Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul on Tough Stuff: Stories of Tough Times and Lessons Learned

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In saying that, though, there was one thing that I did have a problem with and that’s the simple fact that you don’t always know what’s going to be said in a story, what it’s going to be about. For someone who stays clear of certain triggers, this might be a problem because you don’t always figure it out until it’s too late. Sure, the themes give you some clue of the subject, but it’s not always very clear. Or there are actually two themes going on and the second one sneaks up on you. If I had not been given the chance to realize it, I might have been too concerned with “fitting in” to experience some of the best times of my life.” Inspirational Stories for Teens She was all the things I thought I wanted to be,”Brianne had thought. “I looked up to Ashley, idolized her even.” Choose a theme in your book and compare to any piece of literature we have read in class. What is similar? What is different? What have you learned about the human experience? (7-10 sentences) Although Lena didn't haver her old friend or her parents, she had Diana, her new friend. Diana made Lena feel pretty. Lena said that even though she didn't talk about her feelings with the popular girl, she didn't feel alone anymore.

Another thing that really got to me was that the title suggests that these stories are meant to be soothing- but they just made me feel depressed; it's normally only the last two lines that are happy. i really like ready the short stories & different experiences as a teenager things i can relate to .i love it so farIt's preachy. Like...I understand that these books are designed for a specific audience and that the editors are clearly approaching this from a "GOD LOVES YOU" standpoint...but it's almost to the point of toxic positivity. Ashley learned something that year… through her heartbreak, she discovered the person she was going to be. Some things that had stood out to me, are the chapters they included. I enjoyed how each chapter's situation varies from Self-acceptance, to drugs and alcohol, to even death and dying. Although people who read this know that these things are serious, they know that these things are common and teens who read this know what they can expect if they read it. that is why I recommend this book for teens and young adults. on top of that, they include resources of organizations that can help with things like these situations like abuse for example.

Interesting:I liked how even though i havent been abused or done drugs i know all the consequences that could follow and i could feel their pain.As time went on I made friends with lots of different people, some from “the popular crowd” and some not. My standards were different though. The people I sought out for friends were the nice ones—period. (p. 311-313) Brianne Monett considered herself to be awkward as she made her way through her freshman year of high school. She had no close friends, didn’t play sports, wasn’t fashionable, and mostly kept to herself. As a result, her classmates were unkind to her. I had brought this anthology many years ago and I have never got around to finishing it, so I decided to finish it. This anthology had also been recommended to me by my pervious teachers and it was been such an inspirational and delightful anthology to read. She went through a lot of changes over the next month. She bought new clothes – the ones she wanted to wear. She dropped her art class & joined theatre. She made new friends who liked her for her. She “ never again just followed the crowd.”

To her surprise, the summer before her sophomore year of high school, she became friends with Ashley, her classmate from summer school. Ashley was popular, outspoken, fashionable, and artistic. When we started school again, Ashley introduced me to her group of friends, the “cool girls.” She was the leader of their group; I would hang out with them on lunch breaks and take classes they were in. I would tag along to football games, and I joined the art club after school so I could hang out with them even more. I began listening to the music she listened to, wearing the clothes she wore. I quit reading and started watching TV programs Ashley watched. I even tailored my sophomore year schedule to her interests. It didn’t bother me exactly, but I know that there are people who would definitely not cope with certain of these stories and they wouldn’t be warned up front. These important topics, and more, are covered in this new collection, with stories selected to help teenagers develop self-esteem, confidence, gratitude, compassion for others, resilience, and enthusiasm for taking on new challenges. One of the keys to the original book’s success has been that it shows teenagers they are not alone, that other kids their age share the same emotions and experiences. That continues in this new collection.It is like passing through the eye of a needle, as others may say. And requires responsibility and accountability on the part of family and society.

Also, many of them are unrealistic; they seem to go on and on about how everything has a happy ending. But that's just not the case... In my opinion, it's giving teenagers the wrong idea about success. I told her my day had not been so great. She said she was sorry and offered to walk me outside. At that moment I realized how wrong I was in wanting to only be friends with popular people. Those people weren’t even going to consider being my friends, but there were some people who I’d already met today and liked and they liked me. Maybe I shouldn’t decide whether a person is worthy of being my friend or not by their reputation, but by who they are. I said, “Thanks, I’d like that. I’m sorry I was kind of rude this morning.” She said it was okay, she was new at school once too. Walking with Diane made me realize how nice it would be to have a friend like her. On the way to class she asked me if I wanted to go out after school to hang out with some of her friends and get to know them better. I did go out with Diane and had a lot of fun. Achieving dreams, friendship, attitude and perspective, love and life were on a few of the chapter themes in the book. Each chapter was laced with a poem to express the theme. My favorite poem was about friendship. Each poem gave the chapter the perfect introduction as to what the chapter was going to be about. The chapter was filled with stories from different authors writing about the theme. Stories told by real people talking about their life stories and situations. I thing these chapters are were designed to somehow connect with the readers individual life situations and fell them in with some kind of comfort to let them know that theirs other people out there going through or previously went through the same thing. Finally one day my wife looked at me and asked, “Why is it that you never look at me when I say that you’re handsome?” I decided to tell her about the yearbook and my conclusions. “You can’t believe that! It’s wrong! Somebody who didn’t even know you in grade seven can’t be taken that seriously! I know you, I love you and I chose to marry you. I think you’re handsome and I think I’ve proved that.” So was I going to believe my wife... or that old graffiti? But the stories were all so narrow in range; they seemed to take a very conservative, closed viewpoint in that there was never any mention of drug abuse, ex-prisoners, people who had dropped out of school and had been successful, or homosexuality. Considering the modern day and age, I found this disheartening to say the least. Almost all the stories were based around students (not surprising considering the target audience) which rather narrowed down the variety.These true inspirational stories for teenagers are organized into chapters that will inspire you to: I’ve always heard stories about how parenting today’s teens are “a dreaded few years,” but I’m here to tell you that it’s just not true. On the contrary, the preteen & teen years are wonderful, and parenting a teenager is like a reward for putting in the time & energy when our children are younger. This is a book you will read and reread, sharing your favorite stories with one another over and over again. This book is a text to world book. I say this becasue this book is from teenagers/adults (who remeber storys or there teenage years) and anybody can relate to the storys. Some people in this book have storys that may have happened to the person thats reading the book or it might make a person learn a lesson or improve there life. This storys will make anyone have any kind of feeling and make them care and be happy for all the opertunitys they have and love life more.