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Oh, the places they'll go
Books to help graduates navigate the bumpy road of life REVIEWS BY ABBY PLESSER Listen carefully and you can almost hear "Pomp and Circumstance" echoing through the halls of your local high school or bellowing from the lawn of your local university. It's the graduation season, one of the most exciting and important moments in any young person's life (including mine). Graduation is a time of bittersweet endings, new beginnings and more than anything, celebration. So this month, prepare your favorite grad for the next chapter in his or her life with these candid, insightful and eminently useful recent books. College 101
By Harlan Cohen Sourcebooks, $14.95 400 pages, ISBN 1402203373
So now what?
By Susan Morem Checkmark, $34.95 224 pages, ISBN 0816056765
Avoiding the office
By Colleen Kinder Running Press, $12.95 240 pages, ISBN 0762421894
Abby Plesser will graduate from Vanderbilt University this month.
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For most of us, the months between high school graduation and our first days of college are filled with excitement, anticipation and, well, a lot of questions. For the soon-to-be college student (and his or her parents), syndicated columnist Harlan Cohen has all the answers in his hilarious guide, The Naked Roommate: And 107 Other Issues You Might Run Into in College. Filled with practical advice, expert opinions and first-hand accounts from collegians, The Naked Roommate guides students through situations such as handling a difficult roommate, succeeding in the classroom, and managing money while exposing the truth about dating, drinking and experimenting on campus. Fun and fact-filled, The Naked Roommate is an excellent resource for the college-bound high school graduate.
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College graduation is a time of enormous achievement. But for too many grads, it's also a time of uncertainty and insecurity (just ask any of my soon-to-be-graduate friends). To facilitate a healthy transition from college life to the working world, best-selling author Susan Morem is back with 101 Tips for Graduates: A Code of Conduct for Success and Happiness in Life. Through a series of easy-to-follow tips, Morem encourages readers to build strong communication, leadership and social skills in order to find success on the job and in their personal lives. From advice on how to give the perfect interview to pointers for bolstering confidence, 101 Tips for Graduates is a detailed and clearly organized guide for the career-oriented college grad.
Let's face it: not all college grads are ready to enter the workforce. Sure, getting a job and working 9 to 5 is an almost inevitable part of growing up. But many graduates aren't ready for the daunting task of finding employment, settling down and working their 20s away. Luckily for those adventure-seekers, recent Yale graduate and world traveler Colleen Kinder has some fabulous, if unconventional, advice in her book, Delaying the Real World: A Twentysomething's Guide to Seeking Adventure. From leading a teen group through the Rocky Mountains to teaching English in Korea to working on an organic farm, Kinder gives grads the ideas, resources and more than anything, the confidence they need to "think outside the box." A must-read for students with a non-traditional career path in mind and parents who need some reassurance, Delaying the Real World is practical, refreshing and inspiring.