Book Review: Say More: Consent Conversations for Teens (OT)

Say More: Consent Conversations for Teens, by Kitty Stryker (Thornapple Press, $19.95, 2024, 160pp, ages 11-18, grades 7-9) Review by Skye Anderson

Say more? Ah, consent conversations! And for teens or anyone who used to be a teen.

The term consent conversation may be new to adults but is probably in the vocabulary of teens today - difficult conversations or non-conversations about personal boundaries, be they of the sexual kind or just friendship/family kind.

Does a good friend monopolize the conversation? Does your mother rein you in too tightly? 

How do you approach these situations? Need help doing so? If so, this is the book for you.

Author Kitty Stryker is a friendly mentor who doesn't give answers but asks questions to help you arrive at your own answers and in a conversational way. She even uses four-letter words on occasion! 

 Is it Complicated?

Asking what we want/need, setting boundaries of yes and no, making mistakes, saving face and letting others save face, trusting ourselves to be brave and take chances of being misunderstood - all these are lessons to be learned on the way to adulthood and Say More can help.

The author even mentions CaptainAwkward.com: Advice and Commiseration. You don't have to be cruel to be cool and you don't need to be cool to be kind!

Also included are a glossary, tips, and a checklist of check-ins.

Book Review: The Fine Art of Camouflage (Air Force woman, Afghanistan)(OT)

The Fine Art of Camouflage, by Lauren Johnson (MilSpeak Foundation, 2023, 270pp, $18.95) Review by Skye Anderson

Once again is it premature to say The Fine Art of Camouflage just may be our Book of the Year!

A Seattle nurse and Army reservist is called up (for Desert Storm) for an indefinite length of time, leaving behind her family with three children. Fast forward nearly 20 years and we find her daughter, a public affairs officer in the Air Force deploying to Afghanistan (for Operation Enduring Freedom, OEF). This sets up the unusual story of a very close mother-daughter relationship that spans the entire US continent plus two wars in two countries, two different branches of military service, and two different jobs - yet, the similarities are woven together seamlessly as the author jumps from one time period to the other and back again.

Author Lauren Johnson has penned an exciting fast-paced memoir of her very close-knit family with a writing style reminiscent of Harper Lee's (To Kill a Mockingbird). I especially loved the final sentences in nearly every chapter - they keep you wanting to read the next chapter right away and several of them are surprises, showing the humanity of the author.

Set mainly in 2009, the same time as the battle of COP Keating (depicted in Red Platoon) and a couple of provinces* away, the reader can actually get a good glimpse of daily life on a base in active eastern Afghanistan on the border with Pakistan. Johnson's job also takes her outside the wire (off base) often to meet with Afghan dignitaries and to write about new schools and other construction projects funded by the United States, in the manner of Greg Mortenson (Three Cups of Tea).

Johnson survives emotionally with the help of her boyfriend "Chris" and her team of wonderful soldiers and airmen. She grows with confidence and increased job skills but we also experience, with her, some disillusionment with the mission. 

The book also brings into the story events happening in the US at the same time and how they affect our troops, and Johnson's experiences upon her redeployment: it is often more difficult to reacclimate to the US than it is to live in a foreign country.

The Fine Art of Camouflage would make an excellent book for your book club with its many avenues of discussion.

*next to the province of Khost where Pat Tillman was killed by friendly fire in 2004. See Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer. And next to the province of Paktika where Bowe Bergdahl walked off his base during the time frame Johnson was deployed.

Book Review: Nurse Dorothea Presents Why Coping Skills Work and What are Some that can be Done Anytime and Anywhere (OT)

Nurse Dorothea Presents Why Coping Skills Work and What are Some that can be Done Anytime and Anywhere,  by Michael Dow (Dow Creative Enterprises, 308pp, $33.62, 2024) Review by Skye Anderson

Having reviewed two other 'nurse-y' titles for kids by Michael Dow, about heatstroke and bacterial meningitis, I expected the same from this book on coping skills but was I surprised! It is quite good and extremely one of a kind with nearly 150 individual illustrations - each one very detailed and worthy of discussion and comparison with the text on the facing page. As they say, when one uses more than one sense, one tends to remember more easily and for a longer time.

