Three books on Drug Addiction by best selling author Sheryl Letzgus McGinnis reviewed by two readers

My name is Gloria Schramm and I am a freelance writer who would like to submit my reviews, herewith, of a worthy trio of books, heralding a strong voice in addiction today. Please print my 3 reviews under the respective book titles. Thank you for running a worthwhile website to help those who suffer from a terrible disease. By reviewer Gloria Schramm.

I am delighted to write a review for all three of her books because I can truthfully state that her books have been a tremendous help to a lot of people and deserve all the recognition they can get. By reviewer Kathy Miller.

I AM YOUR DISEASE: THE MANY FACES OF ADDICTION

By Sheryl Letzgus McGinnis with Heiko Ganzer, LCSW, CASAC

Reviewed by Gloria Schramm
Bellmore, New York

I Am Your Disease: The Many Faces of Addiction, is a gut wrenching, heart rending account of individual, anguished parents from all over the U.S., now rampant with pill usage ("pharming"). These are families who have loved and lost adult children to drugs. The book contains many accounts of grown kids who lethally mixed pills, including Xanax and many other prescription pills--sometimes with alcohol. This book is sure to touch hearts of many and bring home on a personal level, what it is like to struggle as a parent and try and save an addicted child, only to have them slip through their hands like melted butter. If these stories do not make addicted people cry and shudder with fear, nothing will. This book is unique to its non fiction genre. No other author has had the courage to gather up 40 parents and their stories into a cohesive format, publish it and promote it as part of her crusade in the war against drugs, a message the world so desperately needs to hear repeatedly, and in honor of the memory of her son, Scott, who died at age 31 in 2002. I AM YOUR DISEASE: THE MANY FACES OF ADDICTION, also addresses gambling addiction in a short section within, thanks to author Ganzer, a social worker specializing in gambling disorders.

Reviewed by Kathy Miller
West Melbourne, FL

I Am Your Disease: The Many Faces of Addiction published by Outskirts Press October, 2006, ISBN  1-59800-699-1 $16.95. This book is a compilation of stories by 40 parents who have lost a child to addiction.  The stories are real and show you just what goes on in the family dynamic when addiction enters the home.  Addiction is a family disease and everyone suffers. Our society suffers.  Letzgus McGinnis points out that it isn't only crack cocaine, heroin and meth that is killing people, but that pills are becoming an even bigger problem as the years go by.  Many of the kids in this book died from illicit drugs but also from Xanax, Valium and Oxycontin. This book shows that everyone is a victim where drugs are concerned. A must read for all.

SLAYING THE ADDICTION MONSTER: AN ALL-INCLUSIVE LOOK AT DRUG ADDICTION IN AMERICA TODAY

By Sheryl Letzgus McGinnis

Reviewed by Gloria Schramm
Bellmore, New York

Slaying the Addiction Monster: An All-inclusive Look at Drug Addiction in America Today, is an informative and refreshing approach to warning teens and older children about the dangers of drug use and abuse that ultimately turns to a fatal addiction. Addiction as a brain disease with the accompanying forest-of no-return changes is intelligently fact-laced and researched, with interviews of prominent scientists in the field, bereaved parents who have been there, and much more. Accounts of the burgeoning drug addiction epidemic like the plague, from regional newspapers are also offered here and the book is sprinkled with wise quotes and inspirational anecdotes. One finishes this book realizing that one day, society will give this disease the same attention as cancer, with telethons and benefit concerts to raise money for research into an often scorned and misunderstood disease, that deserves a lot more compassion and custom-tailored rehabilitation than it currently receives.

Reviewed by Kathy Miller
West Melbourne, FL

Slaying the Addiction Monster: An All-inclusive Look at Drug Addiction in America Today, published by Booksurge October, 2008, ISBN  978-1-4392-0901-1 $15.99. The second of the books written by Letzgus McGinnis is a powerful sequel to I Am Your Disease. This book is filled with information from how to perform an intervention, the teen brain, enabling, interviews with leading addiction researchers, advice on coping from parents to other parents, signs to look for if you think your child is using drugs and much, much more. One important chapter in the book is called The Killer Lurking in your Medicine Cabinet -  Prescription Drug Misuse. Abuse vs. Misuse - An Important Distinction, by Larry Golbom, R.Ph., MBA. This is chilling and revelatory.  Upon reading this book you discover the urgent need to now lock up your medicine cabinet, in addition to the liquor cabinet. There are more people dying today from legal drugs - prescription drugs - than from illicit drugs.  There are sections on Crime and punishment of addicted people in the United States, a section on drug myths, alcoholism, "cheese" (a new way to get high), amphetamines and heart attacks and even more.This book needs to be kept in the home as an excellent resource book.  You won't soon forget this book and its message.

THE ADDICTION MONSTER AND THE SQUARE CAT

By Sheryl Letzgus McGinnis

Reviewed by Gloria Schramm
Bellmore, New York

The Addiction Monster and the Square Cat, is an endearing and sad children's book--the first of its kind ever about drug addiction--is an unusual and refreshing approach to teaching children about the dangers of drug use and abuse that ultimately turns to fatal addiction. It's a tender account based on the life of the author's son, Scott Graeme McGinnis, as told through the eyes and voice of their family cat, Pumpkin. This partially fictionalized tale is an admirable attempt at illustrating the urgency of this life and death matter and has accompanying clever illustrations.
The author has proven herself a pathfinder. Every parent and grandparent should have a copy for their children and grandchildren--and sit and read it to them. This book is sure to set the trend in opening a new line of sorely-needed communication in middle school children before they are faced with the choice of puffing on their first joint, a rite of passage not into adulthood, but for many, into hell.

Reviewed by Kathy Miller
West Melbourne, FL

The Addiction Monster and the Square Cat, published September, 2008, by Oak Tree Press, ISBN 978-1-892343-54-3 is the first children's book by Letzgus McGinnis.  It's geared toward children in the 5th grade and up and is told by the "sassy but lovable family cat."'  It is a fictionalized version of the long struggle and ultimate death of the author's son from a multiple drug overdose.  The story is heartwarming and explains about addiction to the younger set in terms that they can understand.  The author even explains what "bingeing" and "alcoholism" is and she takes great pains to deliver a very sobering message to children without scaring them.  She writes of other children too who had lofty goals and aspirations but never lived to realize them because drugs stole their future from them.  This book is on Amazon.com's Best Sellers List in Substance Abuse and deservedly so.  This book should be required reading in all elementary schools because we have to teach them about drugs and addiction before they begin experimenting with same.  I highly recommend this book, not only for the younger kids, but also for older kids and adults as well.  It's the perfect book to read with your younger child also.