An often compelling manual that may fan the embers of readers’ creativity.
Educational consultant Foster offers a guide for young people that promotes creativity as a motivational tool.
The author is an education specialist with several published works on nurturing children’s talents, including Being Smart About Gifted Learning(2021), written with Dona J. Matthews. The goal of her latest book, for readers 12 and over, is to provide practical tools and novel ideas that will help kids overcome creative obstacles. For instance, Foster explodes the idea that only those typically identified as artists can be creative, and asserts that creative thinking can be a jumping-off point or “spark” for all sorts of activities: “Creativity is not necessarily about coming up with some sort of product (although that might occur), but rather it’s about activating your mind and nurturing your ideas.” Whether one is born with natural creativity or must develop it through practice, one can build habits and employ techniques that develop one’s abilities, according to the author. Foster speaks directly to young readers in these pages, and uses illustrative quotes and examples from a wide array of figures—both well-known (LL Cool J, Albert Einstein) and obscure (author Luc De Clapiers). She redefines the clichéd directive of “thinking outside the box” as “divergent thinking” and expands on it, stressing the importance of being open to new possibilities. Although the book’s subject matter is organized into three sections (“The Light You Kindle,” “The Glow You Nurture,” and “The Blaze You Choose”), it does not always feel cohesive; however, it includes takeaways at the end of each chapter that crystallize key ideas for easier comprehension. Arguably, the most valuable content is in Chapter 5, which addresses common creative blocks and remedies, and Chapter 8, which offers 100 engaging suggestions for how to corral, instigate, and explore creative ideas. Although the book’s overall tone is down-to-earth and easygoing, some terminology may be a bit complex for younger readers; there’s a glossary of terms at the end, but caregivers or teachers may wish to provide occasional help.
An often compelling manual that may fan the embers of readers’ creativity.Pub Date: Aug. 20, 2023
ISBN: 9781953360298
Page Count: 168
Publisher: Gifted Unlimited
Review Posted Online: Aug. 14, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.
The late actor offers a gentle guide for living with more purpose, love, and joy.
Mixing poetry, prescriptive challenges, and elements of memoir, Heche (1969-2022) delivers a narrative that is more encouraging workbook than life story. The author wants to share what she has discovered over the course of a life filled with abuse, advocacy, and uncanny turning points. Her greatest discovery? Love. “Open yourself up to love and transform kindness from a feeling you extend to those around you to actions that you perform for them,” she writes. “Only by caring can we open ourselves up to the universe, and only by opening up to the universe can we fully experience all the wonders that it holds, the greatest of which is love.” Throughout the occasionally overwrought text, Heche is heavy on the concept of care. She wants us to experience joy as she does, and she provides a road map for how to get there. Instead of slinking away from Hollywood and the ridicule that she endured there, Heche found the good and hung on, with Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford starring as particularly shining knights in her story. Some readers may dismiss this material as vapid Hollywood stuff, but Heche’s perspective is an empathetic blend of Buddhism (minimize suffering), dialectical behavioral therapy (tolerating distress), Christianity (do unto others), and pre-Socratic philosophy (sufficient reason). “You’re not out to change the whole world, but to increase the levels of love and kindness in the world, drop by drop,” she writes. “Over time, these actions wear away the coldness, hate, and indifference around us as surely as water slowly wearing away stone.” Readers grieving her loss will take solace knowing that she lived her love-filled life on her own terms. Heche’s business and podcast partner, Heather Duffy, writes the epilogue, closing the book on a life well lived.
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781627783316
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viva Editions
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.
All right, all right, all right: The affable, laconic actor delivers a combination of memoir and self-help book.
“This is an approach book,” writes McConaughey, adding that it contains “philosophies that can be objectively understood, and if you choose, subjectively adopted, by either changing your reality, or changing how you see it. This is a playbook, based on adventures in my life.” Some of those philosophies come in the form of apothegms: “When you can design your own weather, blow in the breeze”; “Simplify, focus, conserve to liberate.” Others come in the form of sometimes rambling stories that never take the shortest route from point A to point B, as when he recounts a dream-spurred, challenging visit to the Malian musician Ali Farka Touré, who offered a significant lesson in how disagreement can be expressed politely and without rancor. Fans of McConaughey will enjoy his memories—which line up squarely with other accounts in Melissa Maerz’s recent oral history, Alright, Alright, Alright—of his debut in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, to which he contributed not just that signature phrase, but also a kind of too-cool-for-school hipness that dissolves a bit upon realizing that he’s an older guy on the prowl for teenage girls. McConaughey’s prep to settle into the role of Wooderson involved inhabiting the mind of a dude who digs cars, rock ’n’ roll, and “chicks,” and he ran with it, reminding readers that the film originally had only three scripted scenes for his character. The lesson: “Do one thing well, then another. Once, then once more.” It’s clear that the author is a thoughtful man, even an intellectual of sorts, though without the earnestness of Ethan Hawke or James Franco. Though some of the sentiments are greeting card–ish, this book is entertaining and full of good lessons.
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-13913-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
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