urbanmoms.ca Book Club

We Generation

I often find reason to reflect on how incredibly different my daughters' childhood will be than mine was. And it's not just cell phones and google or our relationship with technology that makes childhood different today; it's our relationship with childhood itself. Author Michael Ungar, PhD made the case for revisiting how we look at teenagers in his 2007 book Too Safe for Their Own Good, and now he takes aim at the modern cult of "me" so prevalent in today's youth culture in We Generation (McLelland, 2009). Engaging and timely, this book is an invaluable resource for parents who want their children to become socially responsible and globally aware adults.

As youth culture seems to grow more self-centred and obsessed with "Me,"Michael Ungar shows us that, in fact, children today are as willing as ever to think "We." Given the right signals, and some important changes to the homes we live in, our schools and communities, kids will seek out close connections with the adults in their lives. Like generations before them, they want to be noticed for the contributions they can make. What they need, though, is compassion and encouragement from parents, and some careful attention to their most important connections, those made at home. Combining inspiring stories taken from his clinical work with families and children with expert research gathered from around the world, Ungar reveals how the close connections kids crave, and the support adults provide, can help kids realize their full potential - and how it can also protect them from the dangers of delinquency, whether it be drug abuse, violence, or early sexual activity.

I found We Generation to be a refreshingly optimistic book with a fresh point of view on childhood in the 21st century. I enjoyed Ungar's down-to-earth approach to creating closer connections with our children and look forward to witnessing the flowering of a social conscience in my two young daughters. I highly recommend this book for anyone who has children, works with children or cares about children today.

Review by Kath, urbanmoms.ca staffer and blogger at Losing It.

"A Book is a Present You Can Open Again and Again"

My Aunt Barb once gave me a gift of a book and a package of adhesive book plates inscribed with this phrase:

A book is a present you can open again and again.

I cherished both the book (the complete and uncut hardcover version of Stephen King's The Stand: an extraordinary read) and the book plates. The sentiment was so novel to me at first, and yet reflected a deep love of reading that I'd already possessed for a number of years.

And over the years, Aunt Barb has been an excellent recommender of books to me: Ken Follet's The Pillars of the Earth, Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass) and so many more that I couldn't possibly list all the great reads Aunt Barb has passed my way.

And ever since that birthday so many years ago, I have never opened a book without remembering Aunt Barb's adhesive advice. So when I received a package full of books from the lovely folks at Penguin, I couldn't help thinking, oh wonderful! Presents I can open again and again!

And I have opened them again and again, as a matter of fact.

The first book I picked out of the box was J. K. Rowling's The Tales of Beedle the Bard. As a huge Harry Potter fan, I knew I'd enjoy this cute little book. I was surprised, however, by how much I enjoyed it, as I'd been a bit worried that it might seem -- well, trivial -- after the intensity of books six and seven in the HP series (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows). Far from being trite or trivial, though The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a piece of magic in its own right.

True to Rowling's formula, there is something for both kids and parents to enjoy in this little gem. My eight year-old daughter (a huge HP fan) loved the tales themselves and Rowling's own beautiful illustrations. And while I really enjoyed the stories, what really won me over was the commentary at the end of each tale: discovered "among the many papers which Dumbledore left in his will to the Hogwarts Archives," the commentary adds a hilarious new perspective to these edifying tales. I also really appreciated Rowling's foreword, in which she points out that the heroines in these magical fairy tales are much more active than their counterparts in muggle fairy tales: they "take their fates into their own hands, rather than taking a prolonged nap or waiting for someone to return a lost shoe."

Now I must be honest here, and tell you that we've been so busy in the leadup to Christmas that we've only managed to get through two of the five books in the package. And one of the reasons we've been so busy is that the second book I pulled out of the box was Jan Brett's Gingerbread Friends.

A follow-up to the popular Gingerbread Baby, Gingerbread Friends brings us back to our friends Mattie and the cheeky gingerbread baby. Lonely in his gingerbread house, the gingerbread baby heads out to the village in search of friends to play with. As in the first book, Mattie is in the borders of Brett's incredible illustrations, this time baking some friends for his friend the gingerbread baby.

