Charity's Reading Log

Generation Me by Jean M. Twenge - This was an incredibly insightful look into how today's generation (aka Generation Me) of teenagers and children differ from those before them. The idea of promoting self-esteem, self-love, and self-appreciation before they've earned it is central to the premise that today's parents are coddling this generation and, thus, handicapping them for their futures in the "real world." What really connected with me was the insistance that teaching SELF-CONTROL instead of SELF-ESTEEM is what must be done to stand this generation in good steed as they prepare to face an ever-changing, largely unforgiving world. From the vantage point of an educator, there were too many examples that rang true for me to dismiss this book as just another attempt to place blame for what is wrong with our youth today. In my opinion, this book hits the mark!


We Are All Welcome Here by Elizabeth Berg - The latest book by one of my most favorite authors! (Corina, I have a copy to pass on to you!)

Berg got the idea for this book from one of her own readers who wrote to her suggesting that she write a fictional story based upon the real-life experiences of her and her mother. In the story, Paige Dunn is stricken by polio while she is pregnant. Usually a death sentence for the unborn child, Paige is able to carry the baby to term and is the first woman to give birth while inside an iron lung. As anticipated, Paige's husband leaves her to care for the child on her own. Left a quadraplegic and needing the assistance of an iron lung to live her life, Paige takes on the harrowing task of raising Diana on her own with the help of a caretaker and, as she grows, Diana herself. The story develops around Diana's struggle to come of age while being tied to her mother, and their quest to learn what loyalty and responsiblity means...not just to one another, but to the world around them.