Not necessarily a text that teens would independently select from the library shelves, but it could be well used as a desk copy for middle and high school counselors.
This guide, with its frank and upbeat style, will be a welcome companion for those on the cusp of puberty and help them realize that they are not alone.
If blood and guts and teens taking on a murderous clown posse are in your readers’ wheelhouse, harvest this one for your collection. Otherwise leave it on the stalk.
Despite some shortcomings, this is a solid addition to the upper elementary nonfiction shelves or separate collections highlighting women’s studies or gender equality.
Richards’s text sustains the suspenseful mood from the very start to the final pages—just the kind of fun book one needs for a hot summer day or a cold winter’s night.