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摘要
摘要
Young adolescence, between the ages of ten and fifteen, is often dismissed as a baffling period, mistakenly lumped together with the later teenage years. Yet is perhaps the most critical time in the human life cycle, a fateful juncture at which unmatched physical and intellectual growth, expanding creativity, emerging moral sensibilities, awakening sexuality, and maturing emotions powerfully converge. Unsure of what constitutes "normal" behavior, parents can fail to distinguish between behaviors that signal healthy growth and those that indicate real trouble. Without this knowledge, they are in danger of forfeiting their last best chance to affect decisive changes.After writing a series of award-winning articles on young adolescents, examining the existing scientific literature, and conferring with social scientists and educators, Laura Sessions Stepp set out across the country to meet and observe young people and their families over the course of a year. Through the stories of average young people she met in urban Los Angeles; Durham, North Carolina, and rural Ulysses, Kansas, she helps us navigate the landscape of adolescence.To be placed on the shelf alongside Mary Pipher's Reviving Ophelia, Michael Gurian's The Wonder of Boys, and William Pollack's Real Boys, Our Last Best Shot is a book parents and educators cannot afford to miss. Bibliography.
评论 (4)
出版社周刊评论
In the recent tradition of Reviving Ophelia and Raising Cain, Stepp offers an extraordinary look into the lives of children aged 10-15, with a bounty of commonsense advice on how to ensure that they blossom and thrive during the crucial prelude to adulthood. Stepp, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the Washington Post, presents 12 case studies of actual boys and girls, along with their families, friends and teachers, with whom she lived over the course of a year. Coming from a variety of backgroundsÄincluding urban Los Angeles, Durham, N.C., and the small farming community of Ulysses, Kans.Äthese children are all trying to figure out answers to such questions as: "What kind of person am I?"; "What am I learning?"; "How do I fit in with friends?"; and "How can I create distance from adults yet remain connected to them?" Drawing on unlimited access to these somewhat troubled yet likeable kids, Stepp writes of their lives with remarkable understanding and compassion, vividly reporting on, for example, Chip's marijuana deal, Jack's joy in single-handedly constructing a birdhouse when left alone one day and Libby's frank conversation about oral sex with her girlfriends at the mall. These encounters illustrate the many valuable lessons Stepp offers parents: give kids responsibility, be aware of their friends, give them space, manage your fears, stay engaged. Agent, ICM. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus评论
An eye-opening journey among a strange tribe: American adolescents. Washington Post education writer Stepp considers young adolescents (ages 10 to 14) as distinct from older teenagers as infants are from kindergartners, although many popular books lump the two age groups together. Life is tough for these kids, she shows: not only are hormones kicking in to cause weird skin eruptions and weirder behavior, but most children at this tender age are muddling toward a sense of who they are, crushed by the forces of peer pressure and an educational establishment that has no idea what to do with them. Stepp examines children in three very different places (Los Angeles; Ulysses, Kansas; and Durham, North Carolina) to discover that they are much the same everywhere. Another discovery, she notes, is that children's home lives today are generally a mess: "I went looking," she writes, "for typical kids living in typical families and quickly learned that there is no such thing. The Ozzie and Harriet family really is a myth and has been for years." Faced with a family structure in which one parent or another is largely absent, touched by violence, drugs, and crime, and confused by the biological changes they are undergoing, most of these children, Stepp suggests, turn out blissfully normal, all things considered, and despite the fact that they are so badly served by teaching methods that inhibit their socialization. (Schools would do well, Stepp advises, to consider European and Asian models of group problem-solving that foster teamwork and temper an already fierce atmosphere of competition.) Stepp, herself a mother, closes her book with helpful hints for parents on how to understand their children--which, more than anything else, involves taking the time to watch and listen. A solid, intelligent addition to the child-development literature. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
《书目》(Booklist)书评
Stepp focuses on adolescents, a period that represents the last best opportunity a parent has to prepare a child for successful adulthood. She interviewed dozens of youth but profiles 12. Her subjects come from various U.S. regions, and they represent a cross section of races, family structures, economic status, and school performance. Stepp talked to parents, teachers, and child psychologists. From the adolescents, she draws a frank and open portrayal of modern youth through discussions about school, parents, sex, and drugs. The book is divided into sections on finding out who the children are as individuals, on how they fit in with friends, on what they are learning, and on how they connect or distance themselves from adults. At the conclusion of each section, Stepp offers advice to parents on dealing with the specific topic raised; and she provides an overview of social issues facing youth. But the individual portraits are the most engaging and revealing portions of the book. A valuable resource for parents of adolescents. --Vanessa Bush
《图书馆杂志》(Library Journal )书评
It's pretty much agreed that adolescence is a tough time. So difficult, argues Stepp, that at the onset it is "our last best shot" at helping our children grow and thrive, encouraging their creativity, keeping emotions channeled, expanding their knowledge, awakening their dreams, and letting them go. Parents, she continues, are universally confused over what's normal and what leads to trouble, a problem that causes them to do the wrong thing or else nothing at all. Through case studies of 12 children in Los Angeles, Durham, NC, and Ulysses, KS, Stepp shows readers the intricacies of teens' lives, their schools, friends, and families. Here, the problems of early adolescence (ages ten to 15) are compounded by society: broken homes, lack of friends at school, crime in neighborhoods, animosities between races, poverty, ADD, drugs and alcohol, and more. Kids need to find something they're good at, and they need adults-not their parents-as friends and role models. Each chapter concludes with an analysis of the teen's life and how problems could be alleviated. Stepp, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer at the Washington Post, draws in her audience; her skill ate writing case studies is so exceptional that readers will come away feeling as if they know the kids very well and emphasize with the lot that society has dealt them. This is extremely positive and excellent book; recommended for teachers, parents, and community adults.-Linda Beck, Indian Valley P.L., Telford, PA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.