Group’s Emergency Response Handbook for Youth Ministry edited by Janna Kinner

Group, 2007, 152 pp., $14.99

www.group.com

Group’s Emergency Response Handbook is a resource designed to be a quick reference point for counseling teens in crisis. The book covers 12 subjects, including grief, addictions, conflict and abuse. Each subject starts with a real-life narrative as an example, followed by care and counseling tips, criteria for referring, suggested scriptures, advice for the group, examples of what not to say and recommendations for further reading and online resources. While there are more thorough counseling resources out there for youth ministers, this is a great, unintimidating book for volunteer leaders. I wish the price was under $10; but in my opinion, it’s still on the short list of books that every youth worker should have. —Matthew McNutt

Getting Inside the Head of Your Kid by Shaunti Feldhahn and Lisa A. Rice

Multnomah, 2007, 183 pp., $14.99

www.randomhouse.com

At first, I thought, Another parenting book, yawn. What’s it going to say that hasn’t been said before? The hook is that the authors surveyed oodles of kids for their input on relevant questions and statements like, “Do you ever hide negative information from your parents because you’re worried about how they will react?” Rather than just yes/no choices, answer options are specific: Yes, I often (or sometimes) don’t tell them those things because of that. I rarely or never hide those things from them. It’s not that the questions are so unexpected, it’s that they prompt bottom-line answers that may surprise parents enough to straighten their spines on a few key issues with their kids. The authors go on to expound on what the kids have said. Not so much new advice, but through the lens of the survey answers, worth regurgitating. The chapter on listening (Can You Hear Me Now?) is worth the book. I like the 5x7 size, too—it would make a good door prize at your next parents meeting. —Danette Matty

Beyond Deserving: Children, Parents, and Responsibility Revisted by Dorothy W. Martyn

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 231 pp., 2006, $14.00

www.eerdmans.com

Martyn wants readers to try a new method of parenting and mentoring. She refers to traditional methods as a “circular exchange” of granting rewards and punishments based on the behavior of the child. She presents an alternative leadership style that goes beyond what the child has earned and stresses biblical unconditional love. Although her theology is touted as the catalyst to the theory, it takes a back-seat to her own psychoanalysis of children’s behavior and to an Emily Dickinson poem that serves as the outline for the book. Despite children’s behavior being perceivably over-analyzed and the poem at times causing more confusion than clarity, her proposition to treat children in a way that looks past what they deserve is more than worthy of consideration for anyone who works with kids. —Adam Griffin