The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963; Christopher Paul Curtis

1. Bibliography:

Curtis, Christopher Paul. The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963. New York: Scholastic, Inc: 1998.

2. Genre and Awards:

Historical Fiction. Adolescent Literature.

Newbery Honor Book. Coretta Scott King Honor Book. An ALA Best Book for Young Adults. An ALA Notable Book.

3. Synopsis:

The Weird Watsons hail from Flint, Michigan. In 1963, it’s off to grandmother’s house they go. This isn’t like any old visit home, though. They head south to Birmingham, Alabama right into the heart of Civil Rights.

4. Characters:

Kenny Watson is the main character and narrator of the novel. Kenny sort of has it rough, as he’s the younger brother, the awkward kid, the black kid, and has a lazy eye – all issues that plague him throughout the story. Byron is his older brother and the reason the family is headed to Alabama – he’s being banished to stay the summer there, because he’s been in some trouble and is running with a dangerous crowd. The third sibling in this family is Joetta, who is your typical kindergartener – she makes us laugh, she cries, and she’s the center of the action at the climax of the book.

5. Plot:

The plot of The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 is centered around the trip, but a good deal of the novel is spent familiarizing readers with the Watsons’ family dynamics and setting them up as a strong family unit. This unit will prove critical as the family leaves their home and travels to a place that is very different and much more dangerous. The action culminates in an event of violent racial terrorism at the end of the novel, out of which Kenny can’t tell if his family made it alive.

6. Needs of Adolescents:

This book addresses racial tensions and the effects those have on young people in a very personal way, which is something many students deal with everyday. It also really highlights the familial connections, especially sibling relationships, which are also an area in which a lot of kids need a place to connect, vent, or just process their own experiences.

7. Possible Classroom Uses:

I would love to do a unit in my classroom on the sixties. There are so many topical directions to go from there (Civil Rights, environmentalism, space exploration, Communism/politics, pop culture – to name a few) and I can see working any number of types of writing into it. It would be really great if one component of that could be Literature Circles and this book could be one option. I could see this as a read-aloud book in a middle school and definitely a recommendation for individual reading.

8. Appropriate Age Range:

Middle school or Junior high.

9. Personal Reactions:

I loved this story. It was truly heartbreaking to see the adjustments that Kenny saw his family go through as they moved into an area that was so significantly less accepting than what they were used to. I can see so many connections between this book and The Giver as well as Sold, because of the way readers get to really connect with a narrator who is sorting out his or her world – much like so many voices in adolescent literature – but these especially seem to be plagued by an overwhelming sense of lost-ness in a way that really gets me!

Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Jeff Kinney

1. Bibliography:

Kinney, Jeff. Diary of a Wimpy Kid. New York: Amulet, 2007.

2. Genre and Awards:

Graphic novel.

Quill Awards finalist. Borders Original Voice winner. One of Publisher Weekly's Best Books of 2007. Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards nominee for "Favorite Book" in 2008.

So they aren't the most credible, but I have other award-winners!

3. Synopsis:

Middle-school student Greg Heffley is terrified of being caught with a book that says “diary” on the front. He is absolutely certain that they will get the wrong idea. His mom made him write a diary, though, to document his seventh grade year. Greg intends for his journal to be something to appease his mom, but ends up using the cartoons and text to deal with some of the traumatic issues of middle-school life.

4. Characters:

Greg is the main character of the novel. His brother Rodrick is older and the classic bully. He’s the one who especially CANNOT find out that Greg writes in a “diary”. Their mom is in the novel insomuch as she is the facilitator of Greg’s writing. Greg’s once best friend, Rowley, is that kid who hits seventh grade and comes into his social butterfly nature. Greg’s attempts to process this rise to fame are what form the basis of the novel’s plot.

5. Plot:

Basically, the plot is this: Greg Heffley is trying to fit in. He will do anything and everything to do so. The book is filled with antic after antic of his trying to analyze what the cool kids do to get cool and self-assessing his ranking on the list of popular kids. The events that Greg relates to us are all fairly easy to get and to get hooked on, which explains some of the excitement among reluctant readers and the Captain Underpants crowd.

