Much greater expectations

USA TODAY, July, 2008 by Liz Szabo

One month before her baby was due, Ebony Perry developed a violent stomach flu and abdominal cramps.

Although Perry was frightened, she knew just where to turn for advice: her copy of Baby Basics, an easy-to-read pregnancy primer from the author of What to Expect When You're Expecting.

Perry, who read that her cramps were probably contractions brought on by dehydration, went immediately to the hospital. Without the book, she says, she might have gone into pre-term labor. "Everything I was feeling was in that book," says Perry, 21, of Long Island City, N.Y., whose son, Rodney, was born full-term May 25. "I read it every day."

With more than 14 million copies sold, What to Expect is one of the most successful pregnancy books ever written. But its...