Chicken Soup for the Soul: Teens Talk Tough Times - Stories about the Hardest Parts of Being a Teenager

By: Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Amy Newmark (editor)

Narrated by: Nick Podehl, Kate Rudd

Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's Summary

Being a teenager is difficult even under idyllic circumstances. But when bad things happen, the challenges of being a teenager can be overwhelming, leading to self-destructive behavior, eating disorders, substance abuse, and other challenges. In addition, many teens are faced with illness, car accidents, loss of loved ones, divorces, or other upheavals. This audiobook includes 101 of our best stories about the toughest teenage times - and how to overcome them.

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©2011 Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

This one left me in a quandary...

What made the experience of listening to Chicken Soup for the Soul: Teens Talk Tough Times - Stories about the Hardest Parts of Being a Teenager the most enjoyable?

This one left me in a quandary. So here's the summary of strengths and weaknesses...

Strengths:

- Short stories about a whole range of life issues from the perspective of teenagers - offering comfort for kids and a rare insight for adults

- A good mix of boys and girls - but I suspect slightly more from girls than boys (though I haven't counted them!)

- Fantastic insight into how teens make sense of the hard things that happen - both to them and those around them

- Some lovely stories of how friendships and other trusted individuals can truly save the day - and, in some case, can save lives

- Very challenging of attitudes that look down on the experiences of young people - their relative naïveté doesn't mean they don't feel things, or have some very sensible stuff to say!

Weaknesses:

- American perspective, so the examples are culturally weighted that way, as you'd expect. But the kernels are good despite this.

- This is a book written by and, I suspect, mainly for balanced teens going through tough stuff. It's not for or about teens from very difficult backgrounds about coping with that - though there are a few stories of that kind.

- The writers - teenagers - are incredibly psychologically aware. Which makes suspect that, at best, they are not typical. At worst - dare I say it - I was left questioning whether they were actually written by kids at all. That said, in order to get the juice out of such stories and to learn the teen perspective, it really helps to have them written by intelligent teens who write well...

Summary:

It's not a fun read by any stretch. But there's something extremely poignant about it - almost shocking. As an adult it's so easy to dismiss much of what teenagers go through. To look down on it - just a little bit.

This book will challenge that. There are some heart-warming stories of genuine joy and some that leave you cold with dread - at what can happen. ALL of them underline the sense that we look down on teenagers and their experiences at our peril...