Prudent Adviceisn't what your mother taught you--it's more. Delivering 500 mini-lessons meant to educate and entertain, Curtis writes with wit and fresh insight into motherhood wrought from her own experiences and those of her blog followers. Time-honoured canons such as "Dress appropriately for work" and "You reap what you sow" mingle with more unconventional prudence such as "Talk to strangers" and "Don't be afraid to get lost." She teaches how to jump-start a battery and make summer squash with goat cheese pasta--everything a mother wants for her little girl.

Curtis emphasizes the importance of being ethical, practicing kindness, thinking for oneself, and seeing the beauty in everything and everyone, especially on the inside. This compelling guide also offers poetry, inspirational quotes, and recipes meant to embellish cultural perspective and cultivate a well-rounded, sophisticated woman.

Like Mitch Albom's Tuesday with Morrie or Randy Pausch's The Last Lecture, Prudent Adviceis an inspiring primer of lessons, observations, and knowledge conveyed to her daughter by a very modern mother. These are the rules of contemporary wisdom rewritten for our time-the new adages to be passed from woman to woman that represent the best advice about mastering life in our complex twenty-first century era.