I’m a writer who has bounced from the US to Germany and back again.
I am the author Achtung Baby: an American Mom on the German Art of Raising Self-Reliant Children (Picador USA, January 2018.)
My agent is the fabulous Terra Chalberg of Chalberg & Sussman.
My articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time.com, and Bild am Sonntag among other places.
I am currently the science writer for Washington State University (Go Cougs!), but the views on this site are purely my own. You can see my full CV on LinkedIn.
I am also a fiction writer. My young adult fantasy novel The First, is currently available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I also have two free sci-fi short stories up on Smashwords: Green and The Last Zoo. Check them out.
Contact: post here or email SaraZaskeBlog@gmail.com.
Sara Zaske 
It’s great to have found you. I’m also a writer/teacher and always looking for good books and writers with similar interests.
Thanks! I stopped by your blog – you’ve got some great stuff there as well. Nice to meet you.
I’m absolutely loving your book! It’s especially interesting to me as we moved to Germany with kids that are the age yours were when you went back to the states. My daughter is in third grade and my son is in first, and we just moved here in September. I find myself nodding and saying “aha” with each chapter I read (I’m halfway done, after buying it just last night.) We have loved and embraced the freedom and independence we are able to give our children in Germany.
Thank you! It’s great to hear you are enjoying the book! Best wishes on your German move. Expat life can be challenging but it is also very rewarding.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE your book and I’m going to have a book reading at my school to educate parents about alternate parenting styles that are liberating. Here is a link to my blog. I wish your children could attend the saracurrydayschool.org which I’ve just started where children decide what they want to learn. Here is my blog. https://eileenjohnson.wordpress.com I’d love to send you my books Emotional Education and The Children’s Bill of Emotional Rights.
Thanks for your reply and your enthusiasm! I’ll check out your school and your blog. Sounds like great work!
Just started you book and am loving it. We will be moving to Prenzlauer Berg (Berlin) in July with our 5 & 7 year boys. We‘ve spent the past three summers in Germany and Berlin and can’t wait to embrace a more hands-off parenting style amongst others who share in that belief (the Germans). For me, it will also be a return to the „Fatherland“ as my mom was born there and is half German. I don’t want to say that I‘ve drank the Cool-Aid. I just look forward to taking sips and embracing both my American and the German cultures. Thanks for helping us with our journey!
Hi, I am originally from Munich and all you are saying is true I had my parents house key around my neck. Now I have two kids 6 and 4 and am living here in Canada guess what I miss the “German” way a bit because the teachers and so many parents and grandparents are saying exactly the same how wonderful and adventurous their childhood had been! I really would like to go on stage and talk about it.
Thank you all the best
I just read your book , “Achtung Baby” and wanted to tell you thank you! We need more people who are making our laws to read this book.
I lived in Norway for a bit and realized that they didn’t have the fear of lawsuits (for daycares) or “helpful” people calling the police if a child was out of sight of parents. I love how you covered all the things I noticed in Norway plus more, and included support in statistics and studies!
I am trying to do an in home daycare and licensing in washington state is like helicopter parenting on steroids…breaks my heart, but at least I can stand back & to give children a chance to play (even if I have to be near by).
I want your book on my bookshelf and to post it on my website (when we get it up) to recommend to parents.
Thank you for writing this book!
Parent & caregiver, Sally
Thank you for your kind message! I love to hear from people who connected with the book. I am still trying to work to create change here. For instance, starting an effort here in Idaho to adopt a “free range” law like the one they have in Utah. Perhaps we can get something going for Washington state too. Still, I think a lot of change happens culturally first — one person at a time. Thank you for your daycare work — you are doing great things for the kids in your care. Best, Sara
Really enjoyed your book on Audio! My husband is from Germany and we have our first child (1yr). My mother was also born in Germany but moved to US as a baby. I enjoyed asking my hubby questions as I went along in the book and compared to our friends living in Germany and raising children (we visit once a year). I’m going to try my best to allow my son Selbständigkeit, and doing this in the house as he is learning to explore, although it’s resulting in many bruises. 🙂 This Book has made me feel like I can relax a little more and not helicopter. I’ve been begging my husband to take a temp job in Germany..as he works for a Germany based company. Would love my son to go to KiTa! I could go on…but thank you!!
hello,
i came across a scrap of a newspaper clipping with a title that looks like Death to diesel and your byline. this may have been from the San Francisco Examiner and dealt with Proposition I. can you please tell me whether this is available online? thank you.
That was quite some time ago. I don’t think it exists online anywhere, unfortunately. Does it have a date on it?
Hi Sara, I really enjoyed your book. I am from Germany, Came to the US at age 22 and have been raising my two kids (now 18 and 20) here in the States. I often have contemplated whether we should have moved back to Germany. I feel sad of all the stuff my kids missed out on (St. Martin, Fasching, etc) and now that kind of “freedom/Selbststaendigkeit” you described in your book. Ah- too late now. But they do know the German Culture very well, we have been visiting my family at least every other year. My daughter spend half a year over there and my son is preparing to go for a whole year now. Who knows, maybe we will follow him and stay. Just one minor correction to your book: the testing by the end of the Gymnasium is called ABITUR not ARBITUR.
Thanks again, Heidi
I really have loved your book! I work with international exchange students ages 15-18 and it has been really insightful in terms of some of the “issues” we see come up when some of our European students are brought into American homes and families. As a mother myself to a 3 year old I found it to be very thoughtful provoking in terms of my personal take on parenting. It would be really interesting to look up some of your statistics you have listed if there is new information since the pandemic. Organizationally we have seen more teens American and foreign struggling with anxiety, social disconnect, and depression. I plan to talk about your book on my next department meeting!
Thanks so much for your comment. I’m so glad the book resonated with you — and yes I agree it would be interesting to see if the statistics have changed. The pandemic changed things for everyone — and I suspect impacted kids a lot no matter where they lived — socializing with their peers is so important. I wonder as well how they’ve bounced back, or not. So much what I hope to have given my own kids is that inner resilience because we can’t predict what challenges they will face. Might be worth looking into for an article. I’ll see what I can find…