This book is different and everything about these pages is extraordinary in a lot of ways. It is exactly what many book projects had attempted to accomplish but fell short or fell through.
The title is quite a mouthful, “Resilient Youth: Emotional Wellbeing in The Wake of The COVID-19 Global Pandemic.”
Such an easy read, though!!!
This should be one of the best gifts ever for a parent to give their children, especially during these times of pandemic.
I loved the organization of the material the fun transitional activities. It was a lot of fun and I didn’t expect it to be this much fun at all.
It’s part book, part journal, part practical life advice and maxims, part encouraging words by peers, and part silly fun. All in addition to many resources for help and support.
I’m not even sure if the word book is the right word here because this is more than a book to read passively while trying to digest some information, a bit of wisdom, and some good stories. It’s more like a well-rounded journey of well-being designed for boys and girls coming out of age in a world that is bound by lockdowns, home-schooling, economic meltdown, parents losing their jobs, fear, and paralysis.
The events that took hold at the beginning of 2020 took us all by surprise, but as we, the adults, are walking around stunned by chaos and uncertainty, kids had to handle a whole lot more than what we thought they were going through.
In this book, there are small essays from young children from 10 countries who tried to explain how they had to deal with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. These are more like testimonials that will withstand the test of time and act as a reminder to us of what the world was like in that very first year of shock and awe attack that was instigated by a micro-organism that spread like wildfire all over the world.
The messages are in and of themselves uplifting and enjoyable, but that’s not all. There is very sound advice about post-traumatic growth. There are pages that could be used to write ideas, dreams, hopes, and thoughts. there are other pages to color, design, print, doodle and even shred to pieces! Lots of fun activities that could be used to get a person’s mind occupied in a useful, productive, and therapeutic way.
It delivers on its promise to uplift the spirit, and I can personally attest to that because I did feel plenty of joy while I was going on the journey within its folds. It’s an immersive interactive experience that teaches you, pats you on the shoulder, gives you something to laugh about and something else to think deeply about. It makes every reader an active participant in a single-player game of self-discovery about defeating unseen psychological enemies.
There’s plenty of information about emotional intelligence and how to handle one’s own emotions in simple words. I even did the EQ test and enjoyed knowing the areas where I need to work on getting better.
The whole time it took me to finish this book I was thinking this is an extensive, even though a bit concentrated therapy session that could get someone through some really rough times.
Tell you what, if I ever found myself trapped in a post-apocalyptic bunker hiding from the next global mass event, this would be the kind of book I would really appreciate being in my inventory.
If you’ve tried to read anything about psychology, or any type of self-help book, you know that you either love it and finish it, or you hate it and throw it away, but either way, reading a self-help book usually takes conscious effort, unlike fiction.
To be quite honest, reading this book is nothing like a chore at all. It’s literally a self-help page-turner, albeit for a younger audience.
And there’s a lot of humor there as well, and I caught myself chuckling more than once at the witty words.
There’s also this underestimated aspect of this project and that it doesn’t take very long to go through sections at all. A very important reason why it could be wildly successful because its target audience has a very short attention span and they’re used to scrolling social media feeds all hours of day and night relentlessly. So providing so many nuggets of wisdom and playful ways to think through big matters cannot be overstated.
But the sections that really caught my eyes personally, was the dad advice sections authored by Ahmad Jobain. Such a valuable contribution to such a fun book. Mr. Ahmad is obviously a very wise man who knows that these hard-earned life lessons are the cornerstone of a happy and productive life. And he puts it all in a very short easy to digest series of messages.
But the really huge star contributor to this book is Rabab Al Haddad, the talented designer who filled the pages of this wonderful book with so much fun and joy and happiness that it over-delivered on its promise to uplift the reader.
Bravo!!!
This book is based on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal #3 of “Good Health and Well-Being” and the “Global Citizens SDGs Solutions Challenge,” one of Lisa La Bonté‘s many foundations and endeavors.
There are many other contributors to this wonderful project, but I think Lisa La Bonté, the big Maestro who orchestrated this major effort, deserves a whole lot of recognition for her amazing project.
Lisa La Bonté is a serial entrepreneur, an organizational Kung Fu Master, and a marketing genius. If you’ve never known anything about Lisa, this book is a wonderful calling card because of how fast she’s been able to put the whole thing together.
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