Teen's Guide to World Domination by Josh Shipp review

1.     BIBLIOGRAPHY

Shipp, Josh. The Teen’s Guide to World Domination. United States: St. Martin’s Press, 2010. Print.

2.     PLOT SUMMARY
Josh Shipp, the author of the book, spent a great deal of his teen years as a “troubled teen” and learned from trial and error how to rise above the problems of teendom and now is known internationally as a motivational speaker for teens. In this book, he goes over the seven “villains” that teens must overcome in order to dominate their world He also goes over several questions teens must ask themselves to encourage introspection about themselves, their relationships, and their future. The last thing he goes over is how to dominate specific areas of one’s life, such as school, parents, and dating.

3.     CRITICAL ANALYSIS characters, plot, setting, theme, style, authenticity

As a self-help book, there is no plot and the only real character Josh Shipp ever references is himself and his not-so-spectacular teenhood. In fact, most of the critical analysis that is used for most books is hard to use when discussing this book. Even the normal critical analysis for nonfiction, such as accuracy, is difficult since ‘self-help’ is not exactly a hard science.

However, it is still an incredible book. Shipp writes in a very casual, conversational tone. Even though the book is almost 300 pages, has no plot, and is basically a list of things and ways to fix your life, it reads easily, as if he’s sitting in the room just talking to you. Teens will appreciate his honesty and directness with subjects; Shipp talks about his troubled past, from spending time in jail to his gambling addiction. When discussing relationships, he doesn’t sugarcoat sex or tell kids that they absolutely shouldn’t have it. Instead, he discusses consequences and pushes caution and thinking about the future. In the entire book, he gives practical advice for tweens/teens looking to fix something about their life.

This is a book appropriate for both tweens and teens.  Generally, the advice is appropriate once puberty has been hit. Although the book discusses subjects such as sex and drug addiction, it is handled appropriately enough for tweens. It is also a book more meant for teens who are struggling, especially in school, and teens looking for validation when thinking about a future without a traditional college will appreciate what he has to say about that subject. Of course, all teens will benefit from different parts of his book—his “villain” area is pertinent to all teen experiences—but he spends a little extra time in his books for those teens who might be trying to do things differently. In fact, teens who are happy being on the traditional path (they do well in school, math and sciences especially, and intend to go to a traditional college) will find parts of his book borderline dismissive of their choices.

4.     CREATIVE ACTIVITY

Josh Shipp actually has several writing activities in his book that could be used that include introspective questions such as “What makes you unique?” to “Write a five sentence biography about yourself.” These could be good starting points for an activity.

Public libraries (and school libraries) spend time, resources, and effort trying to help teens prepare for college. Often they have free prep classes for the SATs/ACTs/PSATs to help them get better grades. They have admission counselors come to speak or speakers about financial aid come to talk about how they can pay for college. However, resources for students who want to pursue education from a more nontraditional source tend to be in short supply. Shipp focuses most of his energy towards this latter group, encouraging them to follow their dreams. Librarians can take a page from his book and offer resources for nontraditional interests. For instance, “So you want to be an artist?” night, where you can invite a local artist(s) to come, talk about how they became interested in art, the sort of educational path they took, and possibly a related activity (learning to draw something simple maybe). This could be done with several different professions such as IT, photographer, artist, mechanic, electrician, etc. (Offer food. Teens love food.)

While this next activity wouldn’t be for teens, Josh Shipp has many online programs and lectures that are free and events for adults with teens could be centered around them. (Josh Shipp is very expensive to book, but this is the next best thing!) A night where one of his short lectures is watched, discussed, and then maybe a local family counselor could speak could be indirectly beneficial for teens. These are located at
Shipp, Josh. "Help Your Teen Succeed in School and Life." Teen Expert Josh Shipp. 2015. Web. 22 July 2015. <http://www.heyjosh.com>.

Although not an activity, resources in a library for teens to access, whether a makerspace or just teen-appropriate books in subjects that could help them with alternate choices, is also important.

5.     RELATED RESOURCES

Shipp, Josh. "Help Your Teen Succeed in School and Life." Teen Expert Josh Shipp. 2015. Web. 22 July 2015. <http://www.heyjosh.com>.
This is Josh Shipp’s official website. It includes information about him, free lectures directed to teens, their parents, and those who work with teens. He also has information on how to book him (he’s expensive!) and information about his television series.

6.     PUBLISHED REVIEW 

Publishers Weekly. A Teen’s Guide to World Domination Review. Publishers Weekly. http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-312-64154-2