Suggested Reading

Recommended Reading

KIDPOWER Guide for Teachers and Parents by Irene van der Zande
Available from KIDPOWER Vancouver for $20.00.
Packed full of information on how to teach children safety skills.

The Gift of Fear : Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence
by Gavin de Becker

People don't just "snap" and become violent, says de Becker, whose clients include federal government agencies, celebrities, police departments, and shelters for battered women. "There is a process as observable, and often as predictable, as water coming to a boil." Learning to predict violence is the cornerstone to preventing it.

This classic book about personal safety gives a compelling explanation of the ways in which we can use our intuition to protect ourselves from danger. The description of the tactics which attackers use and the signals of intuition are particularly brilliant and the stories are fascinating.

Mr. de Becker recommends FULLPOWER violence prevention and full-force self-defense programs.

If you have not read this gold mine of a book, give yourself the gift of doing it now. If you have, read it again!

Protecting the Gift: Keeping Children and Teenagers Safe (And Parents Sane)
by Gavin de Becker

Mr. de Becker is an internationally known violence prevention expert. His latest book, Protecting the Gift, is written to help parents enhance their children's safety, while reducing unwarranted fear and worry. The book includes two chapters that specifically address school shootings, and also addresses the selection processes for babysitters, nannies, childcare services, and schools. Mr. de Becker recommends KIDPOWER's violence prevention and self-esteem building programs throughout the book.

HELPING TEENS STOP VIOLENCE:
A Practical Guide for Counselors, Educators, and Parents. Written by Allan Creighton, Battered Women's Alternatives with Paul Kivel, Oakland Men's Project. (Hunter House, Inc. Alameda, California, USA.)

This book describes a multi-racial step-by-step program which empowers young people to resist abuse and prevent violence in their relationships. The exercises described in the book help to build understanding, communication, and positive relationships between young people.

The Courage to Heal
by Ellen Bass and Laura Davis

This ground-breaking book is an internationally acclaimed resource for survivors of childhood sexual abuse and their supporters. It provides extremely comprehensive, supportive and knowledgeable insight in how to help people heal from sexual abuse.
Ellen Bass is President of the Board of Directors for KIDPOWER

Free Your Mind: The Book for Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Youth and their Allies
by Ellen Bass and Kate Kaufman.

This book offers positive, practical guidance for young gay, lesbian and bisexual people and the adults who want to help them.

Beauty Bites Beast: Awakening the Warrior Within Women and Girls
by Ellen Snortland

This passionate book describes how Full Force Self Defense can empower women and how it is every woman's right to know how to protect herself. The book actively promotes KIDPOWER programs for all ages.

REVIVING OPHELIA: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls
by Mary Pipher, Ph.D. (Ballantine Books, 1994)

This enlightening book uses case histories to give a vivid picture of how social pressures undermine the self confidence of teenage girls, causing many to engage in a wide range of self destructive behaviors and to be very vulnerable to abuse and assault. There are insights here for young people in their preteen, teen, and young adult years and for any one who wants to support young people in getting safely through this difficult time.

REAL BOYS
by William Pollack, Ph.D. (Henry Holt and Company, 1998)

There are hundreds of books and web sites which offer resources to help build safety and confidence. Each month, we will feature one for you. Each will be a resource we believe to be IMPORTANT, CLEAR, USEABLE and applicable to REAL LIFE.

"Real Boys" gives readers a compelling explanation of how conventional expectations of men damage boys, making them more vulnerable to substance abuse, gangs, depression, and violence. The book offers wonderful models for how to help boys grow up to become strong healthy self confident men.

Real World Safety for Women by Christine Schlattner and Michael Linehan

Christine Schlattner and Michael Linehan have many years of experience teaching safety and self protection in a format very similar to Kidpower. Their book is one of the best I have seen in terms of offering practical, empowering advice to women about personal safety. This is book is worth reading as a primer before attending one of our workshops. It is available though the Kidpower Vancouver office.

Total Awareness - A Woman's Safety Book by Darren and Beth Laur

This is an excellent book written by a police officer and his wife in Victoria, BC. It covers a wide range of topics with a Canadian perspective, which is hard to find in this type of work. The book contains a great deal of useful information for women and men, wherever they live, packed into a concise, readable volume. It is a great value, sold on his website at www.personalprotectionsystems.ca. A more detailed review of this book can be found at the same location.

Strong on Defense by Sanford Strong

Sanford Strong is spent years as a police detective investigating and analyzing hundreds of violent crimes. His book provides an unblinking analysis of what went right, and sometimes very wrong, for the victims of such crimes. This is not a book for kids. However, it is a valuable resource for adults who want to learn how to develop a mind-set that will help to keep them safe in a variety of situations.

Dead or Alive, the Choice is Yours by Geoff Thompson

This is a book written by a martial artist, mostly for martial artists, but can be of value to everyone. Thompson spent 9 years as a bouncer in some of London's toughest bars, and his gritty writing style and approach to personal safety reflects this experience. This book captures many of the essential elements in several of Thompson's other works. It is the one to buy if you are only going to try one of his offerings.

The Fence by Geoff Thompson

Another excellent book by Geoff Thompson, and part of a series of thin paper back manuals that can be hard to find. The emphasis in the book is on the use of the same open handed, universal stop sign that Kidpower teaches as the Ready Position. Thompson describes in detail several variations of this technique, as well as their tactical applications.

The Art of Fighting Without Fighting by Geoff Thompson

From a very violent background Thompson has emerged as a proponent of non violent conflict resolution, while recognizing that the use of physical force is sometimes necessary as a last resort. This short book is packed with useful information on how to read a situation, and know how to find an alternative to using physical force.

Real World Self Defense by Jerry VanCook

Jerry VanCook describes himself as having spent a misguided youth before becoming an undercover cop. Reading his book certainly provides a hint of the darker side of police work and personal protection. There is a great deal of emphasis here on the defensive use of weapons, and I certainly do not advocate sleeping with a knife on a string around your neck, but there is some very interesting and useful information here.

Bullies, Tyrants, and Impossible People by Ron Shapiro and Mark Jankowski

This book on the surface might seem to have little to do with personal safety and self protection. However, the descriptions of the types of difficult people one may encounter, and the strategies for dealing with them, has broad applications for dealing with everything from a daughter who is frantically distraught over her homework assignment, to an armed home intruder.

The Safe Zone: A Kid's Guide to Personal Safety by Donna Chaiet

You will recognize much of the content of this book as being very similar to the material taught in Kidpower. This is because many of the approaches taught in Kidpower and in this book have common origins. The book is well written and aimed at kids or adults. It is one of the few books on this page that you can give to your child to read. It would be a good primer or follow up to a Kidpower class for kids or teens.