We also like the age range: from puberty to 99+! The reading becomes easier with advanced age since the print is large and at least one page has only one sentence though that could also be a disadvantage. 

The Topic

Stress is common in everyday life and if we can teach youngsters how to cope, it would be a lesson for the ages, a lesson well worth learning. And nurse author Michael Dow does just that with plenty of examples, mostly offered by students themselves. 

Stress is defined as well as numerous examples for how to get rid of the reactions to stress, one being accepting yourself. The author uses students to relay some of the examples and each student has a different name and even looks different to appeal to a more diverse audience.

This book can be read by an individual or used as part of a therapy session or even as a group workshop. And the words are there for you already repeated verbatim when they segue into the next page.

What We Would Change

Although we love the idea of a related illustration on each two-page spread, the font size is a bit big but one does get used to it. We would, however, make the organization of the book easier to remember by including perhaps an outline in the front or chapters and chapter titles. And we caught the advice to see a dentist yearly (we had always known that advice to be, twice a year).

Book Review: Be a Scribe! Working for a Better Life in Ancient Egypt (OT)

Be a Scribe! Working for a Better Life in Ancient Egypt, by Miahael Joffen, Christian Casey, and Jen Thum (Callaway, $24.99, ages 8-14, 96pp, grades 3-7) Review by Skye Anderson

Wow, this book has everything! Starting with the cover of 12 possible occupations of the 18 illustrated (and with text) in this book about ancient Egypt, Be a Scribe! has magnetic appeal: a father is taking his son to a scribe school far away to learn reading and 'riting so that he may qualify for a good job rather than a labor-intensive, back-breaking job like the 12 depicted on the cover or the 18 with two-page spreads inside. Those occupations may experience unemployment and hard physical labor while scribes live at the royal court.

Being a Scribe, The Best Occupation

This is actually a true story! On the journey, the father tells his son all about other occupations plus a little about maps and hieroglyphs. On the way, the father also imparts some words of wisdom in the way of mind your manners, don't blab, follow orders, don't play hooky, control yourself and be gumptious.

The book starts with an introduction (maps, hieroglyphs, etc.) then starts the journey, illustrates the different occupations (with words, too) in a two-page spread each, and ends with words of wisdom the father imparts to his son - all well-organized. We also liked the final 10 pages with details of all the items illustrated.

On Hieroglyphs

If your young reader likes codes and mysteries, he or she may just soak up the information about hieroglyphs and learn to write like an Egyptian! For me, it was too hard though.

Final Question

Do you think it really is best to become a scribe if you lived in old Egypt?

Book Review: John Adams: The Voice Heard 'Round the World (youngsters) (OT)

John Adams: The Voice Heard 'Round the World, by Marian Carlson (Schoolmaster Press, 2010, $17.95, 52pp, ages 7-17) Review by Skye Anderson

Read, Think, Speak and Write

A short little reference* book that introduces us to John Adams in order to illustrate his importance in the early days of our country. A writer, he was organized and shares his methods of organization with the young reader who is called a patriot. One page even offers ideas how to become a better patriot** in our day and age by suggesting projects to do - and even take a quiz!

The Voice

Adams was the voice of the Declaration of Independence (while Thomas Jefferson was the pen) and served as George Washington's second most influential advisor (and vice-president) before he became President himself.

Author Carlson also includes a QRC for the audiobook with the narrator accompanied by the Boston Landmark Orchestra.

