Teen Social Issues

You sit there bewildered. Across the kitchen table, your young’un has just declared “I am queer non-binary” or “this body is not who I am.” This is throwing you for a loop. Once again, you feel out of your league in this whole parenting thing. Or, perhaps a friend has confessed to your teen that he or she is trans. Your child is asking you how to respond. You are at a loss. Or, an uncle has begun estrogen treatments and is asking your family to use a new name for him.

To millions of kids, the books they read are more than entertainment - they are mirrors to hold up to their own lives. And the creators of those books are more than just writers - they are mentors, confidants, friends, sometimes the only ones who understand. There is often an unspoken, unseen bond between an author and his or her readers. Dear Author brings this bond to light for the whole world to see and to celebrate. Many of today’s best-selling YA authors respond to this intimate mix of heartbreaking and heartwarming letters, giving a glimpse into the hearts of kids today.

Returning home from a youth event, a teenage boy is abducted and thrust into a netherworld of drugs, horror, seduction, and sex. This is an incredible true story of a miraculous escape and the author’s ensuing quest for healing.

From Newbery Honor medalist Susan Campbell Bartoletti and in time to celebrate the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage in America comes the tirelessly researched story of the little-known DC Women’s March of 1913. Bartoletti spins a story like few others - deftly taking listeners by the hand and introducing them to suffragists Alice Paul and Lucy Burns. Paul and Burns met in a London jail and fought their way through hunger strikes, jail time, and much more to win a long, difficult victory for America and its women.

Why would I see the need to write about a horrible “bizarre bullying” experience that I had as a teen in the 1970s, rather than relate all of the glory days I experienced? I think we sometimes forget about how hard it can be for a teen to survive the challenges of growing into adulthood. I believe by sharing one of my own negative life experiences, I can help to demonstrate how serious bullying can be in the lives of teenagers, who are trying to grow up in a tough and sometimes cruel world.