Book Review – Chicken Soup for the Soul: Inspiration for the Young at Heart

Chicken Soup for the Soul – Inspiration for the Young at Heart

• Paperback: 370 pages
• Publisher: CSS Publishing (2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN: 978-1-935096-71-9
• SMRP: $14.95

To some life ends with retirement; to others, it just begins again. The years after 60 are what one makes of it – new adventures, new careers, the privileges and wisdom of age. Chicken Soup for the Soul: Inspiration for the Young at Heart‘s 101 stories of inspiration, humor, and wisdom about life at a certain age bring together the stories, poems, and cartoons that celebrate senior life.

As I read Alison Shelton’s The Other Toy Story I could imagine myself. I am no technological wizard. I loathe words like unassembled and batteries not included. I long for the days of long ago when toys came fully assembled and decorated. I remember imagination and endless kid power making toys work. It was truly a gentler time of baby dolls, simple games as opposed to the stress of today’s modern toy store electronics.

I likened myself to Shifting Sand’s author Sally Schwartz Friedman. It was so much fun being a participant instead of an observer. Family gatherings and vacations changed when the next generation, the children, became adults and had their own families. Roles shifted and reversed. We are no longer leaders; our sons and daughters, protective, watchful, caring, are now in control.

I looked into the mirror after I read Robert Tell’s poem Mushy Face Is No Disgrace. His rhymed couplets’ rhythm and verse left me interpret the images. How can time change youth to an old fossil with wrinkles and gray, balding hair?

I chuckled at March Tyler Nobelman’s, Bruce Robinson’s, and Mark Parisi’s captioned b&w graphics. Too bad that Chicken Soup for the Soul doesn’t compile a book of drawings like these. Funny and to the point, they present life in perspective – now vs back when. They are better than a thousand words. Too bad we all took things so seriously; a good laugh laugh at hair, transportation, spousal retirement, kids’ rooms might have made things different.

The product(s) featured in this review was provided free of cost to me for the sole purpose of product testing and review. This review has not been monetarily compensated and is based on the views and opinions of my family and/or self. Please note that the opinions reflected in this post have not been influenced by the sponsor in any way.