The Power of Your Child’s Imagination by Charlotte Reznick PhD

The Power of Your Child’s Imagination by Charlotte Reznick PhD

(How to Transform Stress and Anxiety into Joy and Success)

We all know children that have things that we consider behavioral issues, some have bedwetting issues, trouble sleeping, headaches and stomachaches, anxiety and fear, trouble dealing with divorce of their parents and/or loss, anger frustration, problems in school, a hard time concentrating, arguments with siblings and schoolmates and much more. Frequently parents turn to medication or discipline – but how often do these things actually work?

I am a big fan of any alternative treatment options – so when Dr Reznick contacted me about doing a virtual tour with us to promote her book, I was very excited. As soon as I saw her press kit – I emailed several friends with children to tell them about this book.

To get an idea of the topics that are covered in The Power of Your Child’s Imagination – check out the table of contents.

Part One – The Tools

Chapter 1 – The Way Out Is Through the Inside

Chapter 2 – How to Get from here to There

Chapter 3 – The Benefits of Artistic Expression

Chapter 4 – Grown-Ups Need Tools, Too

Part Two – Putting the Tools to Work

Chapter 5 – Everyone Deserves to be Happy

Chapter 6 – When Life is Making Your Child Sick

Chapter 7 – The Bogeyman and Other Scary Stuff

Chapter 8 – Bedtime

Chapter 9 – Why Does Everyone Keep Leaving

Chapter 10 – When Good Kids Do Bad Things

Chapter 11 – Go For the Gold – Celebrate the Bronze

Chapter 12 – Can’t We All Just Get Along?

In the first part of the book, Charlotte Reznick shares her tools on how to help your child not only survive in a stressful  and difficult world – but it can help them to thrive – without drugs. Learn what tools she recommends – help your child learn to be creative and to use their imagination to the full. I love the technology that we have, but too many children and adults don’t show a lot of creativity. As a child and adult, I loved being creative and have always used my imagination – maybe too much.

Some of the conditions and ailments that these tools can help you with, include: stress induced headaches and stomachaches, bed wetting, inability to sleep, problems as school, problems with siblings, trouble concentrating, frustration ,anger issues, dealing with death or divorce, panic attacks, social anxiety, and much more.

Dr Reznick shares each tool – explains the details of each tool, explains how to prepare your child, provides notes to help you through the process with additional notes and she provides variations of each tool that you can use. She explains how children use each tool and gives troubleshooting tips. The book provides all of these details for each tool.

How many of these things does your children face on a regular basis? What would you give to find a drug free way to help them? The answer is here. After you read Part One and learn about the tools that Dr Reznick uses, move to Part Two and learn how she uses these tools to help the situations listed above.

I love the title of Chapter 5 – Everyone Deserves to be Happy. That is so true and we especially want our children to be happy and to help them move forward in life on the right foot.

In each chapter in Part Two – you see the instructions on how to put the tools to work, but that is just the beginning.  I love to see unique features in non-fiction and Dr Reznick provides these. She provides: quick tips to help you and your child, backtrack alerts and detailed “how to” instructions. While I appreciate all these elements, the backtrack alerts are wonderful – Dr Reznick gives you things to look for to see if you child is losing ground. This is wonderful and I think very beneficial because we all know how hard it can be to see changes in a person when we are around them all the time, but these are additional red flags to watch for and to understand there is a problem.

I think any parent, advisor, counselor, aunt, uncle etc who loves and helps children needs a copy of this book – and they need to read and use it. In closing, I have to share this quote from an 11 year old boy – to me, this proves this young man understands. He said, “The only way to love yourself is to believe and believe in yourself”.

Second Sight (2nd Ed) by Judith Orloff, MD

In 1996 Dr Judith Orloff released her book – Second Sight – and it went on to become a best selling book. What has happened in Dr Orloff’s practice and the field of psychiatry and intuitive medicine in the last 13 years? The second edition brings you up to date on the changes is intuitive medicine.

In the late 1990′s Dr Judith Orloff released her story in the book- Second Sight – and she shared her struggles to understand her intuition and the events in her life that motivated her to weave her intuition into her psychiatric practice.

In addition – the second edition gives the reader information to delve deeper into their own lessons about intuition in their own lives. The reader learns how to understand intuition, how it works, how to tap into their own intuition and much more.

The second edition also has a new introduction written by Dr Orloff.  This book helps empower people to listen to intuition and apply it to decision making, health and emotional issues, and empower their lives.

The chapters in the second edition of Second Sight by Judith Orloff, MD include:

Part 1 – Initiations

Chapter 1 – The Beginnings of Wisdom

Chapter 2 – Validating the Voice

Chapter 3 – Loss of Innocence

Chapter 4 – Healing the Split

Chapter 5 – Mixing Medicine

Chapter 6 – Female Lineage

Part 2 – Teachings

Chapter 7 – Preparing to See

Chapter 8 – The Alchemy of Dreams

Chapter 9 – Intuitive Experiences in Everyday Life

Chapter 10 – The Well Balanced Intuition

Chapter 11 – The Spiritual Path of Intuition

Chapter 12 – Honoring the Gift

If you are interested in learning more about intuition in yourself or others you should read this book. If you are interested in how a psychiatrist can use the science she learned and combine it with her intuitive wisdom – this book is for you. If you read the original edition of Second Sight and you would like to delve deeper into Dr Orloff’s life experiences and to understand more about intuition – this is the book you need to read.

SPECIAL NOTE –

GET your copy of Second Sight ON MARCH 1^st and receive 80+ GIfts from amazing teachers such as Dr. Joan Borysenko, Rev. Michael Beckwith, and Deepak Chopra, and Shirley MacLaine at http://www.drjudithorloff.com/second-sight-promotion/

About Second Sight by Judith Orloff, MD (2^nd Edition)

In this moving personal story Dr. Orloff recounts her “journey to become whole” by first accepting and then embracing her intuitive abilities. She tells of her childhood fear of her intuition, of her physician-parents’ efforts to ignore and even deny them, and of her slow awakening to the understanding that her intuition is truly a gift. She tells of her struggle to incorporate her abilities into her practice and of the many successes she’s experienced with patients ever since. Second Sight is a soulful and friendly bestseller.

Text from the back cover
As a child, her vivid dreams and intuitions were whispered about behind closed doors. As a medical student, she denied the “shameful secret” by immersing herself in the absolutes of science. Then as a psychiatrist, Dr. Judith Orloff recieved proof of the value of her gift when an intuition foretold a patient’s suicide attempt. In this remarkable self-portrait, she takes you on the journey of a lifetime, one that brought her from ignorance to understanding, from loneliness to peace, from despair to hope…

Judith Orloff MD is author of the new book SECOND SIGHT: AN INTUITIVE PSYCHIATRIST TELLS HER STORY AND SHOWS YOU HOW TO TAP YOUR OWN INNER WISDOM (Three Rivers Press, 2010 updated edition). Her other bestsellers are Emotional Freedom, Positive Energy, Intuitive Healing. Dr. Orloff synthesizes the pearls of traditional medicine with cutting edge knowledge of intuition, energy, and spirituality. She passionately believes that the future of medicine involves integrating all this wisdom to achieve emotional freedom and total wellness. For more inspiration and free articles visit www.drjudithorloff.com

Women’s Millionaire Club by Maureen G Mulvaney, MGM

Many people own home based businesses and in these tough economic times – many more people will launch home based businesses. Some people do very well with their own business – while others never make a decent living. What is the difference? Are there things they could learn that would make them more successful? This book contains a wealth of information that was compiled by interviewing some very successful women who run home based businesses and who are network marketing professionals. What do they have to offer you?

Maureen G Mulvaney is the founder of the Women’s Millionaire Club. She has all sorts of tools to help you succeed in network marketing – and this book is one of those tools. Maureen goes by the nickname MGM and she is an international speaker and a best selling author.

In the first part of this book, MGM shares “The Recipe for Success” and the “History of Network Marketing”.  She then explains the “home based business” concept and how it works today. Next she shares the demographics and her survey results for the women in the Women’s Millionaire Club. This gives you a great picture of the type of women who are making millionaires from their home based network marketing businesses.

MGM also delves deeply into the personality traits of these women. This is a step to get inside the head of these women. Then she turns the spotlight back on the reader by saying to “Know What You Want” and “Believe You Can Have It”. These are critical steps – no matter what these women can accomplish – you have to believe you can do it and be resolved in what you want. Obviously the next step is to “Take Action”.

Once she has given you the details about what she learned about these successful women and what MGM can share about network marketing – its time to read the profiles that were developed after detailed interviews with each of these women.

Each profile includes a combination of this information about each of these women:

• Her Background

• Her Decision to Succeed

• The Benefits to Being a Woman

• Her Ingredients for Success

• Why She Did It

• Her Legacy

• Her Strengths

If you want a successful home based network marketing business – this is a must read. It takes you inside the minds, hearts and motivations of these 20 women and gives you a great set of tools to succeed.

How to Get Financing For Your New Small Business by Sharon Fullen

In good financial times it can be hard to secure financing for a new small business. So, getting financing in these tough and uncertain economic times are even harder. That’s a reason why you need to know about this book.

We all know that a business can be run in the ground by bad management, poor planning, a downturn in the economy and many other reasons. But improper financial planning is the #2 reason that businesses fail – that is why this book is a valuable resource. Far too many people plan to open or expand a business and incorrectly calculate how much money they will need. Having sufficient money available is critical in being successful.

Compiling a thorough and accurate financial statement is one key. Another key is having a thorough and complete business plan. Both of these items enable you to launch or expand the business with a solid plan and sufficient financing and it allows the lending institution to make the best loan to you and also to give you the best feedback for your  situation.

This book delves into some of the more creative financing options – and in these times, it doesn’t hurt to get creative when you look for financing.

Some of the topics covered in this book include:

Chapter 1 – Learning Your Money Formula

Chapter 2 – The Money is Out There

Chapter 3 – Your Business Plan

Chapter 4 – Investing in Your Own Dream

Chapter 5 – Neither a Borrower Nor a Lender Be

Chapter 6 – Your Loan Proposal

Chapter 7 – Valuation of Your Business

Chapter 8 – Debt Financing Versus Equity Financing

Chapter 9 – Uncle Sam Helps Out

Chapter 10 – Grants

Chapter 11 – Venture Capital

Chapter 12 – Investor Angels

Chapter 13 – Initial Public Openings

Chapter 14 – Direct Public Offerings

Chapter 15 – Strategic Alliances

Chapter 16 – Legal Considerations

Chapter 17 – The Pitch

Chapter 18 – Glossary

Chapter 19 – Resources

There are many unusual and creative financing options that are discussed in this book in detail. So – if you are looking for a very thorough book that walks you through the traditional and the more creative financing process for your business – this is the book for you. The resources section is also packed with all kinds of resources to get much more information to help you in search to get financing for your business. Like Chapter 2 says — the money is out there, you just need the details on how to get it.

Note – This book was written several years ago and there are new programs — however, this book will give you a great foundation to search for business financing and to better understand the process and to understand the terminology during the process.

Heart of Marketing by Judith Sherven and Jim Sniechowski

Customer service and really good customer service seems to be a thing of the past in many businesses. When I was growing up – my grandfather reinforced the importance of stellar customer service to me and that lesson has served me very well of the last two decades.  This book explains how to put “heart” back into our businesses and our marketing.

The full title of this book is Heart of Marketing: Love Your Customers and They Will Love You Back.

This book is made up of the answers to 45 questions about the “soft sell marketing” concept. There were MANY questions submitted, but Judith and Jim narrowed it down to 45 questions and share the answers with all of us in Heart of Marketing.

Some of the topics include:

• What is Marketing?

• What is the primary benefit of soft sell marketing?

• How does soft sell marketing differ from hard sell?

• People say to succeed you have to get your ego out of the way. What does that mean?

• When creating soft sell marketing messages, which words reassure and establish a relationship quickly?

• Do you use “urgency” or “scarcity” in soft sell marketing?

• How do I sell without making a nuisance of myself?

• How can you close a sale without pushing too far?

• How do I train my brain to realize its ok to ask for the sale because what I am offering is of value of them and not just money for me?

• What are the pitfalls of soft sell marketing?

• How do I measure the success of soft sell marketing?

These are just a few of the questions that are included in Heart of Marketing.

Are you the type of business person or sales person who has a hard time with the traditional hard sell approach? You NEED to read this book. I learned long ago that you can make the sale and succeed with using hard sell techniques. This book takes that premise and walks you through the soft sell process. Even if you like the “hard sell” – you can learn valuable tips from this book and you may find ideas that you can incorporate into your current selling techniques. It could help you take your current success to a much higher level.

Are you an entrepreneur and business owner who wants their sales people to use the soft sell sales approach? You need to recommend this book to your sales team or better yet – buy copies for them and help them learn how to love your customers – your business will reap the benefits.  I worked with Judith and Jim on the campaign that helped them reach Amazon Best Seller status – now you can find out what all the excitement was about – and learn the soft sale tips that made this book a best seller.

Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome by James L Wilson

Every business person faces stress and fatigue. Every business owner and entrepreneur faces stress and especially in these tough economic times. So – maintaining our health can be a key to being able to continue giving our best to our business, ourselves, our families and our customers.

A few months ago I heard about a medical condition that was new to me. It is adrenal fatigue. This book explains what it is and how we can recover — our energy, our immune resistance, vitality and our enjoyment of life. That sounds like something we all need to know. Seemed like valuable information to have to maintain our health.

This is some of the content of this book – and it is packed with great information —

• Part One – Your Adrenal Glands and You

• Part Two – Do I Have Adrenal Fatigue

• Part Three – Helping Yourself Back to Health

• Part Four – Functions of the Adrenal Glands

• Appendices – Glycemic Index and Food Lists

Part One explains how the glands work, what factors in our lives can affect their function (its a huge list), what sort of people have adrenal fatigue and explains how the condition progresses and the symptoms.

Part Two has a questionnaire to see if you have adrenal fatigue and if it is a mild, modest or severe condition. It includes full details about how to read the results. Then something unusual that I really liked is a section to explain how the condition develops in our bodies and our health. There are also details about home tests and lab tests to determine the existence and severity of the condition.

Part Three is full of information about how to treat the problem. From lifestyle changes, the connection between the food we eat and adrenal fatigue – including details about food allergies and sensitive and using supplements. Hormone replacement is also discussed as it relates to adrenal fatigue.

Part Four is full of specific information about the adrenal glands, their function, and much more.

This book is great for anyone that is experiencing any of these conditions –

Tired for no reason

Trouble getting up in the morning

Need caffeine to keep going

Run down and stressed

Craving salt or sugar

Struggling to keep up

Hard time bouncing back from illness or stress

Not having fun

Decreased sex drive

How many entrepreneurs do you know that are dealing with any of these problems? This is the kind of condition that you can manage – I opted to be tested and then got on a daily regiment of supplements to get my body functioning better. So far -so good and it is very easy to do.  There is also a wonderful Adrenal Fatigue website to get great preliminary information and to see if there is a practitioner near you — if you find that you do have adrenal fatigue – I highly recommend getting the book to learn the ins and outs of this condition and how to get your body, your health, your life and your business back to normal.

Guerilla Marketing Weapons: 100 Affordable Marketing Methods For Maximizing Profits From Your Small Business by Jay Conrad Levinson

I’ve been a fan of the guerilla style of marketing for many years. It is the type of marketing approach I used for years and I was pleasantly surprised when I found the Guerilla Marketing website. That gave me the chance to find other marketing techniques that I could use in my promotional work. In these tough economic times – it is more important than ever to find inexpensive and effective ways to market our businesses.

First – you may be wondering: What is Guerilla Marketing? (Visit the official website for Guerilla Marketing)

The concept of guerrilla marketing was invented as an unconventional system of promotions that relies on time, energy and imagination rather than a big marketing budget. Typically, guerrilla marketing campaigns are unexpected and unconventional; potentially interactive; and consumers are targeted in unexpected places. The objective of guerrilla marketing is to create a unique, engaging and thought-provoking concept to generate buzz, and consequently turn viral. The term was coined and defined by Jay Conrad Levinson in his book Guerrilla Marketing. The term has since entered the popular vocabulary and marketing textbooks.

Guerrilla marketing involves unusual approaches such as intercept encounters in public places, street giveaways of products, PR stunts, any unconventional marketing intended to get maximum results from minimal resources. More innovative approaches to Guerrilla marketing now utilize cutting edge mobile digital technologies to really engage the consumer and create a memorable brand experience. – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla_marketing

As a business manager, business owner and promoter – I’m always on the lookout for inexpensive ways to promote – for my clients and myself. Let’s take a look at the table of contents:

Chapter 1 – The More Weapons You Use, The More Profit You Make

Chapter 2 – Weapons for the Outset – (The Building Blocks to Get You Started)

Chapter 3 – Weapons Not Recognized as Marketing – (Misc Items that Will Represent Your Business to the Public)

Chapter 4 – Weapons That Begin With Attitude – (Elements of Business When You Interact With Customers)

Chapter 5 – Weapons Overlooked By Non Guerillas – (Creative Ways to Get Promotional Exposure for Business)

Chapter 6 – Weapons That Make You Easy to Buy From – (Ways to Make It Easy For People to Buy From You)

Chapter7 – Weapons That Are Frequently Misused – (Tried and True Ways to Promote – That Many People Use Wrong)

Chapter 8 – Weapons That Produce Instant Results – (Many Ways to Interact With Your Potential Customers)

Chapter 9 – Weapons That Have Extra Fire Power – (Weapons That Cost More About Can Generate More Results)

Chapter 10 – A Strategy For Using the Weapons – (Details On The Most Effective Way to Use These Tools)

Those 10 chapters contain an arsenal of promotional weapons for your business. The book lists 100 weapons that you can use – and on page 12 – there is a list of 50 FREE promotional tools. Any and every business person should review that list before completing their business plan – these weapons are THAT important.  Each and every weapon is explained throughout the pages of this book.

If you want to use unique, creative and inexpensive marketing for your business – this is a book that needs to be in your office. I’ve had my copy for some time and it is dog eared – like all great books. It is a very easy read, easy to understand and even though it has been on the market for years — the information is invaluable. It will also give you some great insights into the sorts of things that are Guerilla Marketing tools. I would bet you have used many of these weapons in your business – and you may not have considered many of these to be promotional weapons. Realizing that they are part of your promotion could help you to use them more effectively.

Passion, Plan and Profit by Christy Strauch

Having your own business is said to be a part of the “American Dream”. Even in these tough economic times, many people are still working toward having their own business. Actually, I’ve read that a financial recession can be the perfect time to lose a fortune — but also the perfect time to make a fortune. So, is this the time for you to get serious about starting your own business?

I wanted my own business for years and started it about 10 years ago. But for years before and after that, I ran businesses for other people and learned something new on each and every job I had. Finally about 4 years ago I had the opportunity to focus on my business fulltime and I haven’t looked back. This background and experience has been invaluable to me and I know there are many people out there who would like to have their own business.

The thing about my business is that I love what I do — the creative outlet, the ability to help others grow their business and seeing the results we get – all make this something I love to do. Having a business of my own that I love is not something I take for granted and there are many other people who would like to have the same opportunity. That is what Passion, Plan and Profit by Christy Strauch is about.

In the beginning of this book you will find sections that include: Read This Before You Begin, Caution, How to Use This Book, etc. I like to include these sort of sections to lay the groundwork in my non fiction books – be sure you read all of these sections. Then we move on to the heart of the book.

Section One – Why Are You In Business (Purpose, Vision, Mission and Value)

Section Two – How Are You In Business (Target Market, Strategies, Unique Selling Proposition, Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats)

Section Three – (Income, Expenses, Key Measurements)

Section Four – (Clarity)

Strauch covers so many great topics that all business owners or people who want to be business owners need to understand. But she doesn’t stop there. In the back of the book you will find a business plan template, a checklist to track your progress, resources, the Footwork Calculator and Business Plan Review Processes – including monthly and quarterly reviews.

There are so many topics that business owners need to manage. All the sections of this book are valuable, but I was really impressed with the “Numbers” section. Not only does she explain the incomes and expenses, but she also included directions to help you estimate these numbers properly. Getting these estimates is critical to the success of any business and need to be calculated to complete a thorough business plan and to secure sufficient financing.

Another thing that I really like is that Strauch included a number of worksheets in the book. I love non fiction books that provide ways for the reader to interact and utilize the information. This book is highly recommended for people who want to start a business and especially people who want to start a business that incorporates something they love.

How Obama Governed by Earl Ofari Hutchinson

In these days when many people are sick and tired of most people in the media just recycling the words fed to them by the White House – it is very refreshing to find a political analyst who thinks for their self and who substantiates their comments. This is one of the things I really like about reading any of Earl Ofari Hutchin’s books and I’ve read many of them.

I never started following politics until I met Dr Hutchinson about 2 1/2 years ago. At that time I read his book on The Latino Challenge to Black America and I was floored by how much I learned about race relations in the US. As a white woman from Virginia, most of the topics that were discussed were new to me – but he helped me to have a deeper and more compassionate viewpoint about two of the major ethnic groups in the US. That started me thinking and I’ve read all of Dr Hutchinson’s books since then and a couple of earlier books

So – the timing was perfect to follow the seemingly never ending primary season that led up to the 2008 presidential election. As he released new books, I continued to learn current details – but to also understand the history of politics in our country. To say that I’ve learned more about government by reading Dr Hutchinson’s books than I ever learned in Government or Civics class in high school – would be a huge understatement.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson’s last book was How Obama Won and it evaluated all the topics and issues that led to Barack Obama’s presidential victory. Again, he included plenty of historic details to substantiate his conclusions. You find the same unbiased and well documented details in How Obama Governed. Recently, I spoke with various bloggers to ask them to post some information about this book and many (predictably) said they would only participate if he agreed with their stand. Almost every one commented on how they were surprised that political party and stand were not an issue for them. People of many different political affiliations participated. In this year of partisan upheaval – I was very impressed with that conclusion.

This is the table of contents for How Obama Governed by Earl Ofari Hutchinson

How Obama Governed: The Year of Crisis and Challenge

Introduction: How Obama Promised to Govern

1. The First 1000 Days, Not 100 Days

2. Waging Bush’s Terror War

3. It’s Still the Economy, Stupid

4. The Red President

5. The GOP Counterinsurgency

6. The Limbaugh Strawman

7. Obamacare-The Right or Wrong Prescription

8. The Civil Rights Backburner

9. Afghanistan is Obama’s Vietnam

10. The Gates Train wreck

11. Progessive’s Obama Quandry

Conclusion: How Obama Will Continue to Govern

Throughout the time I paid attention to people who talk about politics – they seem to know as much as the weatherman and are often as wrong as the weatherman in their conclusions. However, I’ve found that almost without exception, the conclusions that Dr Hutchinson shares – are right. Could this be because of his extensive knowledge and background in politics? I think it is – he is willing to pose the tough questions and to give an honest evaluation.

How Obama Governed deals with all the hot button topics that the Obama Administration have faced and they are still facing many of these issues. Take another look at the table of contents – that is all the topics in the news each week. For a balanced commentary on these topics, how the affect Obama, and how they will affect each of us – you need to read this book. Its a quick read – but packed with all the topics that are on the mind of the people of the US and other countries who are concerned about what has already happened in the first year of the Obama presidency and what will happen in the next three years. For anyone who wants to cut through the usual pundits’ BS – needs to read this book.

About Earl Ofari Hutchinson

Dr Earl Ofari Hutchinson featured interviews and comments on race and politics have appeared in: Time Newsweek New York Times ABC’s World News Tonight. He has been a guest analyst on: Fox News John Gibson Show, O’Reilly Show, Hannity & Colmes, Glenn Beck Show, PBS Lehrer Report, NPR’s Talk of the Nation and CNN News Shows. He is the National Political Writer for New America Media and a regular contributor to: the Huffington Post

His three most recent books are:
* How Obama Governed: The Year of Crisis and Challenge
* How Obama Won
* The Ethnic Presidency: How Race decides the Race to the White House

To book Earl Ofari Hutchinson for an interview and/or commentary on the promise and pitfalls of Obama’s first year in office. Call 1-323-383-6145 to schedule. Earl Ofari Hutchinson is a nationally acclaimed author and political analyst. Hutchinson is the author of ten books on race and politics in America.

Title – How Obama Governed
Author – Earl Ofari Hutchinson
Author’s website link – http://www.howobamagoverned.com
Publisher – Middle Passage Press
Genre or category – US Politics
ISBN-10: 1439259925
ISBN-13: 978-1439259924
Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/How-Obama-Governed-Crisis-Challenge/dp/1439259925

Laid by Shannon T Boodram

No matter how open minded any of us may be about sex – I am concerned about teens and the things they are bombarded with every day. I may sound old – but I remember when kids, could be kids. They weren’t flooded with sexual messages everywhere they looked.

Sure there was sex in the music, the movies etc – but not like it is now. And, we had to get creative to send sexy and suggestive messages. As an example, when I was a teenager,  our parents insisted that my boyfriend and I were “forbidden” to see each other and to even talk most of the time. So, we worked out a system where a friend of his brought me messages. It worked beautifully.

These days teens have email, chatrooms, instant messaging, cell phones, text messages, social networks and so many other options. But we have all heard of the things that can happen with these technological advances. It seems to me that few teens have the chance to be teens -  they are pushed into adult situations by the media, their peers and many other things.

So – how do young people handle this “hyper” sexual culture? I think parents, other teens and anyone else who cares about teens need to read this book. It contains personal experiences from a wide variety of teens in their own words.  This book contains the good, the bad and the ugly about this “easy access culture”.

Shannon T Boodram – accepted pieces written by a variety of young people about their experiences with sex in their teens. Some are narratives and some are poems  – but they all tell very personal stories to share their experiences.

Chapter 1 – Hookups That Fell Down (about hookups)

Chapter 2 – And Then I Saw Stars (about positive sexual experiences)

Chapter 3 – Haven’t Been Quite Right Since That Night…. (about physical consequences)

Chapter 4 – When No! Loses All Meaning (about date rape)

Chapter 5 – Save Your Cherry… or Banana (about abstinence)

Each of these chapters is broken up into several different sections. There is an introduction, a list of possible questions and answers about the chapter content, and a list of questions to ask yourself about the information in the chapters.

This book needed to be written. In case anyone has any doubts – times have changed for everyone, but times have changed much more for teens and we need to understand what they are facing and what they are doing to help teens that we care about.

I highly recommend this book – the insights are very revealing and often disturbing. I’ll also warn you that reading this book will bring back memories for each of us – that first kiss, that first sexual experience, yearning for someone when we weren’t sure if we were ready for sex, having sex and then realizing it wasn’t right for us, learning from our mistakes and our triumphs and much more.