasure to a parent in a moment of solitude, and double pleasure when read aloud with children. Jayne Jaudon Ferrer's words spill from the pages in the present, but their wisdom will be handed to generation after generation, for such is the nature of poetry inspired by, and understood by, a mother's love.--Kay Day, author, A Poetry Break

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dancing with Daughters, March 20, 2004

By 

Linda (Greenville, SC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dancing with My Daughter: Poems of Love, Wisdom & Dreams (Hardcover)

I do not usually read poetry. This book was incredible. Each poem hit the mark. The words just flowed. Jayner Ferrer is exceptionally intuitive and a joy to read. I bought this book for my mother and sisters.