Required Reading

Reading is a requirement in order to complete your training and obtain certification. The number of books you must read is dependent on which program you are enrolled in, so be sure to check the appropriate training page to find out how many you must read. Books marked with an asterisk (*) are required, while unmarked books are suggested. CAPPA suggests you read books on the subjects you are least familiar with. Many of the books listed below can be purchased in our shop.

Labor Doula

You are required to read a minimum of nine (9) books in addition to the CAPPA Labor Doula Manual, The Understanding Birth, and The Understanding Breastfeeding booklets.

You must read at least one (1) book from the first 5 categories. Optimally, you should read at least one (1) different book from each section even if some of the material overlaps multiple categories. Always check to make certain you are reading the most current edition of each book.

General Reading
(Every student must read the following)

• CAPPA Labor Doula Manual (provided at training)
• The Understanding Birth Booklet (not required for Dual/Transfer Track 1 – previously certified students)
• The Understanding Breastfeeding Booklet (not required for Dual/Transfer Track 1 – previously certified students)

Labor Support Skills
(Select at least 1 book from this category)

• The Birth Partner (Penny Simkin)
• The Labor Progress Handbook 4th Edition (Simkin and Ancheta)
• Mindful Birthing (Nancy Bardacke)
• Shared Decision Making: Bringing Birth Back into The Hands of Mothers (Dr. B Bootsaylor)
• The Mama Bamba Way (Robyn Sheldon)
• Queer Birth: A Queer Doula's Guide to Supporting LGBTQIA+ Folks Through Pregnancy and Birth (Caroline Huntley Coxe)
• Having Your Baby (Hutcherson with Williams)

Pregnancy & Birth
(Select at least 1 book from this category)

• The Greatest Pregnancy Ever (Wilson and Peters)
• The Attachment Pregnancy (Wilson and Peters)
• Pregnancy, Childbirth & The Newborn (Simkin, Whalley and Kepler)
• Optimal Care in Childbirth (Goer and Romano)
• The Mother of All Pregnancy Books (Ann Douglas)
• Healthy Beginnings: Giving Your Baby The Best Start From Preconception To Birth (Lalonde, Schuurmans, Senikas)
• The Mocha Manual to A Fabulous Pregnancy (Kimberley Seals-Allers)
• Black, Pregnant and Loving It (Yvette Allen Campbell)
• Mama Glow: A Hip Guide to Your Fabulous Abundant Pregnancy (Latham Thomas)
• Pride and Joy: A Guide for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans Parents (Sarah & Rachel Hagger-Holt)
• The Ultimate Guide to Pregnancy for Lesbians: How to Stay Sane and Care for Yourself from Pre-Conception Through Birth (Rachel Pepper)
• Birth Without Fear: The Judgment-Free Guide to Taking Charge of Your Pregnancy, Birth, and Postpartum (January Harshe)
• Birthing from Within: An Extra-Ordinary Guide to Childbirth (England and Horowitz)
• Video Option (If you decide to view a video for the Pregnancy & Birth category, only one of the choices below will be accepted for completion. Feel free to watch both for your own learning purposes!):
  • Business of Being Born (Ricky Lake)
  • More Business of Being Born (Ricky Lake)

  Health Equity
  (Select at least 1 book from this category)

  • It’s the little things (Lena Williams)
  • How to Be an Antiracist (Ibrim X. Kendi)
  • Me and White Supremacy: A Guided Journal (Layla Saad)
  • Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor (Layla Saad)
  • Between the World and Me (Ta-Nehisi Coates)
  • The Racial Healing Handbook: Practical Activities to Help You Challenge Privilege, Confront Systemic Racism, and Engage in Collective Healing (Anneliese A. Singh)
  • From #Blacklivesmatter to Black Liberation (Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor)
  • The Wellbeing Handbook for Overcoming Everyday Racism: How to be Resilient in the Face of Discrimination and Microaggressions (Susan Cousins)
  • Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? (Beverly Daniel Tatum)
  • Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches (Audre Lorde)
  • Battling Over Birth: Black Women and the Maternal Health Care Crisis (Hudson, Arega, Jones)

