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Saturday, August 16, 2008

I'm plugging a book BESIDES my own!!!

Kelly Curtis, who writes the blog Pass the Torch honored me by sending me an advance copy of her new book, Empowering Youth: How to Encourage Young Leaders to Do Great Things. On the back cover, she poses the question: How do you bring out the power in young people?


Throughout this well-written and fascinating book, Curtis explains how important it is that kids be given opportunities to thrive, and she gives examples of situations where youths have led projects, founded charities, and contributed memorably to their communities. Interwoven with these stories is the underlying message to adults who come into contact with young people that we need to be "asset builders." Curtis lists 40 Developmental Assets -- factors that are instrumental in benefiting youths. These Developmental Assets include a caring neighborhood, adult role models, and positive peer influence.



Adults tend to categorize youths as either objects, recipients, or resources. As objects and recipients, youths have no hope of sharing in any kind of decision-making. However, once adults begin to view youths as resources -- to value their input and actually use it -- great strides can be made towards a successful future.



While further training is available to adults who want to learn more about empowering young people and encouraging involvement, Curtis reminds readers that starting down that path is easy. Just make eye contact and smile at kids!



Additional features inside Empowering Youth include detailed activities that involve kids and adults, and a series of reflection questions. There are also checklists that can be used to gauge current levels of empowerment.



Empowering Youth is a wonderful resource for anyone wanting to motivate, foster, and support young people of all ages. For anyone needing a reason, in the introduction, Curtis offers a quote from Mary Patterson of Project Cornerstone: "People never recall the bicycle, but who taught them to ride it. They don't recall the basketball game, but who taught them to play it. They don't recall the English class, but who taught the lesson."



Curtis then adds, "Be the who."

3 comments:

Margaret English said...

As a teacher and an aspiring writer, I am keen to know why you decided to write a book? Did the blog or the book come first?

Also, I see that your book was published by lulu, which I know is a self-publishing site. It is, in fact, one that I am considering using. Would you recommend it?

Have you sold many copies, and has it been financially viable? Lastly, how did you get it on to Amazon?

I would be very grateful for any help and advice that you could give me.

Mike in Texas said...

Who are you? And what have you done with Mr. Teacher?

Mister Teacher said...

Mike, don't worry, I haven't been abducted!

UST, I decided to write a book because my first year was SO insane, I had to put it down on paper so people would believe me! The book came first, and my uncle suggested I start a blog to promote the book. Since then, I've gotten addicted to blogging, but just ask Mike, I still try to plug the book when I can!
I did use Lulu, and I'm very happy with them. Sure, I would prefer to have an agent and a publisher with some publicity, but Lulu's quality is really good. If you haven't seen it yourself, buy the book and check out that quality! :)
I've sold over 500 copies (many of those were bought by Borders Book Stores, so I can't really say how many are still on their shelves). As for financially viable -- it didn't cost me much, so I've been in the black for a while... Also, Lulu offers a distribution package that gets you a bar code and space on Amazon, barnesandnoble.com, etc.
Good luck with your own book, and email me if you have any more questions!