Recommended for ages 9-12
Being a kid is tough. What if there were some sort of guide to figuring out the grown-ups in their lives? Monte Montgomery and Patricia Storms have created a field guide to the average grown-up to help children navigate these strange people who seem to hold so much sway over them.
The book examines grown-ups as seen through a child’s eyes and includes basic similarities and differences between grown-ups and kids: adults, for instance, have stopped growing taller and started growing wider, but have never stopped feeling like the kid they used to be, providing the reader with an entry point with which to relate.
Set up like a Grown-Ups for Dummies book, complete with callout Tactics boxes spotlighting tools for dealing with different situations and line drawings throughout, Young Person’s Guide takes kids through everything they need to know about grown-ups at home, at school, and “in the wild”. Descriptions of various adults in each of these settings and an FAQ flesh out each section. Montgomery imparts Three Universal Truths that kids and adults alike should know and includes an in-depth, illustrated guide to various classes of adults, like atheletes, dentists, police officers and millionaires (complete with Donald Trump-like caricature).
Young Person’s Guide is a fun book that will help younger children feel like they have some handle on why grown-ups say and do the things they do, while helping them understand that adults and kids have much more in common than they may think. It is a fun book that can start conversations both at home and in the classroom.
Patricia Storms’ webpage are as much fun as her illustrations. Infused with bright graphics and personal information, the reader can see that the illustrator takes the message of Young Person’s Guide to heart and keep in touch with the kid that used to look back from the mirror.
Mom Read It 
Wow, thanks for the nice review of my book! It was fun to write — in fact, I’ve been working on it (in the back of my head, anyway), since I was 5 years old!
Quick correction: at the suggestion of my publisher, I’ve since changed the title to “Kid Confidential: An Insider’s Guide to Grown-Ups. You’ll find its Amazon page at
http://www.amazon.com/Kid-Confidential-Insiders-Guide-Grown-Ups/dp/0802723535/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328535705&sr=8-1
and you can watch a fun “book trailer” that I shot at
Thanks again!
Thank you so much for your comment! I’m thrilled that you liked the review. My 8-year old loves your book, by the way. đŸ™‚ I’ll show him the trailer when he gets home from school!