Although the information in
Fueling the Teen Machine, by
Ellen Shanley and Colleen Thompson is solid, I didn't get a good sense of the intended audience. It seemed a bit condescending towards actual teenagers; I would have found it childish as a high schooler. My son is in middle school now, and not motivated to eat well. This book wouldn't help with that motivation, although for teens coming in strongly motivated it provides good information. I may leave it around for him; I'm not sure it has information he doesn't know, but maybe seeing the same facts again might eventually force him to believe that truth also applies to him. My dinner tonight? Chicken & corn in a tortilla. His dinner? Well, you can't count the bite of chicken he didn't eat, but he did eventually melt some cheese onto the chips we had on the side.
My favorite part of the book was the recipes in the back. Nothing fancy, but when cooking for my kids (or having them cook for me) I don't want fancy; I want simple and good tasting. I tried one last night, and was pleasantly surprised (I'm always surprised when something I cook tastes good). The almost-teenager wouldn't eat it, but his elementary school brother finished up a bowl of bean and corn chowder.
I received this book as part of the Early Reviewers program on LibraryThing.
1 comment:
yum, chowder.
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