Twelve Smooth Stones

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eBook$7.59
A father writes to his daughter about the things that really matter

Chuck Meyer

192 PP
Paper
ISBN: 978-1-896836-27-0

Chuck Meyer met his daughter-to-be, Michal, when he was thirty-nine and she was six. His life hasn't been the same since. Written ten years after their first meeting, Twelve Smooth Stones chronicles their relationship as Michal navigates the tricky territory of the teenage years.

Chuck Meyer, Author

During his life Chuck Meyer gave 200-300 speaking engagements a year on the hard topic of death and dying and managed to have audiences rolling in the aisles. A graduate of Earlham College, Union Theological Seminary, and the University of Bridgeport, he got his practical education working in a New York prison and a Texas jail. He was Vice President of Operations and chaplain at St. David's Medical Center in Austin Texas, he is the author of 10 books, including murder mysteries, humor, and titles on death and grieving. When he married Debi Ludeman, daughter Michal (age 6) came along as a part of the package. She inspired him to write. Unfortunately, this gifted author died in a tragic car accident in 2000.

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Media Reviews

J. Keith Miller, Author of The Secret Life of the Soul

A personal, often funny, and yet thoughtful and caring travelogue through the rough terrain of the teenage years. Deals with real issues adolescents face, in user-friendly language, and offers a level playing field where parents and teens can talk about difficult-to-discuss issues. There is a lot of hard-to-come-by practical wisdom here.

Janet Silman, The Observer

Easy reading, this loving and astute treatment of teenage issues is a useful book for adolescents, parents and youth leaders.

Brad O'Donnell, The Brunswickan

As advice from fathers to daughters goes, Chuck Meyer hits the marks. Or rather, he hits all of the marks, just to make sure he didn't miss anything.

Twelve Smooth Stones makes for a fast, engrossing read, as you wonder more and more toward the end: just how does he make these connections?

If you like books about esoteric blends of old-school spirituality and New Age pop-culture, go get it; there's stranger stuff out there, but none of it is quite as applicable in real life as Twelve Smooth Stones.

The Sunday Daily News

This is a profoundly nice book that's about - and aimed at - middle-class families of articulate people well-schooled in the need for communication.

Peter Griffiths, Rural Roots

Twelve Smooth Stones is a book of sharing, not lecturing. It is a book of being honest, having humour, and very large heart. To the reader, it presents a philosophy for parenting, rather than an answer for the problems that we all face, both of us parents and our teenagers, during the adolescent years.

Meyer has the ability to talk, and share both ideas and feelings, without lecturing. He also deals with those sensitive issues, like sex and religion, without sermonizing, despite his being a clergyman.

Julia V Arce, Religious Studies Review

If "Dear Abbey" became "From Daddy," Chuck Meyer would be famous. In a labyrinth of letters to his high school daughter, Meyer honestly and humorously confronts such issues as dating, success, sex, peer pressure, family tension, and God. His work provides a narrative basis for discussing a variety of important ethical concerns. The stones of advice and autobiography pass from father to daughter in an atmosphere that refreshingly reveals today's teenagers as maturing people who deserve intelligent conversation with adult parents and peers. Any curious teenager or any concerned adult could benefit from these unique love letters that open up the contemporary world of growing up.