6. Needs of Adolescents:

This book was made for middle school students. It hits on almost all the high points of the classic, awkward, hilarious, and utterly terrifying experience that is seventh grade. There is something for every kid who has ever struggled with feeling out of place, left behind, completely humiliated by those people who birthed them, etc… - oh wait, that’s everyone who has ever been to middle school.

7. Possible Classroom Uses:

I am not sure how this could be helpful in teaching lessons, except maybe to examine the discourse and look at how one writes in a diary/journal versus how one writes an expository, professional piece. It is the ultimate book to give a struggling reader or one who just isn’t interested in reading. It seems like it would be easy to get caught up in, go by pretty fast, and be really accessible content-wise to students.

8. Appropriate Age Range:

I would say fifth to eighth grade. I know this is a series, so maybe if Greg grows up in some of the later books, they might be okay for older students. I can’t see a ninth grader being interested in the plight of seventh grade anymore, though. They are SO past that.

9. Personal Reactions:

The graphic novel is not my forte. Oh, wait; this is the first one I have ever read. There was really only one reason I picked up Diary of a Wimpy Kid. My roommate is a sixth grade teacher and this book is the hottest thing on her reading shelf and I can say that it was a cute book. I do love the language because of how distinctly I can hear my roommate’s students in it. That is what makes it so relatable for them. As ashamed as Greg is to carry around a “diary”, so too are many of those kids ashamed to talk about or admit that they are dealing with the issues that Greg is, but confronting them head-on in a book like this would be a good outlet for them.

America Dreaming: How Youth Changed America in the '60s

Now we officially have a tie for best one yet!!

1. Bibliography:

Hill, Laban Carrick (2007). America Dreaming: how youth changed America in the sixties. New York, NY: Hachette Book Group.

2. Genre and Awards:

Young Adult Non-Fiction, History, 20^th Century, Social Change

3. Synopsis:

America Dreaming is a huge, colorful explosion of fun facts, insightful articles, and photojournalism at its finest documenting parts of the sixties that are particularly appealing to young people. The ride begins with a look at lifestyles and pop culture at the end of the fifties, stops next at the idealists of the early sixties, and cruises right on to what legacy this generation has left for us today.

4. Characters:

Hill continually puts all the ideas, people, and events he discusses in a framework that is accessible to young people so often the main characters of this book are the youth of the particular time period being documented. Other important characters include a whole host of historical figures including artists, politicians, musicians, Civil Rights activists, poets, hippies, astronauts, and let’s not forget the Communists.

5. Plot:

The narrative of this book moves chronologically through the high points of the sixties in terms of movements, ideals, and events. There are whole chapters devoted to college students leading the way to Civil Rights victories, the radical youth movement, hippie and alternative lifestyles, Black Nationalism, Native American rights, empowerment of Mexican Americans, and the beginning of the environmental movement. The writing is divided by historical sub-headings in the same way a History text would be, but Hill breaks it all up with pictures, loud insets, bold colors and patterns, and magazine-style quotations all over the pages.

6. Needs of Adolescents:

This book probably will not meet the warm, fuzzy emotional needs that the other adolescent fiction we have read will. However, it has great potential to fulfill a need to be more informed about their more recent history, a need to connect with their parents, and a need to understand how their generation got to where it is. This book is probably most beneficial to students in that it makes the history accessible by presenting it in vibrant, rich, colorful mediums.

7. Possible Classroom Uses:

Oh wow. I might have as much to say here as Katy can tell you about Chris Crutcher! I can see this book going any number of ways. I am mildly obsessed with the sixties and the whole culture there, so I would love to integrate that into my classroom whenever and at all times possible. This book could be a great way to teach students some concepts about research. It could be an awesome way for students to read a section on, say the beginning of Earth Day, and trace the current pop culture environmentalism trend back to there. There are a ton of little sections on writers from the beat generation and poets from the Civil Rights movement and song lyrics from Dylan and The Beatles that could be integrated into curriculum in a million different ways. I’m not sure if I can see a student sitting down with this book and reading it from cover to cover to become an expert on the sixties – well, I’ll say it would be rare – but I can absolutely see recommending parts of it to students interested in any number of topics. The chapter on Mexican Americans could be huge in a classroom in Springdale. I would venture to guess that there are a lot of Hispanic students here who are asking the same questions and fighting the same fights that these individuals fought forty years ago. How empowering it would be for them to read about the struggles and triumphs of their predecessors. Like I said, I cannot wait to start using this book in a classroom.

