Teen Torment : Overcoming Verbal Abuse at Home and at School

Newsweek

A groundbreaking new book.

Library Journal

With these two titles, the genre on navigating adolescence continues to grow but gets no boost. The publisher is comparing Blanco's story with Dave Pelzer's A Child Called "It," but that's inaccurate, for it lacks that book's honest writing. A public relations agent, Blanco writes about growing up a misfit and reject, constantly tormented by her classmates. Never really fitting in, she moved from school to school in the Chicago suburbs, with verbal abuse soon turning into physical abuse. Then, when Blanco was 16, her parents decided to vacation in Greece, and they flew the next day (what about passports?). She met a guy in his "quaint" club and spilled her life story, including problems with her asymmetrical breasts (one huge, one tiny). She then shed her bra so that he could admire her lopsided chest. Back home for breast surgery and her senior year, she was soon driving one of Dad's company cars (!) to school. Though she was a proud, God-fearing "good girl," she turned assertive, even muttering "Screw you!" to one of her enemies. On to New York University, a public relations career, and back to a high school reunion to see all the kids who had tormented her-and more bizarre fodder. With too much in this memoir failing to ring true, and much of it sounding preposterous, readers have no reason to sympathize with the author. In her latest book, consultant and speaker Evans (The Verbally Abusive Relationship) turns to teenagers with the goal of identifying verbal abuse and stopping it, but she is long-winded, repetitive, and self-serving. Too many generalities get in the way of facts here; and lists with examples of abuse and ways to respond are mostly useless. For example, Evans suggests that one fire back the comment, "That's silly talk," which hardly constitutes teen lingo. Verbal abuse always precedes violence, she claims, but this is not supported with facts. The chapters on where to find abuse (in media, sports, the home, and school) could have been lumped into one. Finally, in the text and in the slim bibliography, Evans recommends her own books and her own web site. Libraries are much better off with Rachel Simmons's Odd Girl Out and Rosalind Wiseman's Queen Bees and Wannabes. Neither of these new books is recommended.-Linda Beck, Indian Valley P.L., Telford, PA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.