Book Studies

Average Book Price ranges from $6.00-$15.00

American culture has conflated the term "spiritual" with religious, but the need to connect on a higher plane with truths and experiences that transcend the physical is not necessarily tied to religion. In a haste to separate church and state, schools often delete any transcendent experiences from the curriculum.  Europeans spend their gap year between high school and college backpacking on their own, fending for themselves, being responsible for the details of their daily existence, and overcoming unforeseen obstacles. The Amish also have a tradition that merges freedom with responsibility and allows teens to experience a world beyond their upbringing and culture, called Rumspringa. In religious coming-of-age rites, such as bat or bar mitzpahs and Khatam Al Koran, teens are given counseling about life for weeks and memorize passages of sacred books to recite before a solemn ceremony. Other traditions such as Walkabouts, Bullet Ant Initiation, and Inuit Outcamps test the teen's maturity over fear, pain, and sacrifice. The universal American rites of passage are prom and the graduation ceremony, neither of which necessarily push students to the edge of their self-confidence and give them tools to overcome challenges in life.  Kessler pours her experiences as a teacher and counselor to pre-teens and teens into the deeply moving stories and profound questions of students themselves. Each chapter responds to the yearnings young people express: Deep Connection, Meaning and Purpose, Silence, Joy, Creativity, Transcendence, and Initiation--each evokes a gateway to inviting soul into the classroom. Without healthy environments led by knowledgeable adults, young people sometimes seek these gateways through means like drugs, unsafe sex, suicide, hazing, and other self-destructive paths. This practical guide gives examples and resources to help students find constructive ways to these gateways.