IGNITE YOUR SPARK

Wooster offers teens too shy or scared to be themselves the stories of others who have embraced their true selves.

In peppy prose, the author exhorts teens: instead of following the crowd, focus on “discovering and becoming the person you want to be”—aka igniting your spark. Chapters not only provide suggestions for igniting readers’ sparks in school, hobbies and activities, and relationships, but how to face failures and boost willpower. The text is peppered with spark igniters and extinguishers, role-plays, quizzes, and examples of all kinds of success stories. It's a bit cluttered and doesn't have a lot of flow, but the information contained is solid. Perhaps there's too much emphasis on not being one of many—what about teens who are authentically interested in doing the same as most of their peers?—yet the positive, cheerleading tone will certainly reassure any teens who are scared of being “different.” The teen success stories are drawn from all fields, from science to art, business to philanthropy. The section on toxic friendship is particularly valuable.

A solid resource for teens seeking advice on planning their futures.