Customer Reviews

Big Questions, Worthy Dreams: Mentoring Young Adults in Their Search for Meaning, Purpose, and Faith

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4 star:		(1)
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In Big Questions Worthy Dreams, Sharon Parks affirms the purpose, promise and possibility of mentoring for mentor and mentee. She recognizes the critical role of "meaning making" in the mentoring journey. The reader is at once (and always) aware of the awesome responsibility of the mentor in supporting "meaning making"at each stage of the mentee's developmental journey. Parks solidly anchors mentoring in the rich dynamic of developmental theory. At the same time, she challenges the reader to heightened levels of accountability. The examples she offers, documented from her own experience, and those of others, inspire the reader to create stimulating mentoring environments that foster growth and development. This thoughtful and well-crafted book hooks the reader from the very start raising big questions and worthy dreams for mentor and mentee alike. A mentoring must-read!

If it seems vague or overly theoretical, you may not be paying attention; and that's fine, if it's not what you need to be reading.

But to me it is always inspirational and powerfully motivating. It literally moves me to tears with some regularity - I see so many real people in these pages. After a little focused time with this book I consistently feel she is one of the few writers for whom every sentence and every paragraph are seriously written and contentful. Highly recommended.

"Big Questions, Worthy Dreams" is a stunning book that delivers even more than it promises. I was expecting another philosophical/psychological tome on the intellectual and emotional development of young adults. I was also expecting yet another alarmist treatise on the lack of morality in today's youth--"and here's what we adults should do about it." Instead, I stumbled upon a wonderfully insightful book that weaves together developmental theory and inspirational stories, but--thankfully!--without the academic gobbledegook jargon that clogs up the prose of so many other books. But what I like best about this book is the hopeful, even inspiring, message of the book. Parks offers a clear picture of the challenges facing those of us who wish to be mentors to young people, and shows us why it's necessary--and rewarding--to take an active interest in the lives of others. This is truly an excellent book! I'm recommending it to all my colleagues.

As the father of three teens, I have frequently been torn between repressed anger, guilt, and a feeling of total inadequacy as a parent. Thanks to the influence of Sharon D. Parks, Big Questions; Worthy Dreams, I have found mentoring to be a reasonable response to my parenting situation.

Parks makes two points that clarify the mentoring task at hand.

The first point is her definition of a young adult. She asks: "When does one cross the threshold into adulthood? The response of North American culture is ambiguous" (p. 4). Finding work and a spouse are still important, but the time required to become educated and increasing problem of downward mobility make it harder to become settled. The ambiguity and instability of the young adult situation in society are reflected in the greater challenge facing mentors, including parents.

The second point is reflected in her title. Young adulthood is a life-stage where the formation of meaning is particularly important. Parks writes: "in the years from seventeen to thirty a distinctive mode of meaning-making can emerge, one that has certain adult characteristics but understandably lacks others" (p. 6).

The importance of challenging the young adult to take new faith steps is captured in her prescription--develop and expand a worthy, young adult dream. Parks writes: "If the young adult Dream is to have mature power and serve the full potential of self and world, then it must be critically reexamined from time to time throughout adulthood" (p. 219). The role of mentors is to help the young adult craft, refine, and be true to this dream.

The scope and depth of Park's scholarship suggests that this book targets graduate students and professionals focused on counseling young adults. Most readers looking for advice on parenting are likely to find this book a challenging read. The gap between these two ready audiences suggests an opportunity for a follow up text focused on aid and comfort for the typical parents of young adults.

Dr. Stephen W. Hiemstra
Centreville, VA

The book is written at a fairly high academic level, assuming a certain background in human development on the part of the reader. The language can sometimes be quite scholarly and "high flying". I find the book a good survey on some of the popular theories on human development and learning and wish that it had more depth in explaining the theories. In many places, the book simply gives one to two lines about a theory and spends a paragraph describing how important and fundamental the theory is. The book is more an academic exposition than a parent's guide to bringing up children unless the parent is equiped with a solid understanding of human development or a keen mind to quickly connect the terminology to real-life experiences.

Dr. Parks has offered some great insight into the process of mentoring young adults. She uses and references many major research gurus in education and psychology and speaks from her vast experience working and mentoring young adults. As a college administrator I found Big Questions Worthy Dreams an inspiration for the significant ministry of leading our youth in their desire to understand and grow spiritually.

I read this book because it was highly recommended to those who work in Campus Ministry at an Institute I attended. I snatched up the book in anticipation of being able to help those young adults that I work with. But instead of finding helpful and meaninful nuggets of psychology and analysis of the mentoring relationship, I found the book very unhelpful.

Parks uses developmental psychological analysis to try and examine what role a mentor should play while interacting with young adults. She fails to adequately address how to build relationship and how to mentor but rather stays in the "ivory tower" and doesn't come down to the ground to help mentors in the trenches. I highly disagree with another reviewer that she doesn't get caught up in the academic over-psychologizing and prose. It seems that the author was trying to please those in her field rather than those that might need a work of this kind even more. There is little "hands-on" practical advice, but rather developmental theory takes over.

She also likes to only talk about "spirituality" in vague terms and in a way the cements a relativistic approach to God and a world-view. If this sounds like your cup-o-tea, then jump in like I did. If not, don't make the same mistake I did.