Why’ is often among a child’s earliest and favorite questions.  Religious educators John Hilton III and Anthony Sweat have spent enough of their careers working with youth to know it’s also a favorite of teens.
 
Through an innovative book, “Why? Powerful Answers and Practical Reasons for Living LDS Standards” (Deseret Book, $32.95, Hardcover), they answer tough teen questions about Latter-day Saint values and offer a new resource for parents, seminary teachers and youth leaders to explain the “Why” behind the principles in the “For the Strength for Youth” booklet.

 Hilton, educated at Harvard, and Sweat, a candidate for a doctorate in education, used everything from doctrinal quotes, to pop-culture to the latest social science research to answer dozens of tough questions. 

 Visually appealing and easy to read, the book’s layout is designed to interest all teens whether they enjoy reading or not.  The format looks much like the popular “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” books or the design of some of the most recent “Guinness World Records” books.

 Some of the questions included are:

• Why is it wrong to steady date someone if we both have high standards?

• Why is 16 the magical age—is it all that different from 15?

 Early in the book the authors acknowledge Latter-day Saints shouldn’t always have to know the why behind standards, but Hilton and Sweat contend we shouldn’t ignore obvious reasons either. They quote President Packer as saying to youth, “It isn’t always easy to give you a ‘why’ for everything.  But we owe it to you of the coming generation to do more than just say, ‘Don’t!’” 

 The book also has inspired a new website, LDSWhy.com that offers a forum for youth to discuss standards and ask questions.