What are You Afraid of?

Author: Donald R. Gallo

Type or emotional/crisis issue(s) addressed: Phobias, Fear, Adolescence, Anxiety, Loneliness

Year of Publication: 2006

Publisher & Location: Candlewick Press: Cambridge, Massachusetts

ISBN#: 076362654-6

Target Age Level: High School

# of Pages: 178

Quality of Illustrations: No illustrations

Brief Summary: 10 short stories about different high school students who suffer from phobias, including a fear of gaining weight, clowns, cats, string, knives, crossing the street, etc.

Personal Comments/Biases, and/or Things to Consider When Using This Book With Children: In most of these stories, the main character does not overcome the phobia. The focus is on their thoughts and feelings (about hiding the phobia, about the control the phobia has over them) and how it affects their relationships. Those stories usually end with the character recognizing he/she has a problem or asking for help.

Activities:

1. Have the students brainstorm about or write an epilogue to one of the stories, so the student can take control of what will happen.
   
2. Have the students write a short story/journal entry about their own phobia.