Book review: Lee, P. and Bishop, L. (2008). Positive images – positive effect: activities for young people and positive results. Russell House Publishing Ltd. 167pp, ISBN 9781905541218

While the publication date of Positive Images – Positive Effect, by Paul Lee and Louise Bishop, is not particularly recent, the editors of the SJRCC asked me to review it because they have only just become aware that it is available free, in pdf format (more on that at the end of this review). As the title suggests, this book is packed with activities and games for engagement with groups of young people and adults. The activities offer a tool kit to use to encourage and develop positive relationship and teambuilding skills and self-confidence. In the introductory pages the authors clearly state their goal to empower both the facilitator and the participants with affirming experiences of group work. I was hooked from early on in the narrative by the obvious passion to include young people whose life and educational experiences would be most typically ones of exclusion and failure. The book celebrates the right of children and young people to be recognised for who they are and for what they can achieve, enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. There was a deep understanding of the struggles of such young people to feel enabled to 'join in' and feel good about themselves and their contributions.