25 Truths: Life Principles of the Happiest & Most Successful Among Us–A Review

25 Truths: Life Principles of the Happiest & Most Successful Among Us is a short, devotional-style book written by Ed Douglas. As a certified financial planner and coach, Ed has had over 30 years of experience in many areas of the work force.  We always enjoy this type of book and were thrilled to receive it to use and review.
     This little book, which retails for $15.50 plus s/h, is intended to be used with kids in grades 6-12.  The book is 150 pages in length and is broken down into 25 readings with accompanying discussion-type questions.  If you are looking for a study on character and life truths for your teens, this is the ticket.  Some of the topics covered include:  ‘Set Goals and write them down,’ ‘Don’t Hate – Instead Forgive,’ 'Be Slow to Judge,' and 'Take Life One Step at a Time.' The readings include quotations from various sources such as scripture, famous people, and literature.  Ed also uses personal anecdotes and other stories to illustrate and reinforce each topic.  At the end of each reading are some questions for discussion.  They are pretty deep questions and generally I had to explain the questions as we had discussion time. Our family has been going through a challenging situation over the past year.  I have found 25 Truths to be motivating and thought provoking to me and my children.  It seems as though the reading we do each day is always appropriate for whatever issues we have been dealing with.  I have enjoyed being able to hear my kids hearts as we go through the discussion questions for each topic.  It is amazing what they will reveal in a relaxed devotional setting.
     We have been reading these truths together as family devotion time.  The readings only take about 5 minutes to read aloud and then we spend about 15 minutes (more or less) in discussion.  The readings are timeless and can be read and discussed many times over the years.  I want to go through the book again this fall with my kids, this time having them read each section alone and answer the discussion questions in writing before we discuss them together.  I am interested to see how their answers develop as they mature.  We have been enjoying our time together with this book.  It has opened avenues of discussion and prompted us each to dig deeper into some areas in our own Bible study times. I have been making notes of additional scripture passages that we look at and have been jotting down some of the items my kids have discussed as we go along.  They haven't found every single topic to be interesting, necessarily; but, they have all been relevant.  There is even one reading about using compound interest.  For my spendthrift kids, I think this reading was incredibly useful.  I recommend it to any family searching for a relevant, topical, study of character / life truths.
     My friends on the Schoolhouse Review Crew have been implementing the 25 Truths: Life Principles of the Happiest & Most Successful Among Us book also.  To read their reviews, click on the banner below.