8. Appropriate Age Range:

This book could be used in a middle school, junior high, or high school classroom with little question. The only concern I would have for giving it to a middle school student would be that it does cover some of the more radical ideas and people including hippies, Black Nationalists, and violent riots and protests. I think on one hand this book could give us a good “in” for talking about these issues in Literature with those younger students, because it is history. However, some of it is sensitive and I can see parents being concerned. Hill is careful to not get too graphic or too detailed, though, so I think for the most part it could be justified. I would just worry about Sixth-Grade-Johnny’s mom calling to ask why in the – world – I was teaching her son about Malcolm X and Amiri Baraka.

9. Personal Reactions:

I think I will assume that I covered this in the Possible Classroom Uses section. I’ll not rave and gush any longer. You can thank me later.

Sold - Patricia McCormick - best one yet!

1. Bibliography:

McCormick, Patricia. SOLD. (New York: Hyperion Books, 2006)

2. Genre and Awards:

Realistic Fiction, Cultural Fiction, Young Adult Fiction

National Book Award Finalist

3. Synopsis:

Sold begins in Nepal with the story of Lakshmi, a young girl who is sold into sex slavery and continues to document her brave struggle through this lifestyle for several years. The story, told in poetic vignettes, documents Lakshmi’s journey into the red-light district of Calcutta, India, the abuse she endures while there, and the gives readers a general sense of how a young woman growing up in the sex trade lives.

4. Characters:

Lakshmi is the main character and the novel is told from her perspective. It is easy to fall in love with Lakshmi and the absolutely atrocious events she is forced to endure are heartbreaking to any reader. Her innocence and naiveté mean that she has no idea what she is getting into and is even excited, in the beginning, at the prospect of being reunited with an old friend who “left” the village earlier. She is culturally out of place, forced to grow up entirely too fast, and slammed daily with harsh realities such as poverty, disease, and pregnancy. In the beginning, we get to know her mother and while Lakshmi is at the “Happiness House” we meet a wide range of characters from Mumtaz, the old woman who runs the house and enslaves the girls, to the David Beckham boy, who is an early companion of Lakshmi’s at the House, despite the language barrier that exists between them.

5. Plot:

Lakshmi is a Nepali girl who lives in a rural village with her poor mother and alcoholic and rarely-present father who is mostly interested in squandering any money they have on a new jacket or something equally frivolous instead of feeding or roofing his family. Her father sells her into sex slavery, at least somewhat knowingly. She is led into India by a man who buys her from the woman her father sold her to and then proceeds to sell Lakshmi to another woman, Mumtaz, the owner of the Happiness House for girls. Men come in and out nightly – sometimes three or four per night. In the midst of all this, Lakshmi is able to connect on deep levels with a couple of the girls who also live in the house, but who are almost immediately torn out of her life because one contracts a disease or another becomes too old for the profession. Eventually, through all she has learned about America from her friend, the David Beckham boy (a young boy whose mother works at Happiness House whose mother who has acquired a football jersey), Lakshmi is able to recognize a Western man when he comes to the house to rescue her. Her plight isn’t over yet, though, because along with devising a system of math that never allows the girls to pay off their “debt” to Mumtaz, she has also convinced them that there are deadly consequences for them and their families if they try to leave.

6. Needs of Adolescents:

I made a list while reading this book of all the needs it addresses and I won’t proceed to put it on here in its entirety. This book gives a very detailed look at one part of Middle Eastern culture, which is something that could be very helpful for young people growing up in a post-9/11, very Southern, sometimes racist and hateful society where they often aren’t sure what to think of people from these cultures. It does so in a sensitive way that would certainly cause readers to have a great deal of compassion for young people in this way of life and hopefully open their eyes to see the pain that every people group has to bear. The book also addresses family a lot. In the beginning, Lakshmi lives in a broken family that is plagued by alcoholism, immaturity, and she often feels like she carries all of that weight on herself, like I am sure many of our students will feel about their own family situations. The book also describes a ton of culture shock, so I think it could be a great outlet for adolescents who are trying to adjust to American culture to read about someone that is in the same situation. It is set so far away from here that it might allow students not to identify so much that they felt like it was an after-school special, but enough that they could connect emotionally. Like I said, this is just the beginning of the list of adolescent needs I see this book addressing.

