In this frank and funny memoir, essayist Tea (How to Grow Up) spares no detail of her arduous odyssey of getting pregnant at 40. "I'm about to bring you into my inner world," she promises readers, "during a period of time when that space was as wild, messy, hopeful, dizzy, tragic, terrifying, and openhearted as any era I've ever lived." Despite the title, it takes a village to get the author pregnant, including an acupuncturist, a friendly witch, a number of friends to ferry fertility meds across the border, and a glamorous drag queen sperm donor. Every stage of Tea's quest presents revelations devastating--like discovering uterine fibroids after months of failed insemination attempts--dazzling, and packed with information one may not expect when they're expecting: ovulation (unexpectedly aggro), implantation (may cause bleeding), pregnancy (who knew it could change the shape of one's eyes?). Taken as a whole, Tea's unconventional "birth story" serves as a celebration of the human body, its hidden miracles, and, as she aptly puts it, "not just the dramatic climax of a last push and a first breath, but the story of a choice made, a dare accepted, a journey undertaken." This heartfelt work embraces every facet of the human experience: heartache, hope, and--with a little luck--joy. (Aug.)

Tea (How To Grow Up) takes readers on a whirlwind ride of a complicated conception and pregnancy. While there is no shortage of information about pregnancy available to twenty-first century readers, Tea's experience is a uniquely queer and feminist one that is rarely at the forefront of these discussions. The journey takes the proverb "It takes a village to raise a child" very seriously with the addendum that it takes a village to conceive one, too. Tea's decision to be a mom reverberates through so many lives as they gather around to love and support her through the process. Never the one to mince words, Tea's prose is florid with personal descriptions of each part of the process: from the initial decision, the complications, a dozen of life pivots, to the eventual birth of her son. For readers learning about the more technical (and sometimes grisly) side effects of fertility treatments and pregnancy for the first time, Tea's exuberance and zest for the experience will hopefully offer solace. VERDICT Recommended to round-out parenting collections with a new perspective on family.--Halie Kearns