A Guided Tour for Moms at home with their kid(s) ... and other fans

Our Tour is meant for those who intend to visit for a while, or explore the site in small bursts. This website at the beginning was designed for the multitudes (we are hoping) who will buy Julie's book SOMEBODY'S ALWAYS HUNGRY. We have described them as "would-be mothers, soon-to-be's, right-now's, used-to-be's, or anyone who has ever known a mother." These are people who would be thinking of buying a book for mothers they know, or perhaps for themselves, or perhaps both.

But there is a sub-culture here that will be doing more than shopping for a funny, poignant book about motherhood. These are present moms of infants, toddlers and pre-schoolers. They might be spending a little more time here than the others. If this is you, then you are on the right page.

We can hear you mumbling right now: "Gosh it is so easy to get lost in this website. How do I remember where I am and how to get back to where I was. Where was I when I got off on this tangent?"

We intentionally left a lot of tangents because we wanted to give you a site with which you could kind of pass the years. We're figuring that you're gonna be tied up for a few years raising your kids so why not spend most of them here. It's all confusing for sure, but don't be daunted. We want you to come back and visit often. When something is new, we want you to find it. (Thus the "What's New?" tab on the left margin.)

So let's take you on a little guided tour that will get you where you want to go ...

However, in an effort to keep the left tabs simple and underwhelming, we were hesitant to put a million tabs all the way down the margin. We were worried that it would all seem too much and you'd just go away. There are lots of tangents on this website. So let us give you a road map here ... your own special guided tour. Sometimes as you wander around SomebodysAlwaysHungry.com, you feel lost with no way out. Just don't panic and remember we've left you ways back to the Home Page most everywhere. Always scroll down to the bottom for link or other instructions, or scroll up to the left margin tabs. Don't close out a window unless instructed to do so.

The first tab on our tour is About the Book. It is meant as a quick way to find out what about Somebody's Always Hungry is unique. You can even get a few comments from others about their reading of the book.

The second tab is Story and more. There you get just what it says: a chance to read one of the essays from the book (entitled "You Can't Take It with You"). And, wait, hey, you get a bonus story as well ("Pete Fix It"), but don't quit this page yet if you are loving the stories because you get to read yet another bonus (called "Paul Small").

Then, after reading the stories, we thought maybe some of you would want to Buy the Book and get back to your life (because you could get lost here and never return).

Next on our tour is Sample Comments. You can read what some others have said about the book and about stories which have been published in magazines and e-zines. You get chances, if you are provoked, to read a few other of the stories ("Old Yeller" and "Dating the Pre-school Parents") about which there are affectionate comments. (If you haven't already read "You Can't Take It with You" you can get to it also from the Comments page.)

And then maybe you will be ready to read a couple of reviews from people who do it for a living at Review plus

Then, we were hoping that, by now, you would be wondering who this Juliet Myfanwy Johnson is. So we give you a tab called Who is Juliet. From this page your tour includes a brief bio of Julie, a jump to a video (with music) which introduces her cast of characters for SOMEBODY'S ALWAYS HUNGRY and which gives you the chance to share your best child-rearing story and picture with us and our other website visitors. Also, you can read another bonus story ("He Rides Off").

And if you really want to take a glorious side tour, to get lost in writing and dreaming, you can link in to two of Julie's blogsites: her extension of the book (perhaps the sequel) at Juliet's Kids Blog and her site for stories and more adult ruminations Juliet's Adult Blog.

And, oh yeah, you can watch a short video which attempts to give friends and strangers an idea of the book and the author. It's called Home Movie.


And next on our tour is the What's New? tab. We mentioned it above. We know it is not realistic for you to open our website and just stay and stay and stay. We know you have to go back to your life with the kid(s) some time. But we do hope you come back. This is the page you should go to to see what you missed while you were gone. We update it at the end of each week. It saves you poking around on pages you've already gotten through until you figure out how far you've come.


Ask a Mother is a tab that happened when Julie began talking to other mothers who had read her stories. She became someone that helped new moms feel not so all alone. She started answering questions ... light and dark ones. It was not as if she always had the answers, but she was not afraid to say she had no clue and always her peculiar perspective entered the discussion. You can ask questions here and Julie will respond to the best of her ability. And, with your permission, we will post your question and the answer and open up the conversation to other mothers. We're betting that we'll find lots of good answers. Or if you prefer, you can keep the discussion between you and Julie alone.

Next there is a tab called Book Professionals which provides a galleys-for-reviews (or endorsements) trade offer. Visitors can get an Advance Reading Copy if they can review us in other publications and/or e-zines. We are looking for support for the book from people who know what they are doing (unlike us who are figuring it out as we go).

And, especially for mothers, there's this page ... the guided tour for people who plan to see everything at their leisure, or during naptime, or when nursing, or late at night when it's very, very quiet and there's no one to play with.

Next is the trip you might never return from. The Mother Stuff tab. You can find Julie's diversions and you can share your escapes, horrors, recipes, pets and inspirations. You can write your own stories, send links, send pictures, do puzzles, dream out loud.

And next is the CONTACT page. It worried us that you might visit us once, like the site and be excited by the book, but forget to bookmark us. What if you didn't remember to come back? What if we never were in contact again? We hoped that you wanted to stay in touch too. You can get to our CONTACT page from any other page -- at the very bottom. We don't want you to leave us without giving us a way to stay close.

Then, and finally, is the place that all the requests for feedback lead to You respond.

Take the whole guided tour and then let us know what more this website can be. Build it with us.

Return to HOME PAGE from this special Guided Tour