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Advisory Board Bio

Vicky Lansky

Vicki Lansky's practical, common sense approach to parenting and household management is familiar to millions throughout the world.  Her books (over 6 million copies sold), newsletter, media appearances, magazine and newspaper articles and reviews, make her one of America's most popular and visible parenting figures.  According to one parenting newspaper, "If you have young children and you don't use Vicki Lansky's books as a reference, you are working too hard!"

Vicki's first book, Feed Me, I'm Yours, published in 1974 & updated in 1994 and 2004, and still one of the most popular baby/toddler food cookbooks in the country was followed by The Taming of the C.A.N.D.Y.  Monster, a #1 New York Times bestseller (revised in 1999), Kids Cooking and Microwave Cooking for Kids.  Her Practical Parenting™ newsletter circulated nationally for nine years, was recommended by Ann Landers and described by the New York Times as "the most original" of its kind.  The newsletter's parenting tips were incorporated into her books, Practical Parenting Tips for the First Five Years (updated in 2003) which has sold over 600,000 copies and Practical Parenting for the School Age Years (1985) which is no longer in print.

Vicki authored and published a series of parenting books: Toilet Training: A Practical Guide to Daytime and Nighttime Training (1993, 2002), Birthday Parties Best Party Tips & Ideas For Ages 1-8 , Dear Babysitter Handbook, Welcoming Your Second Baby, Getting Your Child to Sleep ... and Back to Sleep (1985, 1991,2004), Trouble-free Travel with Children (1985, 1991, 1996, 2004), Baby Proofing Basics (1991, 2002) and Games Babies Play >From Birth to Twelve Months which has sold over 300,000 copies.

Her children/parent read-together books are KoKo Bear's New Potty, A New Baby at KoKoBear's House, KoKo Bear and the New Babysitter, and KoKo Bear's Big Earache.  Vicki Lansky's Divorce Book for Parents: Helping Children Cope with Divorce and Its Aftermath, published in 1989 by NAL/Signet USA, reprinted in 1996 by her own press, Book Peddlers, received a Parent's Choice Book award and is lauded by therapists, judges and attorneys.  According to a New York Times review, "It's the one to read through your fears and tears." Her children's companion book , "It's Not Your Fault, KoKo Bear" - also available in Spanish - is perfect for kids 3-7 coping with divorce." There is also a KoKo Bear 'worry doll' for kids, too.

In 1988 Family Circle approached her to write "grown-up" tips for their magazine.  Out of this experience, Vicki wrote and published several household hints books: Another Use For...101 Common Household Items, Don't Throw That Out! A Pennywise Parents Guide to Creative Uses For Over 200 Household Items, the bestseller, Baking Soda: Over 500 Fabulous Fun & Frugal Uses You've Probably Never Thought Of, with over 300,000 copies sold; Transparent Tape: Over 350 Super, Simple & Surprising Uses You've Probably Never Thought Of, and The Bag Book:Over 500 Great Uses-And Reuses-for Paper, Plastic and Other Bags to Organize & Enhance Your Life.  Her latest title in this group of informative household hints is Vinegar: Over 400 Various, Versatile & Very Good Uses You've Probably Never Thought of.

Contemporary/McGraw-Hill publishes a series of 5 titles by Vicki Lansky:  101 Ways to Tell Your Child "I Love You", 101 Ways to Make Your Child Feel Special, 101 Ways to be a Special Dad, 101 Ways to be a Special Mom, and 101 Ways to Spoil Your Grandchild.  101 Ways to say "I Love You" —for adults—is published by Fireside/S&S.

Her newest parenting titles are part of her Book Peddlers gift book, !NK line (! Notable Keepsake) imprint.  A Letter to My Baby and Best New Baby Tips are beautiful small gift books with unique wrap-around cover closings.

During her career, Vicki has been a columnist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, is still a contributing editor to Family Circle magazine and wrote a monthly column for Sesame Street Parents magazine for 9 years.  She is one of the National Parenting Center's featured parenting author contributors online, available from America Online (tncp) and the Web www.tnpc.com.  Vicki's media appearances have included QVC, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, The View, CBS This Morning, Oprah, Donahue, CNN, Attitudes (Lifetime Cable), Hour Magazine, Smart Solutions (HGTV), the 700 Club and The Today Show.  She has been featured in several major national magazines and held a parenting spot on AP Radio.  She taped segments for Help! Around the House, Home Matters and has been on QVC as well as on Fox&Friends.

She has worked as a spokesperson for Arm & Hammer's Baking Soda (January 2001/BSMG), Dole Family Advisory Board (March 2000/Londre Company), Mead Johnson's Enfamil (December 1999/BSMG) and P & G's Bounce fabric softener sheets (July 1997/Marina Mahr).

Vicki, born in 1942 in Louisville, KY, grew up in Westchester, NY.  After receiving a degree from Connecticut College, she worked in New York City until 1971 when she and her husband moved to Minneapolis.  Together they founded Meadowbrook Press in 1975 to publish Feed Me I'm Yours.  Vicki is no longer married or part of Meadowbrook Press.  In 1983 she launched Book Peddlers, a small press publisher which publishes 24 of her 30 titles, and a growing number of titles by other authors.  Book Peddlers titles are distributed to the book trade by Publishers Group West and by mail through her own Practical Parenting™ mail and on-line catalog.

When Vicki is not traveling, she can be found in her Book Peddlers office in Minnetonka, MN or New York City, or in her home and garden in Deephaven, MN which is in suburban Minneapolis.  Vicki takes great pride in her children.  Her married son, Douglas, 34, is a travel writer and speaker, her daughter-in-law, Signe, a medical doctor, and their daughters, Sienna and India, live in Stockholm, Sweden.  Her daughter, Dana, 31, is a Harvard graduate and law school graduate.