A thoroughly researched and comprehensive guide for teenagers to manage their anxiety and learn to love themselves.
Being a teenage girl can be exhausting and stressful.
With stressors from school, social media, family, friends, and more, navigating the teen years can be a lot to handle. Hemmen presents 10 strategies to help manage anxiety, each addressed in a separate chapter. The author, a clinical psychologist who works with teens, has written an accessible and concise guide in which she explains the scientific facts behind each suggestion, provides examples from young people dealing with various issues, and encourages readers to explore their own feelings and experiences. The information is broken up into easily digestible sections, making for a pleasant, informative, and quick read. Among other subjects, Hemmen addresses both the benefits and risks of screen time and social media, different strategies for succeeding in school, and dealing with interpersonal conflicts, troubling feelings, and more. Many readers, especially middle- and upper-middle-class teens, will feel validated by the abundance of examples and success stories from other teens and likely come away from the book with a convenient toolbox for addressing anxious thoughts, practicing self-care, and finding balance in their lives. Readers are encouraged not to self-diagnose but to seek assessment from a professional. While this book specifically addresses girls, the tips that are presented are helpful for all genders.
A thoroughly researched and comprehensive guide for teenagers to manage their anxiety and learn to love themselves. (references) (Self-help. 13-19)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-68403-586-1
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Instant Help Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2021
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
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