I love this book! I am reading it for the second time right now. It is possible that I could be biased because I am a huge Heather Ross fan but I don't think so.
"How to Catch a Frog" is very well written and I easily relate to the author, Heather Ross, in the telling of her stories. There are times when she is telling a story from her childhood where my adult self, as a mother, wants to crawl into the book and comfort her and take care of her. There are other times where I feel annoyed with her for some of the decisions she makes as a young adult, which is not to say that I myself did not also make annoying decisions as a young adult, so that goes back to being able to relate to the author. It is a real life story with struggle and success and loss and newfound success.
As a creative person I find it very inspiring. I love this quote at the beginning of the chapter titled "How to Start a Children's Clothing Company" - Ross writes, "The absolute best time to start a business is when you have nothing to lose." Then she goes on to say, "Luckily for me, that was a long and protracted period of my life..." and this is followed by anecdotes about her generally dysfunctional mother and absent father.
The thing that is really cool about How to Catch a Frog: And Other Stories of Family, Love, Dysfunction, Survival, and DIY
is it's overall concept. I don't think I've found another book like it! There are DIY projects throughout the book that are woven in with the stories. For example there is a time in the book where she is talking about surviving Hurricane Sandy and trying to keep her family warm by keeping the wood fire in their house going and at the end of that chapter are DIY instructions for creating coffee log fire starters.
The book has illustrations throughout in Heather Ross' style that many of us have come to love in her fabric designs. These illustrations are used to decorate the beginning of a chapter or to show how to do one of the DIY projects. Of course the cover is also illustrated and the inside cover design is a map of the area in Vermont where she grew up.
I recommend this book without hesitation. I bought my own copy (this is not a sponsored post) and I have provided Amazon links in this post to help you find your copy. This book was published in 2014 and if you haven't read it yet what are you waiting for?
" by Heather Ross