Book Price Comparisons
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 A lovely graduation present This little book will give an inspirational boost to almost any new high school, or middle school, graduate. Though its advice might be too lightweight for college grads, and a little too sunny for kids from deprived backgrounds, the book is still a terrific gift for any reader who is open to it. In other words, Shriver is no Maya Angelou, but she does have something to say. An example: "The only way you can come to feel worthy, and really good about yourself is to find your own voice, find your own path, follow your own heart and live your own life." Just 100 pages, the book is divided into three sections. A 20-page introduction is about Shriver herself, as the author recounts her dreams as a young girl. The next 40 pages reprint a speech Shriver recently gave (titled "Just Who Will You Be?") at a high school graduation ceremony. The last third of the book offers more reflective thoughts from Shriver, and includes a nifty list of Ten Things I Pledge to Myself -- including "I pledge to show up in life as myself, not as an imitation of anyone else" and "I pledge to use my voice to connect my dreams to my actions." Shriver has used this concept before, reprinting another of her high school grad speeches in 2005's And One More Thing Before You Go.... Another benefit: the recipient of this book might actually read it. It takes less than 30 minutes to get through, as each page has only five or six sentences and is set with wide margins and lots of white space. In other words, it's a very easy, very quick read. Ragged pages add a timeless touch. Underneath the blue dust jacket is a plain hardback cover in the same blue color. Want to make your gift more substantial? For middle schoolers I'd pair it up with Oh, the Places You'll Go! (Classic Seuss). For high schoolers I'd add The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou. The Authinator! Wow, I now have another book for my life's journey..Mr Instability for my career problems and this book for my personal life. I love the way she writes..so simple yet sooo effective to me. Just who will I be? I am working hard to find out and better myself.  Good message but too short At just over 100 pages, I literally finished reading this book while standing in line at the check out. Granted, I started reading in the aisles before heading to check out - still very short. If I hadn't thought of sharing it with my sister, I probably would have put it back and only bought the other books in hand. Essentially, this is an uplifting book about following your heart and discovering who you are. There's a positive message and some good points. In the end, I liked it, but felt there could have been much more. I know who I am Why do people always seem to know whats right for us? I am on this self help kick and keep reading these type of books about how to help myself. I liked the book Mr Instability because I laughed the whole time and it helped me figure things out a bit. But based on the title of this book I will be me! and the answer was always within myself. | |||||||||||||
