Teachers, media specialists, parents, and other adults who work with adolescents must recognize that our society influences who teenagers are and how they develop as language users. This unique resource provides guidance to these professionals by pairing literacy specialists with counselors who introduce information about social issues important to today's adolescents. These experts then explore literature in which issues such as: body image, sexuality, and leaving home are addressed in ways likely to interest teens. By examining fictional characters, these experts provide guidance to those working with teenagers, so they can encourage adolescents to deal with the conflicts and issues imposed upon them by our society while improving their reading and writing skills.

Eight important social issues are explored each in a separate chapter. While providing in-depth exploration of fictional characters grappling with these societal issues, each chapter also provides a question and answer section in which specialists answer questions many adults have raised regarding social influences on teenagers. Readers are given insight into how they can help teenagers with similar problems, and extensive annotated bibliographies recommend appropriate books to get teenagers reading and addressing these problems. This collaboration across academic specialties provides an innovative approach to attaining the goal of helping adults and adolescents in gaining a better understanding of each other.

This book is part of a book series called The Greenwood Press Using Literature To Help Troubled Teenagers .

This book is aimed at the following children: secondary school , university .

There are 280 pages in this book. This book was published 1999 by ABC-CLIO .

PAMELA S. CARROLL is Associate Professor and Coordinator of English Education at Florida State University. She is the editor of The ALAN Review and co-editor of Books and Beyond: Thematic Approaches for Teaching Literature in High School (1998).

This book has the following chapters: Series Foreword by Joan F. Kaywell Introduction: The New Realities of Growing Up Today Society's "At Risk" Teenager: What It Means by Kathryn H. Kelly with Elaine Beaudoin Body Image and Society's Impact by M. Linda Broughton and Mae Z. Cleveland Society's Impact on Adolescents and Their Sexuality by Elizabeth L. Watts and LaShawnda Eggelletion Adolescent Rape by Gail P. Gregg and Maureen Kenny Sports in the Life of Today's Adolescents by Pamela S. Carroll and Steven B. Chandler Music and Musician's Effects on Adolescents by Lawrence Baines, Elizabeth Strehle, and Steven Bell with Josh Murfree Ethics in Athletics for Adolescents by Chris Crowe and Mel Olson Leaving Home: Transitions and Independence by Connie S. Zitlow with Janet M. Rogers Index