I Call Shotgun by Tommy Newberry and Curt Beavers - Book Review

From the back of the book (a selection):

For fathers who long to make a positive, lasting difference in their sons’ lives, passing down a legacy of values and ideals that will help them mature into men—into true men, leaders, voices of strength and wisdom for the next generation and beyond—the challenge has become more daunting than ever. I Call Shotgun is a practical playbook designed to equip dads for this vital task, increasing our influence and deepening our father-son relationships.
Written as letters from the authors to their own sons, the book’s sixty-three bite-size chapters cover a wide range of territory, from courage and compassion to finance and faith, from peer pressure and purity to hard work and humility. The life lessons within these pages teach sons how to cultivate integrity, follow True North, avoid victimitis, hang with the wise, laugh at political correctness, train for adversity, seek God first, make no excuses, build productive habits, and much more.

When I had the opportunity to review I Call Shotgun, by Tommy Newberry and Curt Beavers, I seized the chance.  Being a father to a young son, I'm always looking for helpful advice in raising him to be a man of God. This book seemed to be right up my alley, especially since it contains many short chapters tackling a single subject.

The chapters, or letters, contain many varied topics.  Some of the topics addressed are as follows: Do
Courageous Things, Celebrate Other People's Success, Treasure America's Personality, Seek God First...Every Day, Learn How to Read the Bible, Revere Our Founding Principles, Think Before You Speak, and Memorize Bible Verses, among many others.  In total, 64 topics are covered. I feel like reading these different topics was a mixed bag.  Some were vary pertinent to me, while others were a good idea but didn't really connect. This may be a function of where I am as a father and my son's age.

While the letter format makes it easy to pick up the book for a few short moments, I also found it a little distracting.  The authors used different fonts to represent their letters.  They also addressed the letters to their sons.  My issue was that I kept trying to figure out who was writing to who.  It's a minor quibble, I know, but one that interfered with my immersion in the topics.

As a whole, I feel that this book is average.  It probably hits right in the middle of the father/son books I've read.  The content was average, with some topics more relevant or covered better than others.  I would recommend this to fathers looking for a quick-hitting guide with varied topics, with sons in the tween to teen age.

I received a review copy of this book from Thomas Nelson's Booksneeze program in exchange for an honest review.