I was SO delighted when this book came out. I've read and enjoyed many of the Sears family's books on pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, etc., and I've always found that their practical, gentle-parenting outlook meshes well with mine. But better yet, I was happy to finally have an up-to-date, balanced book on children's vaccinations.
So much of the information available to parents nowadays is at the far end of the spectrum, either one way or the other: "Shut up and do what the nice doctor tells you" or "All vaccines are bad and will kill your baby." Other books, like Stephanie Cave's, are good but several years out of date.
As a mother of a now 1-year-old, it was a relief to see a book that my concerns about vaccine reactions seriously (especially given how many shots the AAP recommends babies get in their first year), but also addresses my worries about communicable diseases.
Dr. Sears looks at each vaccine and disease separately and addresses: How common is this disease? How dangerous is it? How does the vaccine work? How is it made? What are the ingredients? What are some reasons you should get this vaccine? What are some reasons you shouldn't? He also offers two different vaccine schedules.
Overall, I found this a very well-researched, very balanced look at the vaccine issue. Of course, it's not going to sway people who are convinced that parents who don't get every shot on schedule are terribly irresponsible, or people who think that vaccines are responsible for every modern health problem ... but for those of us in the middle, it's a great reference.
