Youth Books

Root does make a good point of reminding us to invest in other people and love them the way that God loves them. However, I found the book cumbersome. Root uses a plethora of catch-phrases and "ism" words that make his meaning hard to discern. I also would like to see his arguments supported by Scripture rather than his constant allusions to Dietrich Bonhoeffer (I only remember him quoting the Word itself once).

I would summarize my review this way: If you're interested in Bonhoeffer, read Bonhoeffer. But if you're interested in youth ministry, skip this book and read the Bible. Then draw your own conclusions about how Jesus invested his life in others.

Andrew Root, in his teaching and in this book, genuinely cares about youth. Combining this with a keen intellect and a deep conviction of the power of Christ crucified to answer the deepest aches of youth today. His thinking is a unique and much needed contribution in youth ministry today.

Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry is the most important book that anyone in ministry can read, not just youth ministers! Dr Root's understanding of walking with youth through all suffering and truly a being Christ-like presence in the life of another is extraordinary. If you are not doing ministry this way, you are not doing ministry.

Please, read this book! This fascinating work represents the cutting edge of thinking theologically about ministry with children and youth (and, really, ministry with all people). Andrew Root's penetrating assessment of popular conceptions of youth ministry speaks with a critical voice that, at the same time it exposes the underlying & unspoken assumptions that have been brought to YM, it also brings freedom, new possibility, & great hope - both to our precious children and to the many weary, burned-out, and guilt-laden youth workers who question the difference they are really making.

What Root essentially accomplishes is to re-center youth ministry on Jesus Christ, the God who is with us, not off waiting for us somewhere else. Root's argument leads us away from a "relational ministry" that leverages relationships to get kids to sign onto a "third thing" and reframes ministry as "participation in God's presence" here and now, in this human relationship. He is critical of how the incarnation of Christ has so often been reduced to a pattern or strategy that is "goal-oriented" instead of "companionship-oriented". This agenda ends up being more about ideology than incarnation. Instead, resting on the theological foundation of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus, he recasts youth ministry as "place-sharing".

What does this mean? Root derives this term from Lutheran Theologian/Martyr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who wrote of Christ's strellvertretung, or "vicarious-representative-action". This is a more relationally-conceived & dynamic understanding of Christ as our "substitute". What does it mean for a youth worker to be in real, authentic, human relationship with an adolescent? What does it mean to be in solidarity with young people, to share their place in the midst of their suffering and pain and sin? Root recognizes that transformation comes from this deep relationship in the presence of God; transformation is not something "over there" we sign up for. It is not abstract; as we "share the place" of another, we honor their broken humanity and in this relationship we can know that Christ is incarnate and present with us, and we are transformed. [If I were to put my Lutheran spin on this, I would say that instead of always talking ABOUT the Gospel and what we SHOULD do, in authentic relationship we can actually GO AHEAD and speak Gospel to each other here and now, we can point to the reality and presence of Christ among us]

So, how does Root unfold his argument? In Part One, he takes us on an interesting journey through the "historical ascent of relational ministry", tracing the emergence in the 20th century of the "teenager", the "high school", "modern evangelicalism", and the new frontier of age-specific ministry to kids living in the developing cultural reality of the "self-chosen relationship". This journey through history comprises the first two chapters & chapter three examines our relational motivations through the lenses of sociology. Root argues that relational youth ministry took its shape not from theological reflection on the incarnation and its implications for ministry, but rather has been formed as a "strategy of engagement within a pluralistic culture."

In Part Two, Root turns to Bonhoeffer's theology as a guide to asking three key questions: Who is Jesus Christ? Where is Jesus Christ? What then shall we do? He unpacks the concepts I've mentioned and much more. He develops a couple of conceptual diagrams that greatly help communicate his argument. These diagrams help us see that there is no such thing as two isolated, autonomous human beings in relationship. We each come to relationship with our own histories, our own cultural location and toolkit for engaging with culture, our own ideologies. We are constantly shaping and being shaped by our social environment and circumstances. It is naïve and dehumanizing to look at adolescents as free-willing, independent consumers who just need the right information about God (or the hippest youth leader) in order to sign up for the Jesus thing. Every kid, every human being is located in a unique and specific place.

