Book Review: Wake Up Generation

Wake Up, Generation by Paige Omartion
You have a life... how will you use it?

Click the cover to buy

When Paige Armstrong was diagnosed with bone cancer at ten years old, her entire world was turned inside out.  However, what she never dreamed even then was that a Christmas CD she made in the hospital with a friend would eventually lead to her being a semi-celebrity as a recording artist, world traveler, child sponsor, author, and more.

Honestly, I'm not sure what to say about this book.  It was well-written, both in general and in light of its content and target audience.  I enjoyed reading it and thought the stories shared both to start the book off and later on to get readers thinking were amazing and well-chosen.  What I particularly loved was the personal approach Paige took - talking to individuals each made differently by God.  Another thing I appreciated was that, in light of how different each person can be compared to another, she covered a variety of topics and tangible ways our lives can be used.

The focus on a personal mission was the best point of the book, I think.  In my mind, my word for 2013 - "dream" - can be used to refer to goals, but it can also be used as another word for vision, passion, mission.  So this book seems to resonate well with my dreams of this year for me!

My favorite part of the book was its workbook approach.  At first, when I picked this book up, I was expecting something very similar to Do Hard Things - and in many, many ways it's the same.  But then as you get into the book, it switches gears from "call to action" to the "how-to" of what each person reading the book was made by God to do in this world.

One last thing I want to point out was the awesome extras available on Paige's website, www.paigeomartian.com.  These in particular made the book really pop, or added the "wow factor" I supposed you could say.  I mean, it just made it seem so much more real and personal coming from a girl with photos, stories, links, and videos on her webpage about her experience rather than the girl who got cancer and wrote a book.  I really don't know how else to explain it.  There's something about Paige's voice combined with her online extras that made this book different from others like it.

Before I close out this review, though, I want potential readers/buyers to know something: there are several chapters in this book where it seems like Paige is going in a strange direction - saying something quite opposite of what I know to be Biblically right - but as she continues, you generally realize she didn't mean what you thought she did.  Some parts were written in a confusing way and you have to finish each chapter before getting the full picture of what she's trying to say.  Also, most verses quoted/referenced are not KJV.

I give this book four stars and intend to start putting into practice the things I learned about myself from it.

 I received this book for free in exchange for a review from Glass Road Public Relations.  All opinions expressed are entirely my own.