Every now and then someone puts a book into your hands and says, “You must read this.”

You think, “Hmm, as many books as there are published every day, why would this one prove meaningful to me?”

And yet, it always does. Doesn’t it?

It’s as if the rich kaleidoscope of books they share contain important messages you need to hear and the people themselves, well, they’re some sort of angel.

When I think of the angels in my life, those who qualify are Monty Mahan with the “Omnivore’s Dilemma,” Darryl Baldwin and “Power versus Force,” “Delilah and The Shack” (which she purchased and gave away to over 50 people, because it is truly, she says, the best book on faith ever written bar one), Dulce Setterfield and “A New Earth,” Tish Holmes and “A Purpose-Driven Life,” and Heather Cole for “The Four Agreements.”

Another book, recently handed over by a dear friend, nips around the edges of the stack that stands two feet high near my bed.

This latest gift, “Hold Me Tight,” explores the attachment needs of adults and teens, and I can’t get enough of it.

If I haven’t written in a few weeks, it’s because I’ve been reading.

In “Hold Me Tight,” author Dr. Sue Johnson shares strategies to strengthen relationships by understanding our attachment needs and the power they hold.

She writes of people recovering from serious trauma — rape, battle scars, debilitating illnesses — through the strength of loving bonds.

She writes, “Loving connection proves the dependable web of intimacy that allows us to cope with life and to live life well.”

When I was pregnant with my children and when they were infants, I read everything I could on the attachment needs of infants and toddlers, but like most people I ignored the needs of adults and teens.

Johnson writes, “Even though we are programmed by millions of years of evolution to relentlessly seek out belonging and intimate connection, we persist in defining healthy people as those who do not need others. This is especially dangerous at a time when our sense of community is daily being eroded by an endless preoccupation with getting more done in less time and filling our lives with more and more goods. We are building a culture of separateness that is at odds with our biology.”

I believe this is why we are so attracted to reality TV and why I feel that junior high is such a challenging time for most of us.

We ignore attachment needs.

But imagine what would happen (in junior high, especially) if those bonds were in place. What could you achieve if you trusted that someone always believed in you? What could you conquer if you knew that someone always had your back?

As I watch Super Heroes in Training, a local band, perform their first paid gig of the season, I think of those questions.

I know you’re wondering: “What kind of person thinks about behavioral science when they go out to listen to music? The kind of person I used to beat up in junior high school, that’s who.”)

Yes, and thank you for that. No, but seriously, as I watch these three high school seniors perform, it’s hard not wonder which moves the heart more, their friendship or their music, or are the two so tightly entwined that one empowers the other?

Imagine what you could do, as a Super Hero in Training, if you knew someone always had your back, someone who befriended you back in third grade when you were the new kid in school, someone who got through Mr. Matheny’s sixth grade class (another one of my personal angels) with you and someone who could make seventh grade band not just fun, but a blast and who would “throw these little things together to support the school.”

Well, you could win Battle of the Band and vocal music contests.

You could write a dozen, 20, or even 60 original songs.

You could “make beautiful music with anything, even a few old garbage cans. He’s that talented,” as band members describe drummer Patrick Fischer.

You could get each other through anything that life throws at a teenager.

You could even break up with the girl you dated for years and asked to marry, spending your days writing a song about heartbreak and have your buddies not just go, “Oh, man that is so good,” but sit by the lake with you and put melody and a chorus to your words.

In fact, if you’re a Super Hero in Training, you can do just about anything.

For the three band members, Jason Morse, Joseph Razey and Patrick Fischer, that’s makes this an exciting time — a time to keep adding paying gigs to their schedule, including graduation and birthday parties.

A time to keep writing songs and practicing in Jason’s parents’ garage. A time to gather dozens of ardent admirers, including cute teenage girls. A time to cut a CD and to plan to take a year off from school and take the band on the road.

In fact, if you are a Super Hero in Training and you’ve been with these guys for most of your childhood and you know they’ve got your back, well, the sky’s the limit.

And, even though you may “tend to put the band before homework,” you can plan on careers as a residential architect, a lawyer, or an AP Calculus teacher.

“Do you even take AP Calculus?” I ask Patrick.

“No, but some day I am gonna teach it.”

“All right then.” I don’t doubt.

These are Super Heroes in Training.

Mary Colborn is a

Port Orchard resident.