Youth Books

Tennis is a widely celebrated sport the world over and has numerous physical and psychological benefits for its players. "Coaching Your Tennis Champion: The Progressive Plan for Success" is a guide for those who would coach children of any age to become the very best tennis player they can be. Covering day by day plans, drills, rules, strategies and so much more that every aspiring tennis star would love to learn. "Coaching Your Tennis Champion: The Progressive Plan for Success" is highly recommended for community library sports collections and for any who want to teach their tennis students right.

This book is a must have for any parent or coach teaching youth tennis. Outside of the basic drills taught in schools and camps around the country, this book uses imaginative and extremely effective techniques for ensuring your youth are not only physically ready for competitive (and leisure) tennis, but also develop the knowledge to be "smart" players on the court. A truly phenomenal product and hats off to Mr Minihan for his efforts!

I am a MS Soccer Coach and quite frankly never knew half the things I read about in Thompson's book. I found it very refreshing, and quite entertaing. The skills and drills were also very helpful. Where has this book been?

As a reluctant "volunteer" coach for my daughter's soccer team, my previous soccer experience consisted of watching the Carolina Courage play. I knew I needed help and turned to my local bookstore for a "Soccer for Dummies" type book. What I found, instead, was this wonderful book by Coach Thompson. It is concise, humorous, informative and jam-packed with ideas for making coaching fun. He doesn't leave anything out and the plays that are included are presented in such detail, even I could understand them! I highly recommend this book for any coach, parent or soccer lover.

This book contains tons of useful information about playing and coaching soccer, with absolutely no fluff. Ingels updates the book constantly, so be sure to buy it new. For each area (passing, shooting, dribbling, juggling, heading, trapping, goal-keeping, tackling), he first lists the skills that a player must develop, then follows with drills to teach them. It has a template to plan your practice, rules of the game, small-sided games, and more. The book diagrams the more complicated drills. I found the book useful for my own play as well as for coaching. I agree with the previous review that the book doesn't contain much in the way of tactics, but for teaching the fundamentals, this book is excellent.

This charming selection is hands down the best book this reviewer's ever seen for coaching beginning soccer. No fluff, no philosophy, just excellent practice drills, one after the other, bang, bang, bang. Superb tips by someone who's been there on selecting players, running practices, skills training drills with gobs of variations, through shooting and goalkeeping. This book contains enough material to supply you with many, many productive soccer practices. A welcome addition to any soccer coach's library. Perhaps the only notable omissions would be to include some of the niceties of organized soccer, like a little more in-depth explaination of rules of organized play, game strategies, beginning play, etc. These are available elsewhere, but Ingels' concise prose and illustrations would round out this work beautifully.

This is a great book for the begining soccer mom/dad or even coach! It has drills and coaching ideas for kids of all ages.

This is the best book I've found for coaching the U8-U10 age groups. McCarthy writes well, and explains the basics in simple, easy-to-understand language. For coaching my U9 team, I found his explanations of skills, positions, rules, and strategy especially helpful. This book should be supplemented with a good book of soccer drills. What it covers, it covers well.

McShane is the real deal when it comes to coaching soccer. I highly recommend his instructional and informative book. I do wish that he sought out the mighty Arsenal Football Club as a resource. I'm sure Thierry Henry could have added some poignant insights on the game. My only other complaint regarded the fact that there were no chapters on soccer video games. I feel that these games not only serve to develop hand-eye coordination and lot of good material for "smack-talk," but also instill confidence (albeit false) in one's outdoor performance. Nonetheless, this is a fine read for the lads. Go STA! Go Arsenal! and GO SOX!

Mr. McShane has produced a work that will, I think, have a profound effect on how the elite youth players in the United States are trained. He has done intensive research on how the most successful player development systems operate and has written a book designed to clearly define the essential elements of their training. If you have involvment with the development of potentionaly elite players, you should read this book.

Funny, charming graphic novel about two homeless cats engaging in some spur of the moment crime borne of desperation. The story has a sweet ending and the artwork is cute without being cutesy and a nice compliment to a story with slightly dark undertones. I had a lot of fun reading this little gem!

I reviewed Max Estes' first book Hello Again just over a year ago on Amazon and it was a big hit with me. That was a more serious, somber-toned story about confronting one's guilt. Coffee and Donuts is decidedly different in tone, much lighter and a bit of a farce about a couple of down-on-their-luck street cats named Jules and Dwight. Dwight does all the talking in the story. The two cats live their days in a alley dumpster scrounging for food but a mysterious benefactor constantly leaves them coffee and donuts. Determined to change their fortunes, the pair notice an armored car that stops everyday at the same time at a nearby warehouse. They hatch a plot to rob the car but quickly find out they have no clue as to what they are doing. They botch the robbery and find themselves on the run from the cops.

They are caught by a couple of "wise guy" street cats, Myles and Moose who are not happy with them as they had their own plans to rob the armored car. Now the local toughs demand that Dwight & Jules repay them for blowing their job by working from them as loan shark collectors or else they will turn them over to the police. Now Dwight & Jules...two cats who really are a couple of good guys, have to find away to escape the hoods and also avoid the police. And...maybe find out just who is leaving them coffee and donuts.

I had a lot of fun with this book. Max's cartooning style is pretty basic but he paces the story quite well and the dialog is fresh and funny. There's lots of slapstick action as the pair try and avoid Myles and Moose while dodging winos and scaling buildings. I think Max has quite a flair for humor and I'd like to see him continue along this path.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

I just purchased my copy of Collective Vision from the Association of Children's Museums. It arrived today and I've read/devoured half of it. It consists of a series of essays which go into great detail on every aspect of start-up that I had thought of -- and many more! I had already prepared my business plan but have now been able to fine tune my focus with the advice from the book. As a first-timer in the nonprofit AND children's museum arena, the book has prepared me for the unique challenges that I am bound to face and methods of overcoming them. It's pricey at $95 since I don't have a membership with the ACM (only $65 for members) but well worth it.

This is a well written comprehensive guide. We are new museum owners and use Collective Vision on a regular basis. It really covers everything!

I recommend it highly to anyone who works with childrens' museums, education, and recreation.

As a children's ministry director, I have found this book to be very useful especially with my younger preschoolers. Each of the 52 lessons offers an easy to collect supply list, a step by step outline for sharing and involving the children in the Bible Story as well as simple yet relevant follow up questions. The coloring pages are good quality - not cartoonish like some children's coloring pages - with the Bible verse printed clearly at the bottom. A complete and inexpensive way to give your preschool children quality Bible teaching in Sunday School or at a mid-week program at your church.

Some kids love to color...others don't. But by mixing in fun, sensory additions like cotton balls, glitter and finger paint or activities like "Hide and Seek," you can engage both the coloring sheet lovers and the others. There's a Bible verse on each reproducible Bible activity sheet plus another page that gives instructions and "talk about" questions for the teacher. I sometimes add one of these activity pages to a lesson that seems a bit short or needs a little extra "oomph." A big plus: you don't need to be artistic to use this book. Your kids will provide the creativity and no two activity sheets will look the same when the kids are done, but they will have explored the same important Bible point. This is a great resource for all children's teachers in Early Childhood and Early Elementary.

Week in and week out, leaders are looking for something to spark the imagination and the energy of their youth group! Now they can choose from a menu loaded with great ideas to make a youth group meeting come alive. Combos provides the "main dish" (the key message) and the all the "fixin's"-games, video and popular song selections, skits, food ideas, out and about tips, special events, service projects, worship music, small group time, decorations, publicity helps, and more-all related to the theme! Leaders can use the ingredients to create a soul-satisfying "combo" just right for their youth group! Check out these themes:
* The Game of Life
* Takin' Out the Trash
* For Heaven's Sake
* Walk Tall
* Awesome Powers
* Finding You
Each theme can be used for a month of weekly youth group programs-so complete, just add a leader! The CD-Rom is included to allow youth workers flexibility when modifying the themes to meet their group's specific needs.

This is an incredible resource for a great price. Instead of going through a variety of books and piecing things together, this pretty much has the total package and it's all in one place! The powerpoints are cool and the book is packed with many usable ideas. It even has artwork, worship suggestions and other cool peripheral ideas. I love how it's so thorough and complete. Both the volunteer youth leaders and the students have enjoyed the material. For everything you get and the price, it is well worth it!

"Come to the party with Jesus" is an action rhyme story of the first recorded miracle of Jesus at the wedding feast at Cana. I have come to love Chris Saunderson's colorful illustrations. They depict the characters and settings of Bible times. In this story the faces reflect an air of festivity and celebration. The text by Leena Lane and the actions that accompany each illustration create an interest for the reader and make learning a fun experience for the child. Everyone will long remember the party atmosphere, the music, the miracle and celebrating in the presence of Jesus.

The Action Rhyme Book Series is ideal for use in day care centers, kindergarten classrooms, and in church school programs. It also provides an opportunity for those surprise and unexpected teachable moments that help bond child and parent.
Reviewed by Richard R. Blake, a Christian Education Consultant

Who doesn't love the story of Jesus helping out, even if reluctantly, by providing another round of wine at a wedding party? If you are a mom, or know one, you will appreciate the underlying message of this New Testament story of "listen to your mother ..."! Kids will love the actions suggested for the party scenes - "toot toot - yum yum - pour pour". This title from the Action Rhyme Book series can fit into any religious education curriculum.