7. Possible Classroom Uses:

Similar to The House on Mango Street, because it is told in short pieces, its possible uses in a classroom are nearly endless. The vignettes that talk about Lakshmi arriving in the new country and in a big city from her rural village could be particularly useful in talking with students about culture and city and having them explore in writing what they would find strange about the world they live in if they stepped in as an outsider. In our society at large, there is a growing trend to have a social conscience (Go figure; it’s about time). I think this book would be great to recommend to high school girls, especially, who had the capacity to think in those global terms as a way to introduce a topic they might not otherwise know much about or have much reason to be interested in.

8. Appropriate Age Range:

I think a lot of junior high students would probably be able to handle itCertainly high school girls could get behind it. It is a sensitive and tough subject to think about, though, so I would be careful to give it to a student I was not able to keep a close eye on and be available for processing with them. I would encourage conversations with their parents and I wouldn’t give it to a student whose parents I knew to be very picky about book content without permission. I mean, there’s sex. It’s the sex trade.

9. Personal Reactions:

I loved this book. It made me cry. The level of Lakshmi’s innocent ignorance was heartbreaking, as any books are where when kids lose their innocence and turn into adults, but it was particularly painful, because of how she was forced to do so. I will be finding a way to use parts of this book in a classroom ASAP. McCormick’s narrative style was absolutely fascinating and the level to which she knew her subject matter (the jacket talks about her extensive travels into Calcutta and the red-light district and interviews with its residents) are something that students should be exposed to. Even if I wasn’t able to tell them all the details of the book, to be able to talk to them about the level of cultural confusion Lakshmi experiences would be very exciting!

The House on Mango Street - Sandra Cisneros

1. Bibliography:

Cisneros, Sandra. THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET. (New York: Vintage Books, 1984)

2. Genre and Awards:

Young Adult Fiction, Coming-of-Age Story

Winner of The American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation - 1985

3. Synopsis:

This book is written in a series of vignettes narrated by the main character, Esperanza, who is a young Hispanic girl completely out of touch with her surroundings in a Latino neighborhood in Chicago. She hates the world that she is a part of and desperately wants out of it. The very poetic pieces that make up this novel tell the story of one year of her life, highlighting the role models, both male and female, that she has to look up to and the harsh reality that is her side of town.

4. Characters:

Esperanza Cordero is the main character narrator of The House on Mango Street. She is a teenage girl who has to deal with all the difficult realities someone of her age, especially someone of her age and non-white race has to deal with. She is surrounded by her family, made up of her mother and sister – Nenny. The other important character in this novel is Sally, a close friend of Esperanza’s who grows up much faster than our protagonist. A character I would normally overlook in this novella is the neighborhood itself. By naming her book The House on Mango Street instead of The Girl on Mango Street or something of the like, Cisneros makes it clear that the space in this story has as much impact on Esperanza as any living, breathing character does.

5. Plot:

This story is all about Esperanza’s desperate desire to leave Mango Street. She wants something better for her life to the point that she completely isolates herself from her environment. The language is very lyrical and musical, which lets us into Esperanza and who she is at twelve and thirteen years old. There is a strong sense of child to this character, despite her craving to be older and wiser and better. We basically watch her grow up through the lens of her descriptions of relationships, people, places, and events. She is quick at first to want to be older and play the games that the older kids play – leaving her “kid” sister out to dry when she catches onto the rules. By the end, though, we see a girl who is very reluctant to give up these games and move into the next stage of adolescence.

6. Needs of Adolescents:

The relationship between Esperanza and Sally is one that I think many young girls can relate to. Girls mature at vastly different rates, propelled and held back by family life, sports, culture, neighborhood, and so many more variables. For this reason, many girls, like Esperanza, are stuck in friendships with girls who start dating and going into dark forests with boys before their friend has given up the night light. I have been there and it is painful to feel like everyone around you is growing up and crossing into new phases before you are ready to go there. This book would be great as a way to meet those girls and show them that it is an unfortunate fact of life that happens to many young people.

