Skills & Training books
Young Revolutionary – By Chanice Lee
Are you a teenager aspiring to make a change in your community or beyond? Young Revolutionary will give you the confidence, tools, and resources you need to be a successful activist. Written by a teenager, for teenagers. This guide is a mixture of personal experiences from the author herself and real-life stories of several teen activists. Whether you are new to activism or if you are already experienced, you'll learn everything from how to organise events, reaching out to your local officials, and spreading the word on your cause. Young people have always been at the forefront of movements, so now it's your turn.
Themes:
Civic engagement, Protesting Safely, Calling your officials, Organising Protests, Being Heard.
Quotes:
“tons of useful information, regardless of whether one is interested in becoming an activist or not.”
“This is a book I would have valued as a teenager. This is an amazing first book that I am honoured to have read.”
“It was eloquent and well-researched and I came away with much more knowledge than I would have if I attempted turning to the web for the 'how-to' on teenage activism.”
Thing Explainer – By Randall Munroe
In Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words, things are explained in the style of Up Goer Five, using only drawings and a vocabulary of the 1,000 (or "ten hundred") most common words. Explore computer buildings (datacenters), the flat rocks we live on (tectonic plates), the things you use to steer a plane (airliner cockpit controls), and the little bags of water you're made of (cells).
Themes:
Nuclear bombs, Jet engines, Space ships, the Sun, Oil Rigs, Weather maps.
Quotes:
“I was really just worried that if I used the small word people would think I didn’t know the big ones”
“To build the space house we took each part up in a sky boat, pushed it until it went really fast, then caught up with the rest of the sky house and stuck to it”
“Everything that’s alive is made up of tiny bags of water.”
Cooking on a Bootstrap – By Jack Monroe
Jack Monroe is a campaigner, food writer and activist, her first cookbook A Girl Called Jack, was a runaway bestseller. The sequel Cooking on a Bootstrap makes budget food fun and delicious, with 118 incredible recipes including Fluffy Berry Pancakes, Self-Love Stew, Marmite Mac ‘n’ Cheese and Hot Sardines with Herby Sauce.
Themes:
Bread, Breakfasts, A Bag of Pasta and a Packet of Rice, Spuds, Eat More Veg, Sweets
Quotes:
“there is not a single recipe in this book that I do not adore and have tested and tested and tweaked and improved and sighed over and groaned over and loved and cherished.”
“cooking on a budget needn’t be gruel and gastronomic flagellation”
“It seemed a shame not to share the simplicity and deliciousness of one of my favourite recipes with bananaphobes, so, I set about to create one just as simple with Something Else”
The Martian – By Andy Weir
After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. And yet he persists.
Themes:
Fear, Isolation, Science, Perseverance, Friendship, Man vs Nature, Home.
Quotes:
“As with most of life's problems, this one can be solved by a box of pure radiation.”
“If ruining the only religious icon I have leaves me vulnerable to Martian vampires, I'll have to risk it.”
“But really, they did it because every human being has a basic instinct to help each other out. It might not seem that way sometimes, but it’s true.”
Why Does He Do That? – By Lundy Bancroft
Lundy Bancroft - a counsellor who specializes in working with abusive men - uses his knowledge about how abusers think to help women recognize when they are being controlled or devalued, and to find ways to get free of an abusive relationship. He says he loves you. So why does he do that? You've asked yourself this question again and again. Now you have the chance to see inside the minds of angry and controlling men--and change your life.
Themes:
Abuse, Drugs, Alcohol, Friends, Family, Relationships, Break ups, Dependency, Individuality, Self-esteem.
Quotes:
“Abuse and respect are diametric opposites: You do not respect someone whom you abuse, and you do not abuse someone whom you respect.”
“The abuser’s problem is not that he responds inappropriately to conflict: his abusiveness is operating prior to the conflict, it usually creates the conflict, and it determines the shape the conflict takes”
“But whether you stay or go, the critical decision you can make is to stop letting your partner distort the lens of your life, always forcing his way into the centre of the picture. You deserve to have your life be about you; you are worth it.”
Our FYV Youth Commissioners are Emily Harris, Marion Simakungwe, Rachel Roach and Eugene Vlas.
If you like the sound of any of the book recommendations from our FYV Youth Commissioners you can also enjoy many of these by listening to them on Audible.
If you would like to read our previous blog you can read them here: