The Courage to Be Yourself: True Stories by Teens about Cliques, Conflicts, and Overcoming Peer Pressure

by Desetta, Al

• ISBN13: 9781575421858
• ISBN10: 1575421852
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-10-30
• Publisher: Free Spirit Pub

Summary

Cassandra is hassled by her friends for sitting with the "wrong" kids at lunch. Jennifer gets harassed because shers"s overweight. Dwanrs"s own family taunts her for not being "black enough." Yen is teased for being Chinese; Jamel for not smoking marijuana. Yet all find the strength to face their conflicts and the courage to be themselves. In 26 first-person stories, real teens write about their lives with searing honesty. They will inspire young readers to reflect on their own lives, work through their problems, and learn who they really are.

Author Biography

Al Desetta, M.A. is an editor at Youth Communication, a New York-based nonprofit organization that teaches writing, journalism, and leadership skills to inner-city teens. educators for Social Responsibility (ESR) is a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to make teaching social responsibility a core practice in education so that young people develop the convections and skills to shapre a safe, sustainable, democratic, and just world.