7. Possible Classroom Uses:

This book would be great to give a group of girls to read and discuss. I would love to talk about some of these issues of growing up and finding one’s place in their environment that so many young girls struggle with and I think this book could be a great starting point for that. It could also be used to discuss dialect in writing, the Hispanic accent as it is communicated on the page, cultural lost-ness, broken relationships and the lack of men in this community, and poetic form – all by just using one or two of the vignettes. While it is probably best suited for girls, ome of the individual pieces could be offered to a whole class for the purpose of teaching.

8. Appropriate Age Range:

I would say this book is best for junior high or high school girls.

9. Personal Reactions:

I really loved this book. It hit most of the issues that adolescent lit should – growing up, finding one’s place, girlhood (or boyhood in some books, obviously), culture, physical and sexual abuse. It didn’t spend too much time on any of these, though, which allowed it to not be as heavy of a book as others we have read in class. It addressed each of them in such a way that would open up thought or discussion about them without forcing it. I think this book was written for teachers in the sense that the vignettes each lend themselves to class discussion and teaching points. I would absolutely recommend it to a young girl to read!

Boy: Tales of Childhood - Roald Dahl

1. Bibliography:

Dahl, Roald. BOY: TALES OF CHILDHOOD. (New York: Puffin Books, 1984) 176 pp.

2. Genre and Awards:

Non-Fiction, Children’s Books, Autobiography

3. Synopsis:

We’re all at least a little bit familiar with Roald Dahl’s children’s fiction (think Matilda or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). This book is a personal account of his growing up years from Kindergarten until his completion of high school. He is in and out of a number of prestigious English and Scottish boarding schools and chronicles the hilarity of many of the Headmasters, the terror of his schoolmates, and the shenanigans he and his friends were constantly pulling.

4. Characters:

Aside from mentioning family members (his mother, especially, numerous times), there are no real characters in this book besides young Dahl, himself. He has friends at each school, many of whose names he cannot even recall, but because he is at so many different schools, none of the friends get much page-play. Although, I have to say, his stories about “the ancient sister” are hilarious.

5. Plot:

While this autobiography is organized chronologically, Dahl makes it clear in the beginning that he is not going to simply sit down and tell you about his life from start to finish. He has designated the specific beginning and end points to be the start and the finish of his school years and instead of connecting the chapters, he lets each be a story, highlight, or memorable event that stands on its own. Essentially, it is a real-life coming of age story, except that the process of changing from irresponsible, mischievous boy to aware young adult is sort of ignored. It just happens. Before you realize it, he’s finishing the book with a quick rundown of the rest of his life in the last chapter.

6. Needs of Adolescents:

One thing I noticed about this book that I did really like is that Dahl makes his youth accessible to young people. His story begins in 1922, which is a very, very long time ago for most students now. He is very good about explaining phenomena such as the lack of access to air travel and the rarity of spotting an automobile. I think the only real need of adolescents that this book addresses, though, is the need for entertainment, and that one is a stretch.

7. Possible Classroom Uses:

I worry about the highly negative light in which all school authority figures are portrayed in this book. We can all see in Matilda the trend, but here it is supposed to be real life and while I don’t doubt that Dahl and his young classmates endured physical punishment, irrational instructors, and dictatorial Headmasters at their schools, it is a dangerous place to bring modern young people. There is such a fine line for a sixth grader between being able to laugh at something that happened a long time ago in a faraway place and being too quick to relate one’s own experience to Dahl’s.

On a more practical note, it is a specific type of non-fiction that reads much like fiction, so I might be able to use it to demonstrate the wide variety of ways one can write true stories. For example, this is significantly different than an informational text or a biography written about a famous scientist. I might recommend it either to someone who had read works of Dahl’s fiction or to a reluctant reader as a means to give them a story that is easily accessible and entertaining or to introduce them to the world of non-fiction in a very non-threatening way.

8. Appropriate Age Range:

I would not give this to someone older than seventh grade, and even then only if they were a reluctant reader. There is just no real substance to the book. It is great for entertainment value, but that only goes so far when there are authority issues to deal with in the book, too. I think students in upper elementary could read it and relate, too, though.

