Many teens suffer from social anxiety, sometimes leading to an almost paralyzing fear of interacting with their peers.
This volume offers detailed instructions for developing a self-help cognitive behavior therapy program for coping with these issues. Walker provides brief descriptions of a few teens who are afflicted with social anxiety and presents their results as they navigate their way through the steps of the therapy. Readers are prompted to assess their levels of anxiety, recognize their current avoidance and safety behaviors, identify all of the situations that typically distress them, and rate the level of anxiety associated with each type of situation. This involves creating detailed paper or online index cards that will provide guidance for their behavior therapy. Armed with all of this new information, teens are encouraged to regard their target encounters as rungs on a ladder, tackling the least stressful ones first by making predictions of outcomes and then deliberately exposing themselves to the feared situations and tracking outcomes. The somewhat complex steps are not always provided in order. Sometimes concepts are briefly introduced but only fully explained in following chapters. Troublingly, even though the teens portrayed often display extreme levels of anxiety resulting in alienation from peers, there’s no information offered on suicidal ideation or specific resources for those experiencing such desperation.
Could at least jump-start needed conversations. (resources, references) (Nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-68403-705-6
Page Count: 168
Publisher: Instant Help Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 18, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
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A miniature manifesto for radical queer acceptance that weaves together the personal and political.
Eli, a cis gay white Jewish man, uses his own identities and experiences to frame and acknowledge his perspective. In the prologue, Eli compares the global Jewish community to the global queer community, noting, “We don’t always get it right, but the importance of showing up for other Jews has been carved into the DNA of what it means to be Jewish. It is my dream that queer people develop the same ideology—what I like to call a Global Queer Conscience.” He details his own isolating experiences as a queer adolescent in an Orthodox Jewish community and reflects on how he and so many others would have benefitted from a robust and supportive queer community. The rest of the book outlines 10 principles based on the belief that an expectation of mutual care and concern across various other dimensions of identity can be integrated into queer community values. Eli’s prose is clear, straightforward, and powerful. While he makes some choices that may be divisive—for example, using the initialism LGBTQIAA+ which includes “ally”—he always makes clear those are his personal choices and that the language is ever evolving.
Small but mighty necessary reading. (resources) (Nonfiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09368-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
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Deaf, trans artist Man meditates on his journey and identity in this brief memoir.
Growing up in conservative central Pennsylvania was tough for the 21-year-old Deaf, genderqueer, pansexual, and biracial (Chinese/White Jewish) author. He describes his gender and sexual identity, his experiences of racism and ableism, and his desire to use his visibility as a YouTube personality, model, and actor to help other young people like him. He is open and vulnerable throughout, even choosing to reveal his birth name. Man shares his experiences of becoming deaf as a small child and at times feeling ostracized from the Deaf community but not how he arrived at his current Deaf identity. His description of his gender-identity development occasionally slips into a well-worn pink-and-blue binary. The text is accompanied and transcended by the author’s own intriguing, expressionistic line drawings. However, Man ultimately falls short of truly insightful reflection or analysis, offering a mostly surface-level account of his life that will likely not be compelling to readers who are not already fans. While his visibility and success as someone whose life represents multiple marginalized identities are valuable in themselves, this heartfelt personal chronicle would have benefited from deeper introspection.
Best enjoyed by preexisting fans of the author. (Memoir. 12-18)Pub Date: June 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-22348-2
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 25, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2021
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