Toddlers Gone Wild by Rebecca Eckler

Even if Rebecca Eckler did not knock us over with her trenchant prose or her bang-on observations about life in this particular fast lane, we’d still have to love the mat she’s gone to get to these titles. It does not say anywhere that with the publication of Toddlers Gone Wild! (Key Porter Books) journalist mommy Eckler has created a triptych but, based on the titles of her previous two books, we know this. More: we understand.

It all began back in 2004 with the pregnancy memoir Knocked Up: Confessions of a Hip Mother to Be. And it really was; it really was. A sort of Sex in the City meets the diaper genie. But you don’t end a story with a book called Knocked Up: you begin. So then, fast forward to book two: Wiped! Life with a Pint-Size Dictator which only leads us right to where we are now with Toddlers Gone Wild!: Rants from a Mommy Brain.

The book is charming in a totally au courant, post-modern way. This ain’t your Erma Bombeck-style memoir. It isn’t Ann Landers or even Annie Hall. Eckler’s writing is smart, funny and totally right now. If, because of all the baby talk, you’re looking for something sweet and floral, keep on looking because it’s not here.

On the other hand, if Eckler’s style has you begging for more, you won’t have long to wait, Doubleday Canada will publish her first novel, Rotten Apple, in October.