Two best-sellers, highly talked about books, which offer two very different perspectives on motherhood.

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua

An awe-inspiring, often hilarious, and unerringly honest story of one mother's exercise in extreme parenting, revealing the rewards-and the costs-of raising her children the Chinese way

Bringing Up Bebe by Pamela Druckerman

French parenting isn't a known thing, like French fashion or French cheese. Even French parents themselves insist they aren't doing anything special.  Druckerman -a former reporter for The Wall Street Journal- sets out to learn the secrets to raising a society of good little sleepers, gourmet eaters, and reasonably relaxed parents. She discovers that French parents are extremely strict about some things and strikingly permissive about others. And she realizes that to be a different kind of parent, you don't just need a different parenting philosophy. You need a very different view of what a child actually is.