Kid Konnection: Careers

Every Saturday, I host a feature called Kid Konnection -- a regular weekend feature about anything related to children's books. This week, I'm going to share with you informative book for kids who are ready to start thinking about their futures.

Summary: It's never too early for your teen or tween to start thinking about a career, and Careers is the perfect way to do it. Inspiring and imaginative as well as practical, Careers has charts and tables that help young people gauge interest about possible careers — it's like having a personal career advisor by your side whenever you need it!

Speech pathologist? Check. Zookeeper? Check. Jewelry designer? Check.

Nurse? Architect? Chef? Check, check, and check.

Covering more than 400 jobs, Careers is organized in an easy-to-navigate, clear structure that helps guide teen and tween readers. Check at-a-glance summary panels for chosen careers to learn about salary, working hours, training, and career paths. Cross-referenced job matrix tables offer another way to learn about all the options. Tweens and teens with no idea of what kind of job to look for can start with their favorite school subjects or hobbies and find relevant careers from there. It may not be time for your teen or tween to prepare a resume and find a job, but the advice in Careers can help young people start thinking about the future! -- DK

Booking Daughter is a sophomore in high school and she's already thinking about colleges. Of course, Penn State is in the lead (actually the only one she's really considering); however, she's not entirely sure what she wants to do with the rest of her life. I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing, but she is feeling pressure from guidance counselors to figure out what she wants to be when she grows up. As a mom, I keep telling her it's okay to keep her mind open -- I certainly didn't know what I wanted to "be" when I was 15 years old. But all the same, it's a stressful time for her.

Evidently, she's not alone. According to a study by Dr. Fritz Grupe on NBCNews, 80% of students applying to college haven't picked a career path. And that's where the new book CAREERS: THE GRAPHIC GUIDE TO FINDING THE PERFECT JOB FOR YOU can come in handy. This guide covers just about any career you can think of -- from politician, to microbiologist, to a professional athlete. Over 400 careers are featured in this handy dandy book, and it can definitely help teens to at least see what's available to them.

I love CAREERS! It's a fantastic book and so much fun to read. I'm not even looking for a new career and I enjoyed reading this book. One thing I appreciated is how this material is presented. It's so user-friendly and appealing especially for teens. Each profession is featured on a two page spread and has different graphics, charts, and panels. Here's an example:

Information that is included for each job includes industry profiles, salary figures, working hours, required training and skills guides, and career path maps. In addition, teens can learn about related professions tied to a specific area of interest by referencing a job matrix table. And for those teens who don't have a clue, they can find career paths based on their interests or favorite school subjects.

I think CAREERS is an excellent resource for today's middle school and high school teens -- this book should be in every library. Highly recommended!

Thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy of this book.

If you'd like to participate in Kid Konnection and share a post about anything related to children's books (picture, middle grade, or young adult) from the past week, please leave a comment as well as a link below with your name/blog name and the title of the book! Feel free to grab the little button too!