Suburban Diva: From The Real Side Of The Picket Fence [Paperback]

Tracey Henry (Author), Jeff Harris (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 10, 2006

What happens after you fall in love and ride off into the sunset with your prince? Sure, you get the house, the kids, and the minivan as you settle down into the American Dream...but what's it like to be a modern princess living happily ever after? Tracey Henry writes about her adventures living family values in today's world. And although it may not always be as glamorous as it sounds, it is always hilarious. Suburban Diva's stories from the real side of the picket fence are the chick lit postscript: insights for the woman who has already won her romance battles and finds the spoils are as humorous and entertaining as the pursuit.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Funny, punny observations about suburban family life from a modern Erma Bombeck." -- Bee Lavender, Hipmama.com publisher and author of Lessons in Taxidermy

From the Back Cover

What happens after you fall in love and ride off into the sunset with your prince? Sure, you get the house, the kids, and the minivan as you settle down into the American Dream...but what's it like to be a modern princess living happily ever after?

Tracey Henry writes about her adventures living family values in today's world. And although it may not always be as glamorous as it sounds, it is always hilarious.

Suburban Diva’s stories from the real side of the picket fence are the chick lit postscript: insights for the woman who has already won her romance battles and finds the spoils are as humorous and entertaining as the pursuit.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Ephemera Bound Publishing (January 10, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0977100375
• ISBN-13: 978-0977100378
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,088,842 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Delicious Laugh a Minute, March 30, 2006

By 

Rebecca Johnson "The Rebecca Review" (Washington State) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Suburban Diva: From The Real Side Of The Picket Fence (Paperback)

None of the fairy tales told about the messy realities of a monarch's life. No one informed her she would be driving the chariot strapped with car seats around all day every day. Or that she would not be eating from golden plates, but rather more often from golden arches. And she was still waiting for her lady in waiting. ~Smudges on Glass Slippers

It is always rare to start laughing while reading an introduction, but definitely an indication of good times to come. So with ideas about princesses and expectations, Tracey Henry introduces us to the world of the Suburban Diva where castles may not be provided by the prince. She then proclaims her mystification over her lifestyle as a modern princess and delves into the raucous and comical realities.

Tracey Henry, "The Suburban Diva" has an especially entertaining writing style (reads like a reality show) and she presents her topics like a creative artist of words. Each entry introduces you to a different facet of her existence and the format is visually entertaining, complete with diva illustrations throughout.

If you have not laughed at least four times just reading the introduction, you may be living as a real princess in a real tower overlooking a real lake in a real kingdom and shouting out things like "let them eat cake." For the rest of us, this book is highly entertaining.

The Suburban Diva uncovers such topics as pre-marital counseling, favorite TV shows, literary neglect, trips to the mall, holidays, depression episodes, scrapbooking, hair dying, yoga, rites of passage, pregnancy, flying on a plane with baby, low-carb diets, cell phones, parties and the dreaded neighbors. She even finds time to write a poem about waiting in car lines and writes letters to the FDA.

She wonders what would really happen if you gave a mouse a cookie and contemplates the domestic skills she still must master. The entry about yoga is pretty funny as is "the day I cheated on my hairdresser." Items of note in the chapter on "Dressed to the 943s" left me laughing out loud.

There is an especially beautiful moment in "Wind Talker" and through the difficulties of parenting; Tracey Henry makes it still sound like a comforting journey filled with challenges, but always rewarding. Like a Bridget Jones of Motherhood who has an advanced degree in psychology (she likes to observe life and draw conclusions while always keeping her cool), Tracey Henry even finds time for Diva Diversions and writes extensive notes on what she did on her summer vacation.

Put this book in your new handbag and you will never be bored. So I am not the only Suburban wife to dream of her own lavender field! You have to love a woman who lets her princess alter ego out to play. She even has an extended and somewhat hilarious conversation with herself. Why can I relate?

The Suburban Diva is possibly one of the funniest books you will read this year. I hope she will publish a second book.

~The Rebecca Review, brunette using Henna

Currently waiting for pots of lavender to arrive
by mail...and wondering if Tracey has found
out about Lush beauty products and the most fantastic
Bi-O-Kleen natural cleaning products.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "What a hilarious spectacle! A Peek into Suburban Diva's magic mirror reveals as many cracks as our own...", May 21, 2006

By 

Sassy Brit "alternative-read" (UK) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Suburban Diva: From The Real Side Of The Picket Fence (Paperback)

Tracey Henry the "Suburban Diva" has a wonderful humorous approach when it comes to relaying the highs and lows of a modern married mum and the reigning "queen" of her family empire. Keeping true to real life, this is no fairy tale, and it doesn't stop with the happy ever after ending. In fact, since she was wooed and married by her "Ralph Cramden" prince (as he was once referred to) and walks the courts of a life she has become accustomed to, raising her own royal subjects is just the beginning. And a frank and amusing portion of reality pie it is, too.

We are taken on a magical, but bumpy ride in a carriage to a land where the prince of her dreams can wave his magic wand of man's logic, uttering thoroughly modern words of wisdom like,

"Don't call when you are going to be late. Why be yelled at twice?"

This reminded me, (and probably every other woman on the planet) that the spectacle we make of ourselves behind closed doors in our suburban castles is in fact, no different to everyone else's.

When the queen is in succession, this Diva can and will talk about the most mundane chores, such as getting the short end of the shift stick and driving the crappy car, ("Car Wars") in an uproarious fashion.

If you are not laughing as soon as you pick up this book and read the introduction "Smudges on Glass Slippers" then all I can say is that there must be something wrong with you. Or maybe, it's just that you haven't yet met a prince (or princess) of your own and wandered down the woody path where green crusty snot turns your baby into a little green grinning ogre, as it is so realistically portrayed in a sub chapter titled "Shrek III".

There are many of these hilarious antidotes, one of my favourites, (and it was hard to choose as there were so many of them) is Ms Henry's version of taking her son to get his first pair of glasses. This is how she compared it to when she was first "fitted" with her own goggles, in her own guileless words,

"...the glasses weighed well over 27 pounds. I know this must be close to accurate; as this was that age that I stopped growing; because no longer had the muscle control in my neck to hold my head upright."


What makes this book special is that as a parent myself, I could more than relate to her daily quibbles, and the heady fumes of her Sally Hansen/Clorox concoction that that pollutes her life, even from across the pond here in the UK.

The Right Side of the Picket Fence is an exceptional read that will have you laughing out loud and nodding your head in agreement. Ms Henry is to be commended for retelling, with passion and wit, events which reveal the real "Diva" in all her crowning glory. The reader will revel in all the gory details as Tracey Henry gets this spectacle on the road, with as few potty stops as possible.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great read, February 15, 2006

By 

K. Daley "kdaley2" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Suburban Diva: From The Real Side Of The Picket Fence (Paperback)

Armed with her sense of humor , Suburban Diva navigates her way through dirty diapers, doctor visits, and a husband who gets himself into DIY projects way over his head. A truly hilarious (and sometimes not) account of the suburban wife and mother. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll completely enjoy yourself!