Customer Reviews

Me, Myself, and I: Youth Meditations for Grades 5-8

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Reviewed by Gayle Jacobson-Huset, Fiction/Poetry Editor
Award-winning Minnesota author Sandra McLeod Humphrey does it again with another fantastic book to help the youth of this country. This time, she guides 'tweens through their troublesome, awkward years of being "not quite teen" and "not quite little child anymore". Each chapter starts with the letter of the alphabet, and the chapters are chock full of helpful information for this age group.

An example chapter would be the letter "E" - "Everybody's Doing It".
Didn't you ever say to your mom, "But Mom, EVERYBODY'S doing it!" at one point in your growing-up life? I remember saying that to my mother when I wanted to wear makeup at age ten! Sandra uses a story in this chapter about a boy who is teetering on the brink of "giving in" to peer pressure to cheat on a test. The boy thinks about other things the kids at school do to be "cool" and realizes he's very "uncool" because he won't go along with the crowd. What gets him through this temptation to be "cool" like his friends? His faith makes him wonder, "What would Jesus do in this situation?" and then he prays for strength to remain true to himself and to his own values, even if it means giving up friendships with those he morally disagrees with. My mother would have loved this book and I'm sure she would have cheerfully referred me to this chapter when the "makeup issue" reared its ugly head in my youthful days. I'm also sure she would have been very happy that makeup was the only issue and not the cheating and other escapades that Sandra describes so well in this chapter.

Sandra starts each chapter with a Bible quote she calls "Bible Wisdom", followed by an appropriate "Favorite Quotation", then "Words to Ponder", "What Can I Think?", "What Can I Do?", all followed by "A Favorite Story" with a follow-up "Prayer" and "Question to Ponder". Each chapter with its excellent thought-provoking material will get your child into thinking what is the right thing to do in any given 'tween type situation.

This book works! Drawing on her 35 plus years of working as a clinical psychologist with troubled youth, Sandra's winning combination of all of the above speaks directly to America's 'tweens in a language they can totally understand and definitely relate to. This is an awesome, must-have book for any parent, teacher, librarian, pastor, or Sunday School teacher to use as a tool to guide 'tweens successfully through those tough years of self-doubt and one's worth on this planet.

Without a doubt, this book will reassure not only this age group, but all of us as well, that God is very real in our lives, is "there" for us, and He loves us, just the way we are. I give this book a well-deserved high-five.

Written for young readers of Christian faith, Me, Myself, and I not only contains realistic scenarios of the kinds of social, moral and ethical dilemmas kids face these days, it also includes bible wisdom, prayers and questions for tweens and teens to ponder.

This book would be a great addition to the libraries of Christian-based organizations and schools.

The time between young adulthood and childhood, a time where you're just stuck in the middle. "Me, Myself, and I: Youth Meditations for Grades Five Through Eight" is a collection of solid and inspirational advice for children in these years. Offering a Christian perspective for Christians growing up and dealing with the strange middle time in their lives, the advice is solid and should help kids deal with the coming problem of becoming teenagers. "Me, Myself, and I" would be a great gift for religious tweens.

This book is split up into 26 sections with inspirations throughout. This book includes in each section: Bible Wisdom, A Favorite Quotation, Words to Ponder, What I Can Think, What I Can Do, A Favorite Story, Prayer, and Question to Ponder. I love the favorite stories the best. The section that stuck out for me the most was the one about self image; Titled Mirror Mirror On The Wall... about a few young girlfriends looking at a mirror thinking `how ugly am I?' Then reflecting back to when they were in church and the sermon was about a lady who once was anorexic and almost died. By the end of the short story all 3 girls realized they needed to love themselves as they are because that is what God wanted them to be! And that nothing else matters but what He thinks. Sandy does a wonderful job capturing what is in a teen's heart and how they really feel and think. I love your work and thank you for all you do for these children!

This little book of meditations for tweens is right on the money! I have two girls who are in the target age group. My oldest has read a few of the selections and liked them. I had been keeping my eyes open for something like this and plan to use this for our before bed devotions. Thank you, Sandy!

My preteen son enjoyed having this read to him. He's neither a reader nor very spiritual/religious, but he liked it. (If your kids are like mine, if they don't let you know how much they didn't like it, that means they liked it!) I liked the layout of the book. Each chapter is a subject layed out in alpha order with a "Favorite quotation", "Words to ponder", "What I can do", etc. This well established author & psychologist was a delight to read aloud! Would be good for a church youth group also!