by Deborah Reber
Beyond Words/Simon Pulse (January 2015)
In this well-organized, easy-to-digest nonfiction book for teen girls, Reber employs her training as a life coach as well as her extensive work with teen girls to lay out an eight-step plan for readers to achieve whatever it is they want to tackle in life. The steps include defining the goal, defending against obstacles, developing support systems, determining what success looks like, doing the work, dealing with setbacks, and delivering the goods. Each step has numerous examples, pullouts, journal exercises, and more, and every chapter ends with a summary to reinforce the main points. Reber manages to do all of that while maintaining a charisma and relatability that puts readers at ease while at the same time empowering them, and the tone is never the least bit condescending nor overwhelming.
I loved this book and plan to refer back to it for my own to-do list management. In fact, my one and only quibble with this book is that it is targeted solely at teen girls, because I think EVERYONE over the age of 10 should read this book! I think we could all learn a thing or two from it that would make us more successful and make our lives that much easier. That said, Reber is perfectly in touch with the teen girl audience, and while the core content is highly applicable to any reader, the voice and viewpoint will surely be directly relevant and relatable to many teenage girls.
This book would make a great eighth grade or high school graduation present, and it’s a super helpful read for anyone who wants to be more productive (don’t we all?). Far from being didactic, DOABLE instills a sense of confidence and excitement. Reber is a fantastic coach AND a cheerleader, all rolled into one. Highly recommended!