Book Review & Giveaway - U.N.I.Q.U.E. Kids: Growing My Leadership Garden

About The Book

“Be the change you want to see in the world” is one of the most well-known leadership quotes in history. Considering children will lead the world in another two decades, Gandhi’s words carry significant weight for parents, grandparents and educators responsible for fostering the desired change. Debra Slover, grandmother and founder of Leadership Garden Enterprises, LLC, takes this responsibility seriously, providing educational tools for parents and grandparents including the children’s book, U.N.I.Q.U.E. KIDS: Growing My Leadership Garden.

Written as a classic fable, U.N.I.Q.U.E. KIDS: Growing My Leadership Garden is an illustrated book that empowers children, steers them toward positive patterning, and shows them how to plant and nurture the seeds of good leadership while ridding their metaphorical gardens of the "weeds" (negative qualities that can harm children's self-esteem).

The main character, a sheep named Hugh, suffers from low self-esteem, stemming from an environment where he was often criticized and never appreciated. When he stumbles into Leadership Farm, where a more open and loving way of being is the norm, he learns from human farm staffers as well as other animals how to develop his own leadership qualities and how to tend his own Leadership Garden.

The acronym U.N.I.Q.U.E. stands for Understanding, Nurturing, Inventive, Quality, Unstoppable, Expression. One letter at a time, Slover walks children through harnessing the six qualities together to form a "Leadership Garden Legacy" based on mutual respect, cooperation, teamwork, and other values.

The book is designed as a learning aid with the active participation of adults who can read the book with a child and reinforce the concepts. Grandparents particularly enjoy using the book as a way to take an active role in developing their grandchildren's leadership potential.

“Time spent developing a child’s leadership is priceless in both time and money,” says Slover. “It’s an investment that pays great dividends, now and in the future.”

About The Author

Debra Slover established Leadership Garden Services (formerly Synergy in Motion) in 2003 out of a commitment and passion to empower the unstoppable leader in each of us.

Little did her parents know that they sealed the fate of the child they raised and named Debra - a name that stands for "bee" - as the pollinator of the world's Leadership Garden.

When Debra was 23, she lost her mother to suicide. Transcending her loss, she applied her passion, creativity, and quest to thrive to her vision of empowering leadership greatness.

In 2006, Debra formed Leader Garden Press, and wrote U.N.I.Q.U.E.: Growing the Leader Within to articulate her passion and commitment to empower true leadership with a unique purpose and aim.

An outgrowth of this effort was the formation of Leadership Garden Enterprises, LLC as the parent company of her two business entities. Debra's ultimate dream was to provide funding, support, and recognition of leadership greatness efforts where working cooperatively makes a positive difference locally and globally.

In 2008, Debra achieved her dream and established the Leadership Garden Fund. She now spends her time pollinating Leadership Gardens.

She is the proud mother and grandmother of five children and five grandchildren. Her greatest joy in life is nurturing her blended family Leadership Garden.

Debra lives in Albany, Oregon with her husband, Terry, and dog Mooko.

Background:

Debra earned her Bachelor of Science Degree in Health Education from Oregon State University in 1975 and has spent more than 32 years working with youth and adults in developing leadership capacity, both at the state and national level.

She has an extensive background in custom program design, tailored curriculum development, small and large group facilitation, and leadership coaching. Debra is highly skilled in event planning having implemented over 20 youth-led statewide conferences, two national conferences, and over 39 youth/adult leadership camps.

Her experience includes 20 years as Director of Oregon Student Safety On the Move (OSSOM), a statewide youth leadership program promoting safe and healthy communities operated out of Oregon State University, and seven years teaching in public schools.

Throughout these years, Debra has been a presenter at numerous national, statewide and local conferences, meetings, and seminars and served two terms as President of the National Association of Teen Institutes and eight years on the Board of Directors. She has been a member, as well as chair, of numerous statewide and local committees focusing on safety and health concerns. She served one term as the Chair of the Oregon Coalition to Reduce Underage Drinking and several years of the board.

My Take On The Book

I read this book to my five year old and I didn't know if she would comprehend the concepts listed within it or not, but I was surprised that she did enjoy it and I have to say that I also enjoyed the message itself that it shared with the reader.Being a fairy tale, the author has woven a tale that children will connect with and which will leave a lasting impression in their mind. She explains that the child's mind has great potential and she parallels it with that of a leadership garden. With the idea of the mind being a garden, it must be cultivated so that the child can find the leader that is within him/herself.

I know that Diva-J probably did not understand everything as Slover states that the leadership concepts are explained with a vocabulary appropriate for ages 8 to 12. As Slover states, "It is an ideal book to be read aloud and discussed over eight sessions at home, in school or in youth groups."

The book itself uses great imagery to push the reader's imagination. The book works to tap into the innate ability within a child. The book is not a quick fix and change, as always, takes time and effort, but the author is working to empower the reader to truly hone their inner leader and with this, their garden grows and flourishes.

If this books sounds like one that you would like to add to your own collection, you can find it over at Amazon!

Giveaway

How would you like to win a copy of this book? I will be giving away 1 copy to a lucky reader! All you need to do is let me know why you would have an interest in this book to be considered. The contest will run for one week and will end on March 3, 2010.

Bonus Entries:

Blog about my Giveaway by linking back to this post (1 entries per blog post. Please leave each entry in separate comments with your URL link in order for it to count)

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Winners are chosen at random, if you want all your chances counted, make sure you leave individual comments, not all of them in one!

Winner has 48 hours to contact me or another name will be chosen.

All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by the company.  Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Please refer to this site's Terms of Use  for more information. I have been compensated or given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions.


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