Straightforward and useful advice.
A clinical psychologist offers teens practical tools they can use to deal with social anxiety.
The director of the McLean Hospital’s Anxiety Mastery Program provides explanations and examples of techniques to help young people manage their fears and anxieties. To begin, she defines social anxiety and introduces three fictional teens. Emma, Jordan, and Maria (shown with differing skin tones in the grayscale illustrations) present different worries but respond similarly by withdrawing—in the classroom, among friends, or on the playing field. She follows these young people throughout the book, giving step-by-step directions for each of the tools she suggests. Sperling explains how to manage thoughts, feelings, and behavior using the tools of cognitive behavior therapy: checking your thoughts, mindfulness, and relaxation. She also discusses the strategy of exposure and response prevention, including gradual exposure and purposefully difficult exposure, to learn to curb defensive responses. At every step, Sperling uses one of her characters to show how a teen might put her techniques into practice. Every chapter includes a recapitulation of the most important points. The author addresses her readers directly; her explanations are clear, her tone is patient and reassuring, and she encourages regular use of these tools, offering the parallel example of an athlete’s daily practice. The book concludes with a helpful chapter on self-care.
Straightforward and useful advice. (references, index) (Nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4338-3362-5
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Magination/American Psychological Association
Review Posted Online: June 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
Brief yet inspirational, this story will galvanize youth to use their voices for change.
Testa’s connection to and respect for nature compelled her to begin championing animal causes at the age of 10, and this desire to have an impact later propelled her to dedicate her life to fighting plastic pollution. Starting with the history of plastic and how it’s produced, Testa acknowledges the benefits of plastics for humanity but also the many ways it harms our planet. Instead of relying on recycling—which is both insufficient and ineffective—she urges readers to follow two additional R’s: “refuse” and “raise awareness.” Readers are encouraged to do their part, starting with small things like refusing to use plastic straws and water bottles and eventually working up to using their voices to influence business and policy change. In the process, she highlights other youth advocates working toward the same cause. Short chapters include personal examples, such as observations of plastic pollution in Mauritius, her maternal grandparents’ birthplace. Testa makes her case not only against plastic pollution, but also for the work she’s done, resulting in something of a college-admissions–essay tone. Nevertheless, the first-person accounts paired with science will have an impact on readers. Unfortunately, no sources are cited and the lack of backmatter is a missed opportunity.
Brief yet inspirational, this story will galvanize youth to use their voices for change. (Nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-22333-8
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
Best enjoyed by preexisting fans of the author.
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 24, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2021
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