Excerpt from the review:

I’ve stopped reading many self-help books. My blood pressure can’t stand it.

Every now and then, I come across one that is evidence-based yet written in language that is readable to a typical high school graduate. I’ve read such a book lately. It’s called Strong Families, Successful Students: Helping Teenagers Reach Their Full Potential by NCFR member Stephen Gavazzi.

What a reader will find surprising right away is that although the title lets the reader know that academic development is the goal, it’s not a collection of the usual tiresome litany of rules, rules, rules that parents must enforce (which in my experience, as a mother, just makes for a lot of yelling.) Gavazzi zeroes in on the source of academic success—the family relationships… that if families use their strengths and work together, they can build a foundation that makes the rest possible. In lieu of the finger-wagging expert, Gavazzi tells families that they are experts in their own families. It’s not anecdotal—Dr. Gavazzi is an experienced therapist and scholar. And although he’s a professor at Ohio State, the book is not remote and professorial. In fact—the language is so understandable, that I had to stop after a chapter or so and switch gears.  I’m used to reading material at a much higher level—I had to imagine reading it if I didn’t know anything about our field.  It was a refreshing change.

The book takes a family through an educational therapeutic process that many families can perform at home on their own. This is important to me, because what many people ask of families is to “go seek professional help.”  Sometimes “professional help” just isn’t there.  Sometimes those of us in the academic community forget that we tend to have health insurance and tend to live in population centers with therapists close by. I grew up in northern Minnesota where even Lewis and Clark didn’t go. When I was in high school, there was one itinerant therapist who served several small towns within a two hour radius.  In addition, there is an estimated 45 -47 million Americans who do not have health insurance—it’s very likely that even fewer have access to family therapy. I heard on Minnesota Public Radio just yesterday that 20% of homeowners are “upside down” on their mortgages. We’re coming out of a devastating recession. If typical families can find some help in an inexpensive paperback, I’m all for it. This is not the book to help families dealing with severe pathology. Clearly there are many “don’t try this at home” situations. But as Gavazzi says, this book is for “good enough” families who could use some help in improving communication and setting the stage for a healthier family. And healthy families are the basis for optimal academic development.  

Although I said the book is not anecdotal (in the scientific sense), it has some charming anecdotes—more like parables—that introduce a principle and then illustrate it in a real life example. I won’t be a spoiler and quote any of them, because I want readers to be surprised by laughter, as I was.