Keeping Your Cool by Lou Priolo

Keeping Your Cool: A Teen’s Survival Guide by Lou Priolo. P&R, capsule 2014 (new edition). 251 pages, unhealthy including appendices.

Reading Level: Young Adults, ages 12-15
Maturity Level: 5 (ages 12-14) and up

Bottom Line: Keeping Your Cool effectively shows teens how to curb their anger and form godly responses to the frustrations of parental control.

“Are you right to be angry?” That was the question the Lord asked Cain while Cain was stewing over the supposed favoritism shown his younger brother. “Behold,” God warned, “sin is crouching at your door and desires to have you.” Anger is the strongest passion many teens experience during these tumultuous growing-up years, and if they don’t get a grip on it, sin will “have” them for sure. Several years ago Lou Priolo, a biblical counselor, published The Heart of Anger, a parents’ guide for dealing with teen rebellion. At the suggestion of two young fans met at a home educators’ conference, he wrote a book on the same subject addressed to teens. It’s one of those books I wish I had read around the age of, say, 14. The author assumes the reader has believing, caring, but imperfect parents and gives him the scriptural lowdown about how a godly teen is supposed to respond. This doesn’t just mean controlling one’s temper but also building one’s character: Christians don’t “break” habits—pagans do. Christians replace bad habits with good ones.

Some outstanding features of this approach include examining the “root of bitterness” and its fruit, handling rejection (both perceived and real), and making a respectful appeal when you genuinely believe you haven’t been treated fairly. Heart examination is a big part of all this, and the centerpiece of the book is detailed instruction on keeping a “heart journal,” where the reader digs into his own responses to identify sinful behaviors and deal with them scripturally. These tools are invaluable, and yet I don’t know how many teens (especially the angry ones!) would be excited about receiving this book. It might be wise for parents to read The Heart of Anger first, then introduce their child to Keeping Your Cool a chapter or a section at a time. I thought the author could have made more appeals to the gospel and modeling the patience of Christ.  He assumes his readers are Christians (the first appendix is “How to Become a Christian” if that’s not the case), but Christians need continual reminders of how and why we’ve become new creatures. Still, the information is invaluable—blessed is the young man or woman who can gain control over their anger while still young.

Cautions: None

Overall Value: 4.5 (out of 5)

• Moral/worldview value: 5
• Artistic value: 4

Categories: Nonfiction, How-to, Christian, Young Adults, Character Values, Life Issues
Cover image from Amazon