Review of The Teen's Guide to World Domination: Advice on Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Awesomeness by Josh Shipp
(Nonfiction Category)
1. Shipp, J. (2010). The teen’s guide to
world domination: Advice on life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.
2. Plot Summary: In this nonfiction,
how-to piece of literature, Josh Shipp, teen motivational speaker, gives young
adults advice for improving their quality of life through the choices they make
and the friends they keep. Through the description of the seven “villains” that
will be encountered in life and how to overcome them, Shipp gives insight into
channeling the teen’s inner hero and therefore dominating his or her world, not
the world’s of others, forever and forever. The author uses his own trying
childhood to reach out to teens, not by using sob stories or trying to gain
sympathy, but by using his mistakes to show others how to overcome hardships.
3. Critical Analysis: Josh Shipp uses fun, cheesy humor to
write this nonfiction piece. His puns, clichés, and hilarity will gain a young
adult’s attention very quickly. This informal tone should be appealing to the
reader because it feels like he is in the room talking directly to the reader.
That is a great idea for a self-help book in order to give it a feel of a non
self-help book. The author also uses many personal stories throughout the read
so the reader will be drawn in to the advice. This gives the expository pieces
of the text a more emotional and connected feeling, and the stories also give
the informational pieces of the book more authority. In a review written in Booklist, the reviewer, John Peters,
states, “Drawing from his own experiences as a troubled youth, plus nearly a
decade of motivational speaking to teen audiences, Shipp offers an unusually
stimulating approach to making life decisions, rejecting bad choices, and
nurturing a sense of self-identity. In his view, it is all about “dominating”
one’s own self and world…..his hip vocabulary, vivid imagery, and confrontational
rhetoric should keep readers engaged, and may well prompt some slackers to get
off the stick.”
Josh Shipp was
raised in twelve foster homes over the course of his childhood because his
birth parents left him as an infant in the hospital, so he has much life
experience to draw on. He tells stories of foster parents to being arrested for
writing hot checks. His private experiences add a vulnerability and raw humor,
which are very appreciated. The parts that are especially humorous and attention
grabbing are the chapters on the seven “villains” that appear in teens’ lives.
They are zombies, ninjas, ghosts, pirates, robots, vampires, zombies, and
puppies. By using symbols and analogies that are interesting to teens, they are
more likely to pay attention. (I sure did, and I am an adult!) I really
appreciated Shipp’s down to earth, no nonsense descriptions of the things that
can feel like plagues within our daily lives.
FOX writes,
“He’s like the Dr. Phil for teens.” Also, CNN’s Young People Who Rock states,
“Our generation doesn’t have a ‘Dear Abby,’ but we do have a ‘Hey, Josh.’”
Those statements are very fitting because the scope of this book is a very
comprehensive look at what teens today are concerned with. It covers everything
from overcoming fears, handling parents and teachers the appropriate way, to
managing money and dealing with relationships and sex. When writing about such
topics as sex and romantic relationships, Shipp does tell teens to talk to
their parents or trusted adults instead of “Googling” something that they don’t
understand while reading, which is refreshing. The author’s approach is “In
your face, but on your side,” and this tone rings true throughout the whole
book, but there is also a sensitivity that Shipp uses that many adults may have
difficulty achieving when addressing teenagers. He offers challenges to teens
throughout the book such as making lists about what they are good at doing,
what they don’t want to do in life, and the friends that they feel are true
friends. Shipp’s philosophy is that by writing things down it gives teens
something concrete to view when goal-setting.
The novel begins
with a little information about Josh Shipp and why he decided to become a teen
motivational speaker and writer; I was impressed from the start with his
credentials for writing this type of book. He is not perfect; he admits, which
makes him even more suited to write this type of book. Then, the novel gives a
couple of chapters on what dominating your world means, the secrets to it, how
to become a hero of yourself and others, and knowing who your enemies are. The
seven villains are then described, and each chapter includes a quirky, interesting
illustration. Each of the villain sections explains disguises the villains take
on, their mission statements, their signature moves, how to dominate (or avoid
or ignore) them, and how to rescue them, if possible. The last portion of the
book is a series of how-to instructions for dominating your world. There are many things that Shipp does well in
this book, but the one thing I was most impressed with is his understanding of
teens. It was like he could anticipate what they would be thinking before they
continued to read after he made a bold suggestion or statement. His straightforward
yet sensitive style is sure to have young adults soaking this read up. This
book would best be suited for 8th grade and up due to some of the
more adult-like sections in it.
At first, I
thought the cheesy humor would wear me down, but as I read further, I realized
it was necessary. I knew the author’s call to action was serious, but he was
trying to maintain a relationship with the reader and be authentic through his
own style. He accomplished just that and kept me engaged as an older reader,
and I think teens will be even more drawn in and relate to this author’s
musings.
References
Amazon, Ink. (2014). The teen's guide to
world domination: Advice on life, liberty, and the pursuit of awesomeness book
jacket. Retrieved July 29, 2014, from
http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FThe-Teens-Guide-World-Domination%2Fdp%2F0312641540%2Fref%3Dsr_1_1%3Fie%3DUTF8%26qid%3D1406656188%26sr%3D8-1%26keywords%3Dthe%2Bteen%2527s%2Bguide%2Bto%2Bworld%2Bdomination
Peters, J. (2010). Review of the teen's
guide to world domination: Advice on life, liberty, and the pursuit of
awesomeness [Review of Nonfiction book]. Booklist. Retrieved July
27, 2014, from http://booklistonline.com.
Review of the teen's guide to world
domination: Advice on life, liberty, and the pursuit of awesomeness [Review of Nonfiction
book]. (2010). FOX. Retrieved July 28, 2014, from
http://www.foxnews.com.
Review of the teen's guide to world
domination: Advice on life, liberty, and the pursuit of awesomeness [Review of Nonfiction
book]. (2010). CNN's Young People Who Rock. Retrieved July 28, 2014,
from http://ypwr.blogs.cnn.com
Shipp, J. (2010). The teen's guide to
world domination: Advice on life, liberty, and the pursuit of awesomeness.
New York: St. Martin's Press.
No comments:
Post a Comment