This book was written to help children, parents and educators. Teen pregnancy is on the rise in all socio-economic classes and all ethnic groups. The cartoon format conveys a message of abstinence, through a cast of characters that teens can identify with. Levi Penne was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin and attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison graduating with a Bachelor of Science in 1976. He has spent his entire career in the fi eld of outdoor education and youth development. He is a very private individual and enjoys the peace and solitude of his residence in Northern Wisconsin enjoying silent sports like canoeing, kayaking, biking, camping, crosscountry skiing and snowshoeing. As a father and grandfather, he hopes this book impacts the lives of teens all over the world. Levi is inspired and motivated by Garrison Keillor, who uses humor and storytelling so well. Enjoy the cartoon images of life at Abstinence High School and laugh out loud!

Critical Mass is an in depth look at what happened in the Catholic Church during the first generation after the Second Vatican Council, a period corresponding to the pontificates of Paul VI through John Paul II. The book starts with a close look at some key conciliar documents. Other chapters study how Tradition was systematically dismantled; the roles of the clergy and laity in the post-Vatican II Church; the mindsets of liberal, traditional, and conservative Catholics; how the Church became a turgid bureaucracy all the way down to the parish level; the dumbing down of religious education; the Church's post-Vatican II approach to social justice issues; the influence of Radical Feminism on the Church. The book concludes with an interesting - even radical - prognosis for the future.

A trilogy of Christmas Lawrence's reflection into his past behaviors and negative practices that consequentially brought him from a thirteen room mansion into the most deplorable part of the Liberian refugees' camp. Betraying some editorial accuracy to emphasize his character's grumpy retrospect, the author cleverly managed to depict Christmas' unique prospective on life and relationships, while frequently exposing the base of man's inimitable psychosis.

The Abstinence Teacher illuminates the powerful emotions that run beneath the placid surface of modern American family life, and explores the complicated spiritual and sexual lives of ordinary people. It is elegantly and simply written, characterized by the distinctive mix of satire and compassion that has become Tom Perrotta's trademark. Stonewood Heights is the perfect place to raise children: it's got good schools, solid values and a healthy real estate market. Parents in the town are involved in their children's lives, and often in other children's lives, too—coaching sports, driving carpool, focusing on enriching experiences. Ruth Ramsey is the high school human sexuality teacher whose openness is not appreciated by all her students—or their parents. Her daughter's soccer coach is Tim Mason, a former stoner and rocker whose response to hitting rock bottom was to reach out and be saved. Tim's introduction of Christianity on the playing field horrifies Ruth, while his evangelical church sees a useful target in the loose-lipped sex ed teacher. But when these two adversaries in a small-town culture war actually talk to each other, a surprising friendship begins to develop. "Perrotta is that rare combination: a satirist with heart....Those who haven't curled up on the couch with this writer's books are missing a very great pleasure."—Seattle Times "Tom Perrotta is a truth-telling, unshowy chronicler of modern-day America."—The NewYork Times Book Review (in a front-page review)