Kvelling Is In Order for Lenore Skenazy, Author of 'Free-Range Kids'

THE MOM WITH A MIGHTY PEN Lenore Skenazy, author of 'Free Range Kids,' with her free-range son Izzy, on Saturday outside Town and Village Synagogue, where her son Morris became a bar mitzvah. Photo by Amanda Gordon

Does this woman look like a bad parent? Does this boy appear neglected? We know looks can be deceiving, but we also know that the loving bonds between the mother and son pictured here are pretty darn genuine. Yes, Lenore let her son Izzy ride the subway on his own when he was 9 years old, about a year ago, and he survived. And Lenore survived the criticism of parent experts all over the country and lived to tell the tale -- and offer a reality check on children's safety and parents' fear -- in her new book, "Free-Range Kids" (Jossey Bass). We're happy to report that the book is officially out today and that Lenore -- who first wrote about Izzy's independent subway journey in The New York Sun, and whom I consider a generous friend and mentor -- is getting some accolades from pundits and parents alike. Maybe it's easier in a downturn for parents to see the merits of fostering self-reliance in their children. Maybe it's easier now for parents to grasp that thoughtful, informed parenting matters more than material things. We certainly think now is the moment for Lenore's book to become a best seller so she can help support her family.

Lenore's book starts with her subway story and goes much broader, but we appreciate the coincidence that on the eve of its publication, Lenore and her husband, Joe Kolman, marked an important milestone as parents: the bar mitzvah of their older son Morris. We can assure you that this was an occassion for Lenore to kvell. At the service on Saturday at Town and Village Synagogue on East 14th Street, Morris delivered one of the most commanding bar mitzvah speeches we have ever witnessed, in which he even saw fit to write a line for his mom, in which she got to scold him (comically) in public: He had just finished introducing the theme of his speech, leopards, when Lenore stood up from her seat in the congregation to "correct" him that his Torah portion was about lepers. We can't think of any other 13-year-old boy who has given his own mother such prominence in the public ceremony marking his transition into manhood. But what else would you expect from the first free-range bar mitzvah boy? And as for the material trappings so often associated with such affairs, well, the only thing over the top here was the number of pounds of lox Lenore had purchased from Costco.

Toward the end of the reception, Lenore stepped outside the synagogue and did some proud-parent basking in the sun, with her boy Izzy -- still a boy -- by her side. But he knows when his turn as a bar mitzvah is coming. "I have two years until I have to start practicing for it," Izzy said. And then we snapped the photograph above.

You may have already read about the book in a variety of publications; an excerpt appeared in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday and Lisa Belkin wrote about it last week in her Motherlode Blog at the New York Times. As for where you can kvell for Lenore: She'll be in a Washington Post chatroom this morning at 11 a.m. (transcript available here), and at a book signing at the Park Slope Barnes & Noble on May 6. And on May 1, this Friday, she'll be in Chicago at the Book Cellar.