A practical compass for adolescents to use in navigating life’s tricky areas.
Pediatric pulmonary physician Anbar takes a holistic approach to encouraging teens to get their minds and bodies to work together for better well-being.
The book is divided into five parts, covering effective strategies for daily life, managing anxiety and other emotional challenges, making improvements to physical health, building healthy relationships, and achieving success across many different areas of life. Within each section, the individual chapters discuss the issue at hand, provide tools that readers can use, offer firsthand accounts from other teens (“Being aware of the power of words helps me find the right things to say—and it also helps me process what other people say”), and advise parents and caregivers. The author presents fear and anxiety as part of our natural survival instincts, which can be harnessed in positive ways using tips from the book. A list entitled “Nine Signs You Are Ready for Responsibility” is also valuable and will apply to many circumstances. Throughout, Anbar breaks his guidance into steps and offers clear, meaningful examples. Some of the tips and tools build upon one another, but the book is designed to be accessible to those who dip into it rather than read it cover to cover. The discussions of spirituality, gender, sexuality, and relationships are inclusive. Static spot art occasionally punctuates the text.
A practical compass for adolescents to use in navigating life’s tricky areas. (notes, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: March 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781538191415
Page Count: 284
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
Small but mighty necessary reading.
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 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
A powerful reminder of a history that is all too timely today.
A beautifully heart-wrenching graphic-novel adaptation of actor and activist Takei’s (Lions and Tigers and Bears, 2013, etc.) childhood experience of incarceration in a World War II camp for Japanese Americans.
Takei had not yet started school when he, his parents, and his younger siblings were forced to leave their home and report to the Santa Anita Racetrack for “processing and removal” due to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066. The creators smoothly and cleverly embed the historical context within which Takei’s family’s story takes place, allowing readers to simultaneously experience the daily humiliations that they suffered in the camps while providing readers with a broader understanding of the federal legislation, lawsuits, and actions which led to and maintained this injustice. The heroes who fought against this and provided support to and within the Japanese American community, such as Fred Korematsu, the 442nd Regiment, Herbert Nicholson, and the ACLU’s Wayne Collins, are also highlighted, but the focus always remains on the many sacrifices that Takei’s parents made to ensure the safety and survival of their family while shielding their children from knowing the depths of the hatred they faced and danger they were in. The creators also highlight the dangerous parallels between the hate speech, stereotyping, and legislation used against Japanese Americans and the trajectory of current events. Delicate grayscale illustrations effectively convey the intense emotions and the stark living conditions.
A powerful reminder of a history that is all too timely today. (Graphic memoir. 14-adult)Pub Date: July 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-60309-450-4
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Top Shelf Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 4, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