  Breastfeeding/Chestfeeding
  (Select at least 1 book from this category)

  • The Big Letdown (Kimberly Allers)
  • Baby-Led Breastfeeding: Follow Your Baby’s Instincts for Relaxed and Easy Nursing (Rapley and Murkett)
  • The Black Woman’s Guide to Breastfeeding (Katherine Barber)
  • Exclusively Pumping Breast Milk: A Guide to Providing Expressed Breast Milk for Your Baby (Stephanie Casemore)
  • Breastfeeding Made Simple (Mohrbacher and Kendall-Tackett)
  • Video Option: The Milky Way Documentary (Molnar and Davidson)

  Doula Studies & The History of Birth
  (Select at least 1 book from this category)

  • The Doula Book (Klaus, Klaus, Kennell)
  • Birth (Tina Cassidy)
  • Round the Circle (Julie Brill)

  You are free to select a minimum of four (4) titles from any of the categories below.

  Special Situations

  • When Hello Means Goodbye (Kirk and Schweibert)
  • Ghostbelly (Elizabeth Heineman)
  • Impossible Parenting: Creating A New Culture of Mental Health for Parents (Olivia Scobie)
  • Perinatal Loss: A Handbook for Working With Women and Their Families (Broderick and Cochrane)
  • Celebrating Pregnancy Again (Franchesca Cox)
  • The Prenatal Bombshell (Ilse and Azri)

  Social Justice and Birthwork

  • Birthing Justice: Black Women, Pregnancy, and Childbirth (Bonaparte and Oparah)
  • Battling Over Birth (Oparah, Arega, Hudson, Jones, Oseguera)
  • Birth (Tina Cassidy)
  • Granny Midwives and Black Women Writers (Valerie Lee)
  • Medical Apartheid (Harriet A. Washington)
  • From Midwives to Medicine (Deborah Kuhn McGregor)
  • The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Rebecca Skloot)
  • Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and The Meaning of Liberty (Dorothy Roberts)
  • Medical Bondage: Race, Gender and the Origins of American Gynecology (Deirdre Benia Cooper Owens)
  • Like A Mother: A Feminist Journey Through the Science and Culture of Pregnancy (Angela Garbes)
  • Women of Color and The Reproductive Rights Movement (Jennifer Nelson)
  • Reproducing Race: An Ethnography of Pregnancy as a Site of Racialization (Khiara M. Bridges)
  • Birth Work as Care Work: Stories from Activist Birth Communities (Apfel, Federici, Law)
  • Radical Reproductive Justice: Foundation, Theory, Practice, Critique (Anthology)
  • Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Frontlines (Gumbs, Williams, Martens)
  • Listen to Me Good: The Story of an Alabama Midwife (Holmes and Smith)
  • Reproductive Injustice: Racism, Pregnancy, and Premature Birth (Dána-Ain Davis)

  Trauma Informed Care

  • The Body Keeps the Score (Bessel Van Der Kolk)
  • Why Birth Trauma Matters (Emma Svanberg)
  • How to Heal a Bad Birth: Making Sense, Making Peace and Moving On (Gould and Bruijn)
  • When Survivors Give Birth (Klaus and Simkin)
  • The Trauma Toolbox (Free Online Training)

  LGBTQIA+ Parenting

  • The Other Mother: Nonbiological Lesbian Moms Tell All (Harlyn Aizley)
  • Subversive Motherhood: Orgasmic Birth, Genderqueer Parenting, Papas, Trans Parenting, Gynepunk, Etc. (Maria Llopis)
  • Journey to Parenthood: The Ultimate Guide for Same-Sex Couples (Adoption, Foster Care, Surrogacy, Co-parenting) (Eric Rosswood)
  • A Clinician's Guide to Gender-Affirming Care: Working with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Clients (Chang, dickey, Singh)