Have you ever beat your head against a wall, because as much as you influence some kid to follow Jesus, they have to go home to a hostile family environment, or they are trapped in debilitating social circumstances, or something else, and you begin to feel like you're "getting nowhere" with that kid? What if - Root challenges us - youth ministry was not about success or failure, but about faithfulness? What if the best we can offer kids is to be "present with them in their personal hells", and in sharing their place, proclaim that Christ is alive and present with us?

The final chapters flesh out what this would look like and suggest some "rules of art for place-sharing in community." Root offers the narrative of a female youth worker who "shares the place" of a neighbor girl, as well as looks at (my favorite movie) Good Will Hunting in light of incarnational-relational theology. Very, very powerful.

This is the kind of book to reread and to wrestle with. It ought to generate ongoing conversations among adults who care deeply for children and the church's response to the dehumanization of young people in our culture.

What a wonderful book!! Young adults and mature readers alike will find the humour, the very interesting history and the culture of Kenya in this book, very hard to put down - although the anecdotal format makes for easy, and short reading episodes.
Mr Gill's teenage years will surely trigger reader's memories and the hilarious school days during the 2nd WW make us realize that those forever lost days were wonderful days indeed. If only we could still feel the safety in being able to allow 2 mid-teenage boys to take a 400 mile walk from Nairobi to the Northern Frontier District and back without fearing personal disaster. Mr. Gill's books would make a terrific TV mini-series.
Give them for Crhristmas, birthdays, anniversaries. A welcome gift anytime.

More hilarious adventures by a really good writer. His smooth, yet fast-paced writing is a boon to the reader with a busy schedule.
Being in my 20's, I can really relate to Mr Gill's teenage years. Although adventures in sport exist for us today, my parents could never have allowed me at 15, to take a 400 mile trek into whatever wilderness there is still to be found.
Mr. Gill's characters are truly memorable and I laughed until the tears ran down my cheeks at the events of the Morgan Holiday.
This and his first book, Rambunctious Reflections should find a very wide audience. A great gift idea. Thank you Mr. Gill.

This sequel to the author's first book of memoirs,'Rambunctious Reflections',which covers his early childhood years in Kenya, does not disappoint.Like it's predecessor it is packed full of pithy tales of adventure and bravado.Many of these are extremely funny and all are written with the humour and sensitivity of hindsight.
This time we are taken from the age of around ten, through teenage years, a spell at Dublin's Trinity College and back to Kenya for first years of employment.
The book opens with an action packed account of a family seaside holiday.This is no ordinary holiday(but then nothing that happens through out can be described as "ordinary")- and invovles the author taking it on himself to blow the roof off the privy, a close encounter with a leopard, another with two snakes, and the kitchen being stampeded by a herd of buffalo!This is not to mention his aunt's narrow escape from the clutches of a handsome young man ,who was not all he appeared to be.!
The rest of the action unfolds in similar vein as we learn what it was like for a young boy to grow up in the Kenya of sixty years ago. We see him learning to ride a horse through lion inhabited terrain,with the incentive to remain in the saddle somewhat greater than usual!, shooting crocodiles and taking on such challenges as swimming round Mombasa island and embarking on a 400 mile trek,which was finished in a remarkable nine days.
I was intrigued to learn about the customs of the Masai people- their way of measuring age and distance, the tradition of circumcision, blooding the spear etc.
One of the funniest tales concerns a misunderstanding about an arsenic laced cattle dip.
In stark contrast there is the harrowing story of a young Polish boy, who had been the subject of Nazi experimentation. It does, however , have an extraordinarily positive outcome for another unfortunate person.
Of the many characters who populate the book I think perhaps it is the hapless school teachers of the PoW who stand out the most.I must confess to a certain amount of sympathy for them for the many pranks they suffer at the hands of the merciless boys!!
I was kept entertained from cover ot cover and look forward to the publication of Gill's next Book.