9. Personal Reactions:

The one part of this book that I enjoyed was seeing the places where Dahl got his inspiration for many of the novels I read as a kid. There was a local candy store in his neighborhood growing up and later while he was away at boarding school Nestle used his class as a testing ground for new chocolate varieties. The Headmasters and teachers at his boarding schools were of the Mrs. Trunchbull variety, beyond a doubt, and one of his friends’ parents reminded me of Matilda’s. Other than that, about two thirds of the way through the really short book, all of his stories started to sound as though they were drawn from one of these hats: boys get into prankster trouble, someone is irrationally punished by a teacher, an administrator beats a student, or idyllic family vacation story. I am interested to read the next autobiography Dahl wrote about his time in the Royal Air Force during World War II and his travels to Africa and other exotic places. Maybe there will be more meat to that story!

The Giver - Lois Lowry

1. Bibliography:

Lowry, Lois. The Giver. New York: Dell Laurel-Leaf, 1993.

2. Genre and Awards:

Science Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy

Newberry Medal Award Winner - 1994

3. Synopsis:

Jonas, the main character of The Giver, lives in a somewhat futuristic utopian society where all sense of emotion has been erased from its members. Children are born to a birth mother, whom they never know, are cared for at a center for infants, and then assigned to a family. As they grow, they assume new responsibilities and privileges every year at a ceremony to declare their new age (yes, everyone turns the new age together). At the Ceremony of Twelve, children are given their job assignment based on interests. Jonas is given the hardest assignment of all – he is to be the bearer of all memories, emotion, and experience for the community. There is one person who holds onto all of this as a means of everyone else being able to live as pleasantly as possible.

4. Characters:

Jonas is the main character and his mother, father, and sister all play moderately significant parts in the novel. Lowry uses them more to explain the inner-workings of the society than to be family to Jonas, probably because in their world, there are no emotional ties to others. Another important character is The Giver, who is the previous holder of all the knowledge of the community and whose job it is to transfer his understandings to Jonas. The other character who plays a large role in terms of motivating Jonas in his struggle to do the right thing for the good of the community’s future is Gabriel, a baby about whom I can’t tell you much more without giving away key plot points.

5. Plot:

Lowry spends the majority of the novel telling you about the society from Jonas’ perspective, all the while drawing you into his nervous anticipation about what his assignment will be and then tugging at your heartstrings while he goes through a number of intense emotional experiences during his training. Very little action occurs in the book outside of the emotionally troubling experiences Jonas has as he comes into possession of the knowledge that the Giver holds. Jonas begins to grapple with whether or not the system in place is acceptable and eventually takes a stand based on his decision.

6. Needs of Adolescents:

Katy mentioned this in her review, but the biggest issue this books deals with is isolation. Because of the role Jonas has been chosen to fulfill, he is terribly disconnected from his community of friends and family. In essence, there is little connection to begin with outside the basis of ceremonial relationships, but when Jonas becomes the Receiver of Memory, he has to cut off even those. He is seriously bothered by what his community is asking him to do and is faced with a great moral dilemma. Should he follow the path that is laid out for him because others tell him it’s what he is supposed to do or should he find a way to carve his own way based on his own principles of what is right and wrong? I don’t think these are questions that many adolescents would immediately understand and be able to connect with in The Giver, but with some coaxing, I think they could relate.

7. Possible Classroom Uses:

This is a book that any student could read. While it does deal with some heavy issues, none of them are too risqué for a classroom discussion. There are a lot of different levels of understanding, so I can see advanced readers really buying into some of the symbolism and moral issues in the book while less-advanced readers would love the sometimes intense and always emotionally appealing plot line. I would probably choose it for small group reading or maybe to read aloud in class. It would be a great bridge to discussions about any literature that has elements of science fiction or fantasy in it.

8. Appropriate Age Range:

Ideally, any reader could pick this book up and find something in it to catch their attention. Realistically, the main character is twelve years old, so I would assume most high school students would be turned away from any literary value in the novel because of a lack of relate-ability. I would probably come closer to giving it to seventh through ninth graders.

9. Personal Reactions:

I was really drawn into The Giver, because of the unique nature of the society in which Jonas lives. I don’t generally like futuristic or science fiction novels, but the two that I have read have both centered around young boys coming of age in these societies (this book and Ender’s Game) and for me that is enough to draw me in. I don’t love reading and having to think about these bizarre worlds, but I do like seeing a young person negotiate his way through it, because, let’s be honest, adolescence can make our average American society seem horribly foreign and just as hard to maneuver for many young people!