Book Review: Wanted: Toddler’s Personal Assistant by Stephanie Kiser

The latest book that I read using my NetGalley Account is Wanted: Toddler’s Personal Assistant by Stephanie Kiser. It will be published on August 6, 2024. It is a memoir of a young woman’s impressions after working for New York City’s wealthiest families.

Genre: Memoir

336 pages, Paperback

Publisher: Sourcebooks

Expected date of publication: August 6, 2024

Stephanie Kiser was born into a certain kind of Providence Rhode Island family that she self-depreciating calls “white trash”. After a rough childhood, she find success as a high school basketball player. Her basketball success leads her to a scholarship to an pricey, private high school and entrance to a world of privilege that she never expected. Enter wealthy friends, new political beliefs, and a summer trip to Europe. This unexpected window eventually leads her to a college diploma from a Boston college and many thousands of dollars in student loan debt. After moving to New York City, the best job that she can find to pay her student loan bills nannying for New York City’s wealthiest families.
Caught in a conundrum of “your money or your life” thinking, Stephanie has trouble figuring out how to afford the material goods that she wants versus the life that she wants for herself creatively. Along the way, she finds herself falling in love with the children and families that she cares for.

This book is an interesting read that made me feel all the feels. The author is a person who is very conscious of social class and notices how other’s are treated. She experienced her nannying life as a white person with a college degree, this made her a sort of unicorn in the nannying world. It gave her a special status. Many of her fellow nanny collogues and nanny friends were immigrants who were often people of color. The author noticed how many of her colleagues were treated less well than she was treated in her nannying work. Some of the same people who treated her well treated her colleagues poorly. The author also experienced her nannying life as a person who came from a impoverished background. She sees how generational wealth begins launching children on an accelerated path to future wealth beginning at birth. She cares for young children with an abundance of enrichment opportunities which will help them get into the most prestigious schools and meet influential people.

The author also writes about the economic and social challenges her family faces like: eating disorders, mental health problems, domestic disputes, alcoholism, and sanitation problems.

I would recommend it to readers who like memoirs about social class. The author is a millennial and her writing is funny and she has a sense of humor about her life and herself.

Thank you to NetGalley for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book. It will be published on August 6, 2024.