An effective, compassionate guide to a subject that needs one.
Facts counteract stigma and ignorance in this guide.
Seemingly designed for adults and teenagers to read together, this work offers up dozens of facts and stories about the difficult-to-discuss topic of suicide. Goldsmith efficiently ushers readers through the facts. More than 41,000 Americans take their lives every year, and many more attempt suicide. Teenage girls attempt suicide nearly twice as often as boys, yet teenage boys are four times more likely to actually die due to the different methods used for their attempts. While there are multiple risk factors for suicide, such as depression and/or substance abuse, stressors such as isolation or bullying, and access to lethal means, there are also multiple options to help anyone contemplating suicide: counseling, medication, long-term treatment, and support from family and friends. These options can help anyone suffering from suicidal thoughts, whether teenager, adult, or veteran. While naturally not a page-turner, this work does present an array of important facts and figures, made intimate with personal stories of people who have attempted suicide or been affected by suicide. Frequent boxed inserts provide tangential material without distracting from the overall flow. The inclusion of quotes from several authors for teens is a welcome touch.
An effective, compassionate guide to a subject that needs one. (source notes, glossary, selected bibliography, further resources, index) (Nonfiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4677-8570-9
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Twenty-First Century/Lerner
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
Congolese-American Sophie makes a harrowing trek through a war-torn jungle to protect a young bonobo.
On her way to spend the summer at the bonobo sanctuary her mother runs, 14-year-old Sophie rescues a sickly baby bonobo from a trafficker. Though her Congolese mother is not pleased Sophie paid for the ape, she is proud that Sophie works to bond with Otto, the baby. A week before Sophie's to return home to her father in Miami, her mother must take advantage
of a charter flight to relocate some apes, and she leaves Sophie with Otto and the sanctuary workers. War breaks out, and after missing a U.N. flight out, Sophie must hide herself and Otto from violent militants and starving villagers. Unable to take Otto out of the country, she decides finding her mother hundreds of miles to the north is her only choice. Schrefer jumps from his usual teen suspense to craft this well-researched tale of jungle survival set during a fictional conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Realistic characters (ape and human) deal with disturbing situations described in graphic, but never gratuitous detail. The lessons Sophie learns about her childhood home, love and what it means to be endangered will resonate with readers.
Even if some hairbreadth escapes test credulity, this is a great next read for fans of our nearest ape cousins or survival adventure. (map, author's note, author Q&A) (Adventure. 12-16)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-16576-1
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Oct. 2, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Unhappy teens in need of a lecture on thinking positively and being more in touch with one’s emotions need look no further.
Mangan presents in as many chapters a 20-point strategy that ranges from “Have a Positive Attitude” and “Cut Your Problems Into Pieces” to “Practice Being Patient” and “Appreciate the Value of Your Hard Work.” She blends private exercises like visualizing forgiveness with comments on selective attention, “problematic procrastination” and other bad habits, reframing situations to put them in different lights, “changing shoes” to understand others better and subjecting feelings to rational analysis. Though the author has a graduate degree and years of practice in clinical psychology, she offers generalities and generic situations rather than specific cases from her experience, and the book is devoid of references to further resources or even an index. Superficial advice (“If you are unsafe or are around kids that you know are bullies, just walk away”) combines with techniques that are unlikely to interest readers (“Make a song verse out of your list of helpful thoughts”). The author also makes questionable claims about the mind-body connection (“When you smile, your body sends a signal to your brain that you are happy”) and fails to make a case for regarding side forays into food habits and environmental concerns as relevant to her topic. Obvious issues and common-sense advice, unpersuasively presented. (Self-help. 12-15)
Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4338-1040-4
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Magination/American Psychological Association
Review Posted Online: Aug. 9, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2011
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