*includes timelines (one of Adams and one of the new country), resources (places, media, websites) and ideas for projects 

**Patriots help others, read and study, are organized and self-sufficient, and know their rights - all these have specific fun projects to do

Book Review: Auntie Aisha Answers: The Tween Muslim's Ultimate Guide to Growing Up (OT)

Auntie Aisha Answers: The Tween Muslim's Ultimate Guide to Growing Up, by Aisha Rasheed (Daybreak Press, $22.99, 2024, age 8-12, 108pp) Review by Skye Anderson

Written for a select audience - tweener Muslims - Auntie Aisha Answers is a book in which wisdom and gentleness shines through abundantly while explaining how bodies change with puberty (both genders).

The author has such an understanding writing style when she tackles the tough questions that we would have liked to talk with her in person or have her in our family or circle of friends. She challenges the reader to be good and better, all the while explaining that the Muslim's higher power is challenging but also forgiving.

Interspersed throughout are just perfect illustrations as well as short topics within dotted lines and even suggested tasks to undertake. Some terms appear larger, bolder, and in a different (flowery?) font for emphasis which will either enhance understanding or drive the reader crazy.

Author Rasheed begins explaining what happens physically as children go through puberty and also emotionally, socially and spiritually. Best of all, she remembers what it is like to grow through this stage and come out better on the other side, with the help of religion. 

The only deterrent was the frequent use of italicized Arabic terms and references to the Koran and even that was only because this reviewer is not Muslim (I did try, however, to find someone more knowledgeable, for their viewpoint on the book).

Book Review: Chicken Soup for the Volunteer's Soul

Chicken Soup for the Volunteer's Soul: Stories to Celebrate the Spirit of Courage, Caring and Community, by Jack Canfield et al. (Backlist, 2012, 363pp, $16.95) Review by Skye Anderson.

The Chicken Soup books are like Reader's Digest: everyone has read them at some time(s) in their lives, even subscribed to the Digest. Then you read other things and forget about them. When you return to them a few years later, it is like going home - very comforting. Maybe that is why so many Reader's Digests find their way into the hands of deployed troops far from home.

I read my share of Chicken Soup years ago (the first Chicken Soup book came out in 1993) but don't remember which one(s). So, it was about time I came back and when the opportunity arose to read and review Chicken Soup for the Volunteer's Soul, I jumped at the chance and was not disappointed.

Nine chapters, each with a theme such as Defining Moments or Making a Difference, not really exciting section headings but the short chapter titles are more enticing: A Hug and a Kiss, A Tiny Denim Dress, Sap to Seedling.

And interspersed are full page comics to grin at, and numerous quotes to start each chapter - quotes that simply hit the spot, from the well-known to the Bible, to everyman. In the back of the book can be found a paragraph about each author, each volunteer.

And finally, since this is a book of true stories by volunteers, most chapters end with an editor's note telling the reader more about that particular volunteer's organization - just in case you yourself are looking for an opportunity to give back (the Red Cross, Big Brothers and smaller, more local organizations, etc.).

Who are the Volunteers? 

Volunteers are ordinary people, inspired. . . . 

You will meet the college senior looking for an easy grade who decides to volunteer (but procrastinates) and then finds the experience so rewarding that he skips his own graduation party. 

You will get to know the grandmother in hospice whose own child is expecting. Grandmother wants to leave her grandchild-to-be something memorable since she won't be around, so she starts a needlepoint canvas but then slowly weakens. Her volunteer works on the project and when there is only one stitch left to do, guides the grandmother's hands so everyone will know that she started and finished the picture with her heart.

Chicken Soup, A New York Times Bestseller from 1994-1998

I decided to learn more about Chicken Soup. I already recognized the name of Jack Canfield and wondered if there was a book in the series about what dogs teach us. The website, ChickenSoup.com, would surely tell if there was a dog book in the Chicken Soup series but was I amazed to find 232 books in the series! And yes, even television got into the act with 19 episodes.

On the website, you can sign up to receive an inspirational story each day (or week) and learn how to submit your own story to celebrate the spirit of courage, caring and community.

And here is a Chicken Soup dog book trailer!

And now, if you will excuse me, I need to go to the bookstore and pick up another dose of courage, caring and community (from dogs, of course).