Books About Teens
Adolescents at School: Perspectives on Youth, Identity, and Education
Edited by Michael Sadowski
“You will have an interesting and well documented read that will support much of what it is hoped you are already doing” (Mary Hofman -School Library Journal)
All Grown Up and No Place to Go: Teenagers in Crisis
Revised edition by David Elkind
Elkind argues against the “hurried teens” and the pressure currently put on many teens to grow up quickly.
Boy V. Girl? How Gender Shapes Who We Are, What We Want and How We Get Along
By George Abrahams and Sheila Ahtbrand
The authors based their book on a national survey of 2,000 teenagers. The New York Public Libraries chose it for their 2003 “Books for the Teen Age” best book list.
The Culture of Adolescent Risk-Taking
By Cynthia Lightfoot
Lightfoot helps adults understand and deal with the pressures that contribute to teen attitudes of invincibility and daring.
A Fine Young Man: What Parents, Mentors, and Educators Can Do to Shape Adolescent Boys into Exceptional Men
By Michael Gurian
Gurian is a psychotherapist who stresses the biological basis for male behavioral traits. The fact that teenage boys are more than four times as likely as teenage girls to attempt suicide relates to their different brain structures and hormones.
Just Girls: Hidden Literacies and Life in Junior High
By Margaret J. Finders
Finders challenges the efficacy of the “good-girl” role. She also shows that various kinds of literacies play a big part in the social life and the self-image of girls.
Lost Boys: Why Our Sons Turn Violent and How We Can Save Them
By James Garbarino
Garbarino, a psychologist and a professor at Cornell University, has interviewed teenaged perpetrators of violence. He believes adults can provide the spiritual, psychological, and social support that is needed to counteract the effects of a culture that legitimizes violence in movies, television and video games.
The Men They Will Become: The Nature and nurture of Male Character
By Eli H. Newberger
In this thoughtful exploration of the gradual emotional development of boys, Newberger stresses the need for open communication and for leading by example.
Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation
By Neil Howe and William Strauss
The authors claim that the Millennial Generation (those born between 1980 and 2000) are the grown-up kids of Barney rather than Sesame Street, of soccer moms rather than working moms, and of such bumper stickers as “Have you hugged your child today?” These “wanted” and loved children are having a different kind of adolescence than did the last generation.
Ophelia Speaks: Adolescent Girls Write about Their Search of Self
By Sara Shandler
Shandler sent out 7,000 letters asking junior and senior high school teachers to encourage young women to write their own stories as a rebuttal of a supplement to Mary Pipher’s Reviving Ophelia (Putnam, 1994). Shandler created her well-received book from 800 responses.
Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and Other Realities of Adolescents
By Rosalind Wiseman
Although the intended audience is adults, the writing is accessible to young women who might want to skim or read parts of it.
Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys
By Daniel J. Kindlon, Michael Thompson, et al.
These authors tackle the challenge of enlarging our definition of masculinity without “turning boys into girls.” They are worried about the sadness, anger, and fear that boys feel because of growing up under the “tyranny of toughness.”
“ Reading Don’t Fix No Chevys” Literacy in the Lives of Young Men
By Michael W. Smith and Jeffrey D. Wilhelm
The authors studied the literacy habits of 49 boys and found that many boys feel little connection to the kinds of literacies taught in schools. They recommend several alternatives to present practices, but concede that these activities would be equally appealing to girls.
“Real Boys”: Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood
By William S. Pollack
Pollack is a clinical psychologist with the Harvard Medical Center and is asking people to take a second look at “the boy code, “ which describes boys as tough, cool, rambunctious, and obsessed with sports, cars, and sex. The thinks our major job is to help boys develo0p empathy and explore their sensitive sides so as to increase their ability to cope with frustrations.
Saving Beauty from the Beast: How to Protect Your Daughter from an Unhealthy Relationship
By Vicki Crompton and Ellen Zelda Kessner
Crompton’s 15-year-old daughter was killed by her ex-boyfriend, and Crompton vowed to help other families avoid such a tragedy.
To Be a Boy, To Be a Reader
By William G. Brozo
Of all the authors here, Brozo makes the most specific suggestions for books and classroom activities designed to promote “honorable expressions of masculinity.” Not everyone would agree with Brozo’s definition of masculinity, but that is the Catch-22 of the whole issue.
“Trust Me, Mom – Everyon Else is Going!” The New Rules for Mothering Adolescent Girls
By Roni Cohen-Sandler
The author uses the acronym BRAIN to summarize her advice: Be flexible, Respectful, Attuned, Involved, and Noncontrolling.
The War against Boys: How Misguided Feminism Is Harming Our Young Men
By Christina Hoff Sommers
Sommers has a point when she complains that many of the statistics and incidents cited in contemporary books about how girls are disadvantaged in school come from the conditions in schools of twenty years ago.
When We’re in Public, Pretend You Don’t Know Me: Surviving Your Daughter’s Adolescence So You Don’t Look Like and Idiot and She Still Talks to You
By Susan Borowitz and Ava l. Siegler
Siegler is a child psychologist and Borowitz is a Hollywood writer and producer, as well as a mother. The book is filled with sensible advice aimed mostly at mothers, but teachers and librarians can learn some things too.
Donelson, Kenneth L., and Alleen Pace Nilsen. Literature For Today's Young Adults. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc., 2005.