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.

Being Bindy

Author: Alyssa Brugman

Type or emotional/crisis issue(s) addressed: Friendship, Divorce, Bullying

Year of Publication: 2006

Publisher & Location: Delacorte Books for Young Readers

ISBN#: 0385732945

Target Age Level: Jr. High, High School

# of Pages: 208

Quality of Illustrations: None

Brief Summary: Set in Australia. Bindy is in 8th grade. Janey, her best friend growing up, has decided that Bindy isn’t cool enough anymore. Janey ditches her for a new “cooler friend”. Janey’s new friends dress provocatively, smoke pot, and are very mean. Janey humiliates Bindy a few times, and it very mean and hurtful.
Bindy’s parents are divorced. Bindy struggles with her relationship with her mother. Bindy’s father starts to date Janey’s mother which puts further strain on Bindy and Janey’s relationship. Bindy does have a support system of her father, brother, and two new friends.

Personal Comments/Biases, and/or Things to Consider When Using This Book With Children: There is some vocabulary and references that may not be understood due to it being written by an Australian author.

Activity: Discuss the struggles Bindy has when her "best friend" changes. (It's a very typical experience for teen age girls.) The student could identify the feelings that Bindy is experiencing and relate it to their own experiences.

Touching Spirit Bear

Author: Ben Mikaelsen

Type or emotional/crisis issue(s) addressed: fighting, stealing, anger, violence

Year of Publication: 2001

Publisher & Location: HarperTeen, NYC, NY

ISBN#: 978-0-380-80560-0

Target Age Level: Junior High, High School

# of Pages: 240

Quality of Illustrations: none

Brief Summary: Cole Matthews is angry. Angry, defiant, smug--in short, a bully. His anger has taken him too far this time, though. After beating up a ninth-grade classmate to the point of brain damage, Cole is facing a prison sentence. But then a Tlingit Indian parole officer named Garvey enters his life, offering an alternative called Circle Justice, based on Native American traditions, in which victim, offender, and community all work together to find a healing solution. Privately, Cole sneers at the concept, but he's no fool--if it gets him out of prison, he'll do anything. Ultimately, Cole ends up banished for one year to a remote Alaskan island, where his arrogance sets him directly in the path of a mysterious, legendary white bear. Mauled almost to death, Cole awaits his fate and begins the transition from anger to humility. Ben Mikaelsen's depiction of a juvenile delinquent's metamorphosis into a caring, thinking individual is exciting and fascinating, if at times heavy-handed. Cole's nastiness and the vivid depictions of the lengths he must go to survive after the (equally vivid) attack by the bear are excruciating at times, but the concept of finding a way to heal a whole community when one individual wrongs another is compelling. (Ages 12 and older) --Emilie Coulter

Personal Comments/Biases, and/or Things to Consider When Using This Book With Children: This book is useful for use with angry adolescents. Can be used for adolescents with substance abuse problems, aggression, guns/weapons, and any kind of anger problems.

Activity:
Typically discussions about the book are best for this type of book. Assign the adolescent to read only a certain number of chapters, then have them "finish the story" (what they think will happen next). Discuss it, then have them read on. You can do this at different parts in the book.

Annie's Monster

Author: Barbara Corcoran

Type or emotional/crisis issue(s) addressed: Mental Illness, Adolescence, Caregivers, Death, Pet Care, Family Relationships, Mental Health Facilities

Year of Publication: 1990 (out of print, but available used)

Publisher & Location: Macmillian, New York

ISBN#: 0689316321

Target Age Level: Upper Elementary

# of Pages: 188

Quality of Illustrations: None

Brief Summary: Annie gets a new dog and when they are out one day, they stumble across a homeless woman who Annie tries to help.

Personal Comments/Biases, and/or Things to Consider When Using This Book With Children: