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Rating: 
Summary: If you were or know a teenager - you must read this!
Review: Rap, raves, gangs, Columbine ... one can read all sorts of things
about American teenagers today, but read this book for a real and
respectful view of their lives, their experiences, and their
perceptions of the world around them. Herb Childress spend a year
with the teenagers of what could be a suburb anywhere in America in
the past 40 years. As an adult you will recognize the places and
experiences he describes from your own teenage years and you will gain
terrific insight into what the teenagers in your life are experiencing
now. Dr. Childress pulls no punches in his descriptions of the
teenagers, the adults, and the places that influence their lives -
everything from the coach- turned-high-school principal to the
playground signs forbidding children from running while in the
park. This book offers information that is difficult to impossible
to find elsewhere. A book for every parent, teacher, administrator,
health care worker, archtect or public servant -- if you ever were a
teenager or if you know any teenagers, this is a must read book. The
first part of this book describes the lives and experiences of the
teenagers in "Curtisville" a real town in Northern
California. In the second part of this book, Dr. Childress describes
and analyzes the environments and the situations teenagers so often
find themselves in - places ranging from the cost-saving State-wide
design of the high school that fails to provide shelter from the 6
months of winter rain to the layout of the town streets and shops that
makes walking and "hanging out" unpleasant if downright
impossible, it's all here in black and white. Dr. Childress set
out to study three simple questions: How do teenagers use spaces? How
do they apply meanings and values to any particular places? How do
conflicts about those places arise between teens and adults and
between particular subsets of teens, and how are those conflicts
resolved? He spent a year finding the answers to these questions and
found that the ideas of joy and flow are at the heart of all of them.
Let Dr. Childress and the teenagers of Curtisville share that flow and
joy with you, and maybe we can make the world a better place for all
of us. This book is not only fascinating, it is a pleasure to read.
Dr. Childress is a consummate storyteller, and he tells the story of
life as an American teenager with truth and compassion.
Rating:
Summary: If you were or know a teenager - you must read this!
Review: Rap, raves, gangs, Columbine ... one can read all sorts of things
about American teenagers today, but read this book for a real and
respectful view of their lives, their experiences, and their
perceptions of the world around them. Herb Childress spend a year
with the teenagers of what could be a suburb anywhere in America in
the past 40 years. As an adult you will recognize the places and
experiences he describes from your own teenage years and you will gain
terrific insight into what the teenagers in your life are experiencing
now. Dr. Childress pulls no punches in his descriptions of the
teenagers, the adults, and the places that influence their lives -
everything from the coach- turned-high-school principal to the
playground signs forbidding children from running while in the
park. This book offers information that is difficult to impossible
to find elsewhere. A book for every parent, teacher, administrator,
health care worker, archtect or public servant -- if you ever were a
teenager or if you know any teenagers, this is a must read book. The
first part of this book describes the lives and experiences of the
teenagers in "Curtisville" a real town in Northern
California. In the second part of this book, Dr. Childress describes
and analyzes the environments and the situations teenagers so often
find themselves in - places ranging from the cost-saving State-wide
design of the high school that fails to provide shelter from the 6
months of winter rain to the layout of the town streets and shops that
makes walking and "hanging out" unpleasant if downright
impossible, it's all here in black and white. Dr. Childress set
out to study three simple questions: How do teenagers use spaces? How
do they apply meanings and values to any particular places? How do
conflicts about those places arise between teens and adults and
between particular subsets of teens, and how are those conflicts
resolved? He spent a year finding the answers to these questions and
found that the ideas of joy and flow are at the heart of all of them.
Let Dr. Childress and the teenagers of Curtisville share that flow and
joy with you, and maybe we can make the world a better place for all
of us. This book is not only fascinating, it is a pleasure to read.
Dr. Childress is a consummate storyteller, and he tells the story of
life as an American teenager with truth and compassion.
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