Some parenting tips for the school year.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

Byline: Cindy Krischer Goodman

Here are a few new parenting books that can help deal with situations you and your children may face in the new school year.

_``Teacher Says: 30 Foolproof Ways to Help Kids Thrive in School'' by Evelyn Porreca Vuko (Penguin Books, $15, 290 pages).

Evelyn Vuko expands on advice for parents offered in her column in The Washington Post. Parents will pick up some grade-specific tips for children. Vuko offers suggestions on finding the best school and forming an alliance with the teacher, to determining the right way to help with homework. For older children, Vuko suggests ways parents can help poor spellers, improve students' math skills and motivate kids when they don't want to study. Vuko's no-nonsense answers to classroom problems combine common sense with some creativity, making this book a must read for coping in the new school year.

_`` Picking Your Battles: Winning Strategies for Raising Well-Behaved Kids'' by Bonnie Maslin (St. Martin's Griffin, $14.95, 352 pages).

``Battles'' is written by a mom in the trenches who doles out advice on misguided expectations. Bonnie Maslin, a psychologist, warns parents to expect sexual curiousity and take it in stride, expect endless questions and enjoy your stint as all-knowing parent. Sprinkled throughout are PYB (Picking Your Battles) Words of Wisdom. Here's one: Eliminate uncertainty. Kids get crabby if they sense indecisiveness.

Maslin urges parents to keep their resolve. ``Caving to the demands of your child collapses your foundation for good discipline,'' she writes. She also touches on subjects such as guilt trips and limit-setting. Perhaps most useful are the tactics for surviving the headaches of everyday life. This book speaks the language of parents trying to regain ...