How can you be a football genius if you don't know the rules of the game? Fifteen year-old Drew Hennings’ dream of playing quarterback for his local high school team and playing college football in the Ivy League ended when he got a serious concussion. Drew can’t play football anymore, but he loves the game too much to walk away. With a close family friend and football official, Jack, as his mentor, Drew decides to transform himself into the first teenage football referee that Boston’s South Shore has ever seen. Can he transfer his leadership skills to refereeing and make the right call even when it’s unpopular? Will he be good enough to earn a place on the crew of a youth football playoff game?

Youth culture changes rapidly, so those in the position to counsel teens often find themselves ill-informed and ill-prepared to deal with the issues that teens routinely encounter today. The Quick-Reference Guide to Counseling Teenagers provides the answers. It is an A-Z guide for assisting people-helpers--pastors, professional counselors, youth workers, and everyday believers--to easily access a full array of information to aid them in (formal and informal) counseling situations. Each of the 40 topics covered follows a helpful eight-part outline and identifies: (1) typical symptoms and patterns, (2) definitions and key thoughts, (3) questions to ask, (4) directions for the conversation, (5) action steps, (6) biblical insights, (7) prayer starters, and (8) recommended resources.

When George W. Bush became president in January 2001, he took office with a comfortably familiar surname, bipartisan rhetoric, and the promise of calming a public shaken by the convulsions of impeachment and a contested election. Then nine months later, after the tragedy of 9/11, both the country and the world looked to him for leadership that could unite people behind great common goals. Instead, three years into his term, George W. Bush squandered the goodwill felt toward America, turned allies into adversaries, and ran the most radical and divisive administration in the history of the presidency. The Book On Bush was the first comprehensive critique of a president who governed on a right wing and a prayer. In carefully documented and vivid detail, Eric Alterman and Mark Green, two of the leading progressive authors/advocates in the country, not only trace the guiding ideology that ran through a wide range of W.’s policies but also expose a presidential decision-making process that, rather than weighing facts to arrive at conclusions, began with conclusions and then searched for supporting facts.

You're no idiot, of course. You know that life isn't like an old sitcom—when TV dads like Mike Brady or Ward Cleaver always had just the right answer for Greg, Marcia or the Beaver. But when it comes to earning the title "World's Greatest Dad," you feel like you're always going to be more like the father from Married with Children than the one from Father Knows Best. Don't retire your cardigan just yet! The Complete Idiot's Guide® to Fatherhood answers all the questions any expecting, new, or veteran father could have on topics ranging from communication and ground rules to privileges and punishment.

Learn about the world of today's teens and how to communicate with this very important segment of your library's audience. Gather ideas for enlisting help from teachers and school librarians in planning programming to bring teens to the library. Examples of real life reference interviews follow a list of tools to have at the teen reference desk. The essential elements of building teen collection and reader's advisory services are presented with ideas for creating a teen friendly library. Information will be useful to librarians in smaller libraries and persons assigned to teen services as a part of their other duties.

Two authors with more than 20 years of combined experience share their practical experience serving teens in public libraries. Teen Services Today highlights best practices, including resources and references, to quickly implement programs and services to young adults. Although teen services covers ages 12 to 18, a world of developmental changes and interest levels exist within those six short years. Teens offer a range of opportunities for public libraries, not simply as patrons, but also as advocates and volunteers. Special features of the book include: Basic information on the fundamental services and programs for teens Reasons for providing services to teens Examples of successful teen programs, complete with lists of needed supplies and potential costs, that can generally be performed by one or two staff members Checklists and forms Teen Services Today: A Practical Guide for Librarians gives all library staff the tools they need to work with teens. Whether you are the teen librarian, the clerk who’s been assigned to ‘do something’ about teens or the branch manager who sees an underserved population, this book will provide you with the building blocks to create successful relationships with the teens who use your library.