Wouldn't it be fantastic if you could talk to your mom honestly and frankly about topics like first French kisses, or what boys look like naked? Well, high school teen Laura Potash Fruitman can, and she has decided to share these conversations with girls everywhere in this self-help manual for female teens, Am I Weird or Is This Normal? Laura's mom is Manhattan psychotherapist Marlin S. Potash, and using tag-team techniques, she and Laