The Young Man's Guide to Awesomeness

Young Man's Guide to Awesomeness

The Young Man's Guide to Awesomeness: How to Guard Your Heart, Get the Girl and Save the World is a book I've been looking for for years.  Barrett Johnson has written a guide for Christian teen boys outlining, in a direct and serious tone leavened with a healthy dose of humor, the challenges they face in their relationships and attempts to succeed in life and how to overcome those challenges.

The three major sections of the book cover How to Guard Your Heart, How to Get the Girl, and How to Save the World.  Within each section, chapters outline different areas of focus.  In each chapter, the topic is explored within several subsections.  A pithy Big Idea gives a piece of advice.  A body part is highlighted along with an explanation of how that body part affects this topic.  Typical responses or situations are described.  Advice is given for how to respond differently than the norm.  A related lesson from the life of the biblical king David provides an example.  The Take Action subsection gives a short list of concrete steps to take.  Talk About It has discussion questions, and there's a QR code that links to a video.

Johnson's advice and admonitions here are direct and earnest but not overly explicit.  Sex is discussed quite a bit, but in an appropriately tactful way.  The humor in the book will appeal to older pre-teen and teen boys but isn't crass. 

LATCH

Latch: A Handbook for Breastfeeding with Confidence At Every Stage is a straight-forward, encouraging resource for moms who would like to breastfeed. The book is organized by the stages of the process, starting with prenatal preparation and ending with weaning.

*Preparing to Breastfeed
* Establishing Breastfeeding
* Breastfeeding Through Changes
* Weaning from Breastfeeding

The tone is matter-of-fact and supportive, and the author does not make judgmental statements. Moms facing typical breastfeeding challenges will find practical advice along with suggestions for where to go for additional help if that is needed. Many testimonials from breastfeeding moms are included, giving a multitude of perspectives on the process and the types of challenges moms face. I have nursed five children, so I found much of this information familiar, but I still saw some new and helpful facts and ideas.

I would have liked to see more testimonials from moms who had a smooth experience or at least a bit more recognition that breastfeeding, once established, can be a relatively simple and uncomplicated process. Also, proper hydration wasn't emphasized as much as I would have liked, but that may be simply that my own personal experiences have made me overly cognizant of that factor.

This is a friendly, functional guide to breastfeeding. This is absolutely a book I would buy for an expectant friend who wanted to breastfeed or for someone who was experiencing challenges in the process. It's a book I would have liked to have had when I was first trying to breastfeed.

(I received a free copy of this book to review.)

Sacred Search

Whenever I find a copy of Gary Thomas' books Sacred Marriage or Sacred Parenting at a discount price, I buy it.  I love to give these books to other people when they are facing challenges in their marriage or their parenting.  I recently learned that he had written Sacred Search, about choosing a marriage partner, and I bought the paperback and the ebook.  I have teenagers now, and I'm always looking for excellent resources to help them transition to adulthood and the new challenges it brings.

Sacred Search tries to set the focus of the dating relationship on the purpose of the marriage relationship.  Thomas hopes that Christian marriages will become support systems for lives of ministry and training grounds for new generations of Christians who will form the same types of marriages.  From the beginning and throughout the book he reminds readers that Christian lives should be focused on the kingdom of God, and this means that Christian marriages should be focused on the kingdom of God. Therefore choosing a spouse needs to focus on that component of the relationship too.

Thomas covers much more than that, though.  He talks about the pitfalls of infatuation and how to avoid being deceived by feelings.  He discusses many other deceptions that lure people into marriages they later regret.  He suggests considering each person's expectations for the marriage relationship, giving examples of different types of expectations people have and the potential pitfalls of each one. His chapter on premarital sex wonderfully combined mercy with firm warnings backed by information.  He also explains how to develop the relationship constructively and look for common ground.

The intended audience for this book seems to be single adults, primarily.  Most of the book is suitable for older teens, and none of it is inappropriate for most older teens who are interested in pursuing serious dating relationships.  Some of the material isn't as relevant to teens, such as the advice for going out looking for a mate when options seem limited.

I am using this book with my older teen now, and I intend to have my other kids read it as they get to an appropriate age.  Sacred Search helps set the right tone for dating in an intentional way as a means for selecting a life partner who can really be a partner in walking with God.