Wising Up: A Youth Guide to Good Living

Reynold Feldman and M. Jan Rumi
Cowley Publications (2007)
ISBN 9781561013135
Reviewed by Anthony Pettrone (age 14) for Reader Views (7/07)


“Wising Up” is one of those books that your mom or dad buy for you, trying to help you to find out what is right and what is wrong during your teen years. And it is one of those books that you put off reading time and time again because you think it’s going to be too boring and too preachy, until you finally find yourself forced to crack it open and check it out.  And when you do, you will most likely find, as I did, that this book really has some common-sense advice and answers for today's hard questions. I was pretty surprised at all the information within this book and how simply the author made some of the hard questions and issues become clearer just in a short chapter.

Some of the chapters that I honestly found to be really interesting as well as ones that really made me think were “Go for It,” where the author basically tells you that everyone makes mistakes…we all do and we can't help it. But we CAN learn from these mistakes and avoid making them again. Sound simple? It is. And then there is “Stay the course,” one that I think any teen can relate to. It is simply about sticking to whatever you start and making the choice to finish it instead of leaving it half done or pushing it aside because you're afraid to fail. It goes back to “Go for It” where you can learn from your mistakes and finish what you start. And the whole book is this way. I could comment on nearly all the chapters because they are so simple and so basic, but they also are subjects that every teen has to deal with at one time or another.

The funny thing I found from this book was, when you see these chapters in black and white, they don't seem so tough anymore. There is something about someone putting them down in simple-to-understand language that makes all the difference and takes a lot of the fear of life away. It won't solve all your problems. No book can. But “Wising Up” can help you to put them into perspective and figure them out in a no nonsense way. And to this writer, that's what makes a book I'll read over and over again!

Make comment on weblog