The Teen's Guide to World Domination

September 13, 2010
Indie-cool motivational speaker Shipp, who bounced between foster homes as a kid, provides a funny, compassionate, and straight-talking blueprint for teens to achieve fulfillment personally, socially, and professionally. Shipp is quick to explain that "world domination" is really about finding satisfaction through hard work and self-awareness. But it's easier said than done, and Shipp dedicates chapters to various enemies such as ghosts (which "show up in your head in the form of painful memories, past mistakes, hurtful words, and lies"), ninjas, pirates, and vampires (e.g., addictions and "negative influencers"). Shipp's fresh and honest approach should make sense to teens seeking guidance and avoids feeling preachy or heavy-handed. Ages 13–17.

August 1, 2010
Grades 8-11 Drawing from his own experiences as a troubled youth, plus nearly a decade of motivational speaking to teen audiences, Shipp offers an unusually stimulating approach to making life decisions, rejecting bad choices, and nurturing a sense of self-identity. In his view, it is all about dominating ones own self and world (without dominating those of others, which is evil) by identifying and dealing with teeming hordes of villainswhich include Ghosts (i.e., self-imposed fears and limitations), Robots (who seek to replace individual paths with preprogrammed career expectations), and similarly metaphorical Ninjas, Zombies, Pirates, Vampires, and Puppies. Though he waxes platitudinous toward the end (Never settle for good; You need to have a plan; Cool isnt for sale) his hip vocabulary, vivid imagery, and confrontational rhetoric (In your face, but on your side, as he repeatedly writes) should keep readers engaged, and may well prompt some slackers to get off the stick.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)