Elegant, meditative, and special, Patrica Hampl's memoir of growing up in St. Paul and visiting her ancestral home of Prague deservedly won her a Macarthur genius grant, and remains a classic of its genre. When it was published in the early 80s, the gorgeous Bohemian captial of Prague was sheltered from the American line of vision by the Iron Curtain, and much less familiar to American readers than it is today; Hampl's book details her trip in the 70s to that loveliest of cities to visit her family's origins and learn something about her place in the world. But the book is also a beautiful meditation on another exceptionally romantic, and often still neglected, city, Hampl's hometown of St. Paul, Minnesota. Stunningly situated on the high bluffs overlooking a chasmic portion of the Mississippi, the home of F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Empire Builder James J. Hill, St. Paul has declined in cultural significance over the decades, overshadowed by its younger and more prosperous twin city across the river. But Hampl lovingly evokes what it was like to live in this atmospheric city of decaying Victorian mansions overlooking the downtown from the heights of Summit Avenue, both as a grandchild of Czech immigrants working as servants for the enmansed and as a young woman striking out as a student and a writer. It's an unusual, romantically-staurated memoir.

Being of eastern European descent, I found Hampl's book revealing and intriguing as it spoke of what my grandparents often alluded to when referring to "the old country."
I felt myself travelling with her, trying to find out something, anything, about my roots.

I first read Patricia Hampl's I Could Tell You Stories when I took a 1st person essay writing class, and all of us in the class became instant fans. Her book provoked endless discussions about the reliability (or Unreliability) of memory and the role it plays in memoir writing. Hampl's A Romantic Education allows us to continue following her down her chosen path as she returns to Prague in search of her heritage during the gray pall of socialism. This edition of A Romantic Education is a reissue following the Velvet Revolution and is full of richly nuanced detail that we have come to expect from Hampl. It's an elegant piece of writing that allows us to taste and dabble in the trickling stream of history running beneath the surface of the everlasting riddle of personal memory.

Most adults know the story of Romeo and Juliet. The play, about two rash, emotionally-driven, and passionate teenagers from rival families who fall in love, become engaged, married, and each commit suicide within a span of less than a week, is standard curriculum for freshmen high school students in the United States. I've read and looked at many editions of the play and the Red Reader version is one of the better versions to use with high school freshmen. Each scene opens with an excellent synopsis of the scene. In addition, throughout the text are wonderful side annotations that connect the text to pop cultural references and modern slang. I liked using the text with my classes because it gives an excellent understanding of the story of the play and the larger themes involved. However, the one major complaint that my students had was that the Red Reader didn't give the definitions of enough words. ROMEO AND JULIET isn't one of the best Shakespeare plays and nor is it one of my Shakespearean favorites. Yet, it is one of the most popular of the bards plays and is one that every adult should be familiar. If you're reading Shakespeare for the first time, ROMEO AND JULIET is a great play to start with and the Red Reader version of the play is one of the best versions to help one's understanding of what is going on. Highly recommended for students who find themselves struggling with Shakespeare and for high school teachers who teach the play.

This text is a wonderful tool to help young people understand Shakespeare's most famous tragedy. I used this text to teach R & J to my freshman class, and they enjoyed the references to pop culture. I learned a lot, too, from the annotations. The editor who added the comments did a wonderful job of putting in information and interpretations that help the reader understand the big picture. He doesn't throw in esoteric trivia to show off his Shakespeare knowledge. The mix of humor and good, solid information makes navigating the play much simpler for young people. I believe the Bard would approve!

Traditional Romeo and Juliet-- but with hilarious coments on the margins explaining what's going on in normal English, and funny descriptions of the characters. Example:
Romeo- A 14-year-old lovesick dude in love with being in love; Lord Montague's only son.

Lord Capulet- Juliet's pop and a strait-up control [man].

Juliet- 13 years old, Lord Capulet's only daughter, and Romeo's eventual main squeeze.

Funny funny??? yes??? Just Really good----- very good version, some ghetto-style comments thrown in makes it really easy to understand.

Runaways, America's Lost Youth is a nonfiction study of teenage runaways. It appeals to young adults as well as parents of young adults who have run away or who are threatening to run away. The authors did a great deal of research on the subject and it is helpful to anyone interested in the subject. It is full of reasons young people give for running away and of suggestions for keeping children at home. This is a harsh book, exploring the dangers facing youth who are on their own. It can be ugly but it is important and I would recommend it to any young person thinking of running away or to any parent who fears his or her child might run.

RUNAWAYS, AMERICA'S LOST YOUTH is as pertinent today as it was the day it was written. Although the young runaways profiled in these case studies may be old enough now to have their own children or even grandchildren contemplating running away themselves, the basic reasons for running away from one's home remain the same. Times change and specific situations change from generation to generations, but the basic needs and desires remain the same in the relationships between parents and their children. Having read this book at a critical time in my own adolescence, I can speak from experience. This book made a difference to me at a time in my life when consequences were not a significant factor in the decisions I made. I was planning to run away from my home until I read about the realities of life for young runaways. Compared with the experiences of the nine young people profiled in this book, my own circumstances did not seem to be as insurmountable as I had previously believed. I was inspired to work toward constructive solutions in my life. I would highly recommend this book to anyone considering running away or to a parent who suspects that their child may be considering this desperate measure.

RUNAWAYS, AMERICA'S LOST YOUTH is a timeless study of a problem that will be with us as long as their are parents and children. Although it was written in the seventies and focuses on the sixties, the truths here are eternal and the information is still timely. Maryanne Raphael and Jenifer Wolf describe nine case histories in dramatic terms, making them come alive on the paper for young and old to see and perhaps begin to understand. The book was written as a plea to parents to listen carefully to their children and as a warning to youth of the dangers and discomfort awaiting runaways. It is a compelling study of a serious problem and an attempt to help solve it. I recommend the book to all parents and any child thinking of leaving home. Reviewed by Susie Chesser

"Sail in the boat with Jesus" is another in the series of action rhyme books designed to make Bible stories fun and exciting for young children. Leena Lane and Chris Saunderson have collaborated again to provide a meaningful learning experience through child friendly illustrations and easy to follow action movements to bring life to the narrative. As the boat rocks the young reader on a stormy sea the child will learn of the security of going to Jesus for help. The stillness that followed the storm resulted in a time of thanksgiving. Important lessons for any child!
Reviewed by Richard R. Blake, a Christian Education Consultant

Kids love to learn. Kids love to have fun. THis is the best of both worlds

Did you ever notice how many of the great Jesus stories involve a boat, or fishing, or water? Kids will love this story (and parents will relate ...) of Jesus having to be woken up to solve the stormy waters problem! With a single gesture, arms flung wide, the waves calm - and all fold hands reverently to show thanks. Another great title in New Day Publishing's Action Rhyme Book series.

I was one of the many who contributed to the content of this book. When I recieved my copy, I was blown away at what was inside. It serves as a reminder that everything you are going through is not a singular problem. Others go through it, and they survive. I would reccomend this book to any teen.

The Secret Life of Teens can only be given praises. Being a contributor to something so raw, groundbreaking, and wonderful is a huge honor. I would recommend this book to anyone who has a beating heart, and who doubts what our generation can do. Watch out America, here we come, loud, aware, and confident!

Having contributed to this book, I feel very blessed and honored to speak for the youth today. A most compelling compilation of letters written with passion, feeling, and much revelation, THE SECRET LIFE OF TEENS is one of the most heartwarming books I have read.

While I thought it would be another one of those books depicting the negativity of being teens, this book will let the readers know otherwise and that the teens of today are not exactly WHAT most adults make them out. Most letters end with in positive notes, or at least in most fulfilling notes with strong convictions deeply resounded.

I highly encourage readers of any age to get a copy of this book and to see for himself. It is a glimpse of the generation we either love or hate. It is a peek into their world, with thought-provoking and touching letters guaranteed to make you think twice, if ever you have though of doing so, about putting all teens into one predetermined and stereotyped box.

Since few people in respectable circles today would admit to having supported segregation, it is rare to read honest accounts from White southerners who admittely accepted the system and went along with it, as most did at the time.

This book is an interesting read for that reason. He speaks matter of factly about his own acceptance of the prejudices of his era and area, as he punches a black boy who uses his mouth on the same needle that he does to blow up a basketball without realizing why at the moment, although he is usually pleasant in hiis relations with the black customers who frequent his grandfather's general store in Wade, NC in the 1950s.

