No Lifeguard On Duty

Tyler – we’re asking ourselves what’s going on inside your head that could make you think what you did last night was a good idea. And nothing you’ve said here today helps us figure that out.

Book: No Lifeguard On Duty by David Lambert, Focus On The Family Publishing, 2003

 

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Target Audience: Boys 13-20

Subjects: Standards, Media, Relationships with Parents, Growing Up, Friendships, Witnessing

Summary: Tyler is ready to grow up and find out for himself what is right and wrong. He’s not interested in trusting his mom’s judgment or a rating system anymore. He wants to know what’s out there and what makes it appealing. So it starts with sneaking to see a movie everyone who knows him is confident he would never choose to see, and that he knows his mom wouldn’t approve of. Then when he goes off to California he finds it quite easy to explore everything. His cousin has abandoned standards and found a group of non-Christian friends who are exposing him to all sorts of things. Tyler is fascinated with their intellectual discussions about music and movies. But when he goes back home, he finds he doesn’t want anyone to know what he’s listening to or what decisions he made while he was visiting his cousin. And when his sister gets a hold of some of his new cd’s, he has to look at it from a radical perspective. How can he balance his music appreciation and desire for intellectual discussions about it with his choice to follow Christ and do what honors Him?

Notes: This book gets deep into discussion of ethics and personal morals! Tyler has to make a decision for himself. He has gone along with his mom’s standards and others, but as he grows up, the time comes to decide for himself what is right and wrong. This book does a great job looking through how to make wise choices about media. I highly recommend it to all young boys, and even though the main character is a guy, I recommend it for girls as well.

Recommendation Scale: 5/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

Philippians 4:8 – Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy think about such things.