Book Review: Changing Diapers

Kelly Wels is awesome.

That pretty much sums it up…. but since I happen to be rather wordy by nature, I’ll elaborate.

When you receive your new book Changing Diapers- The Hip Mom’s Guide to Modern Cloth Diapering in your box of fluff, do me a favor and turn it over so you’re looking at the back cover. The price is $17.95.

When I saw that, I had to chuckle. Those of us absolutely obsessed with fluff know that $17.95 has been the going rate for a Perfect Sized FuzziBunz for as long as we can remember. It’s also the price of a bumGenius. When I owned my natural mothering store, I punched $17.95 into the register more than any other price. To see this price on the back of a book about Modern Cloth diapers made me smile.

Kelly admitted to me, “We designed it this way so people could pair it with a typical one-size cloth diaper (which is usually $17.95).”

Because of the impeccable attention to detail, right down to its very price, I knew before even opening the book that Kelly Wels was without a doubt, the perfect representative for our industry. Kelly Wels was about to make the “First Contact” that would usher in a new kind of diapering into Mainsteam America. I’m sorry about the Star Trek reference, but I often turn to Star Trek analogies when I get really excited about something.

Kelly Wels named her new book “Changing Diapers.” It’s what we do every day, several times a day, but  it’s also what the book intends to do.

I think Kelly will succeed.

I think that this book has the capability of implementing huge change. Kelly uses an approach that demonstrates how easy cloth diapering can be. Often, when a Mainstream Mama thinks of cloth diapering, she thinks of a woman martyring herself to save a dime and the environment. Kelly explains in a tone that feels like she’s my best friend sitting at my coffee table (if I had one) that cloth diapering is not difficult.

Kelly takes everything that would take a normal beginner several weeks of sifting through confusing message boards to learn and presents it in an orderly fashion. Ten minutes later, a mom who once knew nothing about cloth could reasonably hold her own even on the most expert Diaper Pin board. (Don’t know what I’m talking about? Get Kelly’s book because that’s explained in there too!) She talks about the different kinds of diapers precisely and concisely.  She explains possible problems honestly and offers intelligent and easy solutions.

I have to admit, I was concerned that I would get the book and it would be basically a “sales catalog.” It’s nothing like a sales catalog. It contains invaluable content. Through this book, Kelly Wels has demonstrated that she indeed does deserve all of the publicity that the internet has given her. Kelly is not where she is today because of chance. She is where she is because she has an honest knowledge of our industry that is almost unrivaled. Likewise, this book deserves every bit of publicity it can get.

On a personal note, I have been in the cloth diapering industry since 2001.  Having the diapering sites and forums that I’ve known for over a decade online suddenly show up in an actual book, made of actual paper, is validating beyond measure. We have come so far in this industry. I believe that this book just gave the  modern cloth diapering movement “Warp Technology” and cloth diapers are about to go where no modern cloth diapers have gone before…

Mainstream.

Thank you Kelly, for being both our voice and our guide.