However, he comes across people who challenge everything he is led to believe about Blacks. There is the African-American schoolteacher who forces him to refer to her as "Miss" and most of all, his unlikely friend Street. Street is a self-educated free spirited intellectual who is amazingly accurate on biblical, astronomical, and constitutional facts who lives in a cave by himself. The local Whites dismiss him as crazy and eccentric, but Melton comes to see that Street is not only accurate in his facts, but represents the tragedy of racism through the inability of Street to make a living from his knowledge. One of the most interesting characters in all of Southern biography, one could easily picture Louis Gosset Jr. or James Earl Jones portraying Street in a film version of this book.

I would strongly recommend this for exposing young people in particular to a seldom-heard side in writings about the segregation era.

McLaurin has written a valuable and beautiful book. It deserves a place on the shelf with "Coming of Age in Mississippi" as a document of life in the segregated South and of the moral challenges that segregation presented to those who lived in the system.

McLaurin's book is a touching recollection of growing up in the South during the 1950s. His rich narative describes not only the difficulties all teenagers face, but explores how these difficulties are made even more difficult in a changing environment. While so many imagine the white teenagers of the Little Rock school integration as pictures of young whites during the 1950s, McLaurin paints a picture of a young man sensitive to the plight of blacks in the Jim Crow South. A very good book, highly recommended to those who wish to get a detailed portrait of the 1950s South

I really liked this book and the activities inside. I wish I had found it sooner. We did a one year Sunday school curriculum on parables and unfortunately I did not find it until May. There is a ton of fun stuff inside this book. The children really enjoyed the Rockin' to the Sheep Beat and Counting Sheep (a progressive rythmic version of the Sheep and the Goats story) followed by (a fill-in version of) the Counting Sheep story.

I bought this book to use with our Children's Worship program. We have different volunteers teaching every week, some of them with very little teaching experience. So having material that is ready to teach is essential. This book has several creative ways to teach each of the parables. The instructions are detailed enough for those who are looking for a "cook book" to follow.

I was a bit disappointed that the suggestions are divided into ones to use with a younger group and other suggestions to use with an older group - I was looking for material to use with ages 4 through 11. But the lessons geared to the younger group worked well with this broad age range. I think the suggestions for the older group could be used with teenagers, too.

I appreciated the fresh storytelling approaches, and coverage of some of the less popular parables. I was also very happy with the interpretation of Jesus's message in each of the parables and they way the ideas bring out the lessons in addition to making them interesting and enjoyable.

If you're looking for solid, Bible-based, yet FUN Children's messages this is the book. As Pastor of a mutigenerational church I love its adaptability for so many ages, and I hope there's a "Volume II" in the works!

I find this book to be disturbing in the sense that it could have been anyone of us who were close to the Church. The photography is stunning and beautiful. My heart goes out to the men and women who suffered/suffers in the hands of these monsters. It has changed my view of the church. Hail to my cousin Carm who helped put the facts out there. My prayers are with all those people.

Picking up this beautifully bound photography book, one could not imagine the experience hiding inside. In his debut publication called SHELTER, Lucky Michaels rocks the photography world with a book chronicling the lives of the young queer people living at a New York City shelter. Michaels' images are shockingly intimate and from first page to last, they weave a story of what it is to be queer, young, and homeless. In one image, a shelter resident snorts the blue powder from a pixie stick. In another, a pair of transgender girls fix each other's hair as they get ready to leave for the day. Michaels has an eye like no other photographer and it's clear that he truly loves his subject matter.

The photographs are accompanied by text that tells a more narrative version of these young people's lives. We follow the lives of a handful of the people seen in the book and see what the world is like through their eyes. The stories are often tragic, gut-wrenching vignettes, but each of them holds an element of hope and promise that their worlds will get better. The real magic, however is found in the photographs themselves.

This book is a treasure that deserves a place on everyone's bookshelf. It's a reminder of the work still left to do and a celebration of young lives that excel in survival. And watch out for Lucky Michaels. This guy clearly has a healthy, successful career ahead of him.

The material in this book only contained three posed shots, realistic imagery of the lives of LGBT runaways and discarded youths. They need a shelter and a home - this book brings to light that need and lays it very honestly before you. It has a prominent place on my living room table for all to see and inquire.