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Roll Over, Spock, & Tell T. Berry the News

If you're looking for child-rearing tips, a television personality probably isn't the first person to whom you should turn. But in addition to being TV's most reliable slow-change artist, Fred Rogers knows something about communicating with kids. More to the point, he's a really sweet guy, and if you've wondered how a really sweet person would go about raising children, he's prepared to let you in on the secret. The Mister Rogers' Parenting Book (Running Press, $12.95 paper) is a slim volume, written in prose so simple that a child could understand it, and it's less a how-to guide than a collection of hints to help you understand where your child is coming from when it comes to bedtime, potty-training, new siblings, learning, fears, and rebellion. It doesn't have all the answers (no book does), but its neighborly advice can help you start asking the right questions.