We decided to use Brett's recipe to bake some gingerbread cookies of our own, and I got together with my two daughters, nephew and neice for an afternoon of baking. We had hours of fun measuring out all the spices, sugar, molasses and butter, and even had a long-ish discussion about the order for a "hen's egg" (what other kind of egg could there be? A rooster's egg? And so on...)

Jan Brett has always been a family favourite for her incredibly beautiful illustrations and lovely takes on traditional tales from across the globe. We also love that each story has a second plot that you can follow along in the borders of the illustrations, and this story does not disappoint. Gingerbread Friends is a worthy successor to Gingerbread Baby, complete with a beautifully-wrought surprise on the last page.

If you haven't already rounded out the gift list for the young ones on your list - I strongly recommend either The Tales of Beedle the Bard or Gingerbread Friends.

Top 10 Holiday Gifts For Teens: Batteries Not Required

Contest Alert! urbanmoms.ca is excited to support The Top 10 Gifts for Teens by offering two individual prize packs to be won by two lucky members. The Teen Girl Pack and Teen Boy Pack will each be filled with the books listed in the associated category below. Post a comment identifying your favourite teen book (make sure to include your email address) to be automatically entered to win!

Don’t know what to buy your teenager this year? Forget the latest electronic gadget or expensive designer jeans and this year wrap up a book.

In an unprecedented move book publishers in Canada and the United States are working together to promote books this holiday season and have just released a debut holiday video featuring celebrities like of Martha Stewart, Jon Stewart, Barbara Walters, Dean Koontz, Alec Baldwin, Rachael Ray and many others: all sharing their reasons why books make great gifts.

Says film and TV star Alec Baldwin “Books makes great gifts because you don’t have to plug them in.”  Exactly.  So this year be their coolest Santa and show them a world of vampires or dragons.  Books are really affordable so your holiday dollars will go farther this year too.

There are some great sales going on in bookstores, or if you prefer to avoid the crowds online retailers like Amazon and Indigo also offer some great deals.  Offering both 30% discount and free shipping on books is www.giftsforreaders.ca.

Check out www.booksequalgifts.com for the video and more celebrities talking about giving books as gifts this year.

Best Book Gifts for Teen Girls:
If your teen loves Stephenie Meyers and the movie Twlight then she will love Kelley Armstrong too. Book One in The Darkest Powers series is called The Summoning and features a young girl who starts to see ghosts and discovers her friends have special powers too.

If they loved the movie Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants then why not buy the books that started it all. Ann Brashares is the author of the bestselling and popular series which includes the sequels The Second Summer of the Sisterhood, Girls in Pants and Forever in Blue.

A Bucket List for kids and a big sentimental favourite is the terrific YA novel Before I Die by Jenny Downham. When she discovers that she has just months to live, young Tessa writes a "Things To Do Before I Die" list, and in the process of dying, finds herself feeling very alive.  Warning though, this one is a tear-jerker, but its life-affirming message is loud and clear.

Best Book Gifts for Teen Boys:
The hottest books for boys since Harry Potter is the Eragon trilogy which features both Eldest and the brand new worldwide bestseller Brisingr, about a boy who discovers his destiny as a Dragon Rider who must fight to save The Empire. Another hit with teen boys is The Eyes of a King by Catherine Banner, a new series set in a parallel world called Malonia.

For adventure seekers The Devil’s Breath by David Gilman is an amazing read. Max Gordon is on a quest to save his missing father from the hands of Shaka Chang, a ruthless businessman masterminding an ecological disaster that will destroy countless lives. The clues Max’s father leaves will take him to Namibia, and will test his survival skills.

For hipster music lover teens there is the novel by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn, Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, which was recently made into a hit movie starring Michael Cera. The comedy is set during one fateful night in the lives of Nick and Norah, as they weave through a first date that will change their lives forever.