Book Review: All Grown Up and No Place to Go by David Elkind

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Title: All Grown Up and No Place to Go: Teenagers in Crisis (Revised Edition)
Author: David Elkind
Publisher: Westview Press Inc
Hardcover: 304 pages
Summary: (taken from Goodreads)

Once our society set aside time for adolescents to grow from children to adults, to become accustomed to their expanding bodies and minds. Now the markers that defined passage—differences in dress, behavior, and responsibilities—have vanished. The institutions that guarded adolescence, such as family and schools, now expect "young adults” to deal with adult issues. Those trends leave teens no time to be teens. All Grown Up and No Place to Go spotlights the pressures on teenagers to grow up quickly. The resulting problems range from common alienation to self-destructive behavior.  

Quoting teenagers themselves, Elkind shows why adolescence is a time of "thinking in a new key,” and how young people need this time to get used to the social and emotional changes their new thinking brings. Many of his ideas, such as the "imaginary audience” that makes teens so self-conscious, have become seminal in adolescent psychology. Already there are more than 175,000 copies of All Grown Up and No Place to Go in print. In this thoroughly revised edition, Elkind also explores the "post-modern family” in which teenagers are growing up. He helps parents and those who work with youth and understand teens in crucial ways, because the root of so many adolescent frictions is the gap between what teenagers need and what our culture provides.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5

In All Grown Up and No Place to Go, David Elkind talks about how today’s society is increasing the stressors put onto adolescents and decreasing support due to the view that adolescents are sophisticated and able to make adult decisions. Because of this, they also have no time or space to establish their own identities  and create a moral code that will help them make decisions when adults. Elkind stresses that adolescents need to be supported and given limitations so that they do not engage in risky behavior and have time to establish their identities. Additionally, adults should lead by example and base rules on principles rather than emotions. In this way, we can help our adolescents reduce the stress in their lives and achieve an integrated identity.

I think this book is more important than ever. While the passages he uses are largely drawn from fiction (which I found strange) and are slightly outdated, I think that the concepts Elkind present are still relevant and the issue of adolescents facing tougher challenges with less support needs to be addressed both within schools and within the home. And this book gives great advice both for teachers and parents to help adolescents succeed in today's world.

It's not too long and is a relatively fast read -- I do think some portions are unnecessary and can be skimmed, but the key to supporting adolescents is to understand where they're coming from and what they're dealing with. Although I think that there needs to be another updated version of this, what with the internet revolution, Elkind picks up on important ideas that can give adults a better sense of what it is to be a kid today. If you deal with adolescents on a regular basis in your job, or are the caregiver of adolescents, you should give this a read -- I found it to be incredibly helpful.

Book Review: The Girl Guide: Finding Your Place in a Mixed-Up World by Christine Fonseca

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Title: The Girl Guide: Finding Your Place in a Mixed-Up World
Author: Christine Fonseca
Publisher: Prufrock Press
Expected Publication Date: 1 May 2013
Paperback: 175 pages
Summary: (taken from Goodreads)

Finding your unique voice in a noisy world can be hard—very hard. But not if you have a great guide! The Girl Guide: Finding Your Place in a Mixed-Up World is a must-read for girls in grades 6–8 as they enter the tumultuous world of adolescence. Packed with fun worksheets and quizzes, as well as stories from older girls and women, The Girl Guide covers everything a teenage girl needs to know on the journey toward her own identity. Proven strategies for dealing with stress management, confronting relational aggression, being safe online, navigating the changing mother-daughter relationship, and more make this the ultimate guide for any girl to get through the teen years and discover her unique point of view in the world.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5

Christine Fonseca wrote a must have book for raising tweens and teens. As a mother of six children, five girls and one boy, I’m always looking for ways to help my girls navigate this internet savvy, computer-dependent world all the while being true to themselves. The Girl Guide is one of those books that every young lady should be required to read.

I absolutely loved this guide. Let me start with the cover: it’s catchy and relevant, most young ladies will be able to identify with the amazing graphic design. Who wouldn’t like a cool picture with the caption, “I Love Me”?

The Girl Guide is an easy-to-read, profound book that allows teenagers to understand it’s the world that is different, not the teenager. I read the book, then put my thoughts to paper, but I also asked my 13-year-old to read it and give me her opinion. I was not surprised when she finished and said, "Wow, that’s good."

Please understand she was not happy having to write her feelings down, she felt writing her feelings was "homework," but once she started, she really loved looking back to see how she felt at the time. The best part for me was when she said, "We should use this book at our youth group." Yes! I felt validated because I felt our youth group could benefit from reading The Girl Guide.

The pages are fashioned in such a stylish way that it’s easy for young ladies to get more of a diary feel, than that of a book. The creative way the book is displayed is a bonus because my kids don’t really like to read the books I recommend, but this book is “hip” and “trendy” -- more my kids style.

The questions the author poses, sometimes in the form of quizzes, are relevant and written is a non-threatening way so that a young lady will feel as though she is not alone in her thoughts. Each chapter complements the previous one, but also touches on topics pertinent to today’s teenagers ending with the final section, “Putting it into Practice.”

I can’t say enough about this book, except that I highly recommend it. I’m picky about the type of books that I introduce to my kids and I must say, this is one of the superior ones.

*I received a free copy of this book from the publisher through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.*

Book Review: How Children Succeed - Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough

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Title: How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character
Author: Paul Tough
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Hardcover: 256 pages
Summary: (taken from Goodreads)

Why do some children succeed while others fail? 

The story we usually tell about childhood and success is the one about intelligence: Success comes to those who score highest on tests, from preschool admissions to SATs. 

But in "How Children Succeed," Paul Tough argues for a very different understanding of what makes a successful child. Drawing on groundbreaking research in neuroscience, economics, and psychology, Tough shows that the qualities that matter most have less to do with IQ and more to do with character: skills like grit, curiosity, conscientiousness, and optimism. 

"How Children Succeed" introduces us to a new generation of scientists and educators who are radically changing our understanding of how children develop character, how they learn to think, and how they overcome adversity. It tells the personal stories of young people struggling to say on the right side of the line between success and failure. And it argues for a new way of thinking about how best to steer an individual child – or a whole generation of children – toward a successful future. 

This provocative and profoundly hopeful book will not only inspire and engage readers; it will also change our understanding of childhood itself.

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5

In the book How Children Succeed, author Paul Tough shares what he believes is needed to make successful children. Drawing from numerous studies and field interviews, the author conveys that character has more to do with success than IQ. 

As a mother of six children, I bought this book hoping for some insight that might radically change my parenting style, or complement my parenting style to ensure success of my kids. That was not the case. This book, although extremely well written and easy to read, did nothing more than cite case studies that showed early intervention of children could propel them to higher levels of learning. Now, that’s not something new. The author states that perseverance, optimism, curiosity and self-discipline are character traits that help a child succeed more so than IQ. Although probably true, why would that be thought-provoking? Most parents would agree that a lazy child with a high IQ is probably not going to succeed as much as a strong-willed child who has self-discipline and has overcome difficulties.

Here’s what this book offered: a theory tested in the field, numerous case studies by credible psychologists and neuroscientists, and a lot of feel-good stories to support the theory. Here's what I liked about the book: in my opinion it’s all true. Yet, I did not get out of the book what I had hoped to find: a clear-cut way to ensure my children succeed. After reading this book, I have not learned anything new that I didn’t already know as a parent. I felt this book was written to motivate educators in the field and not as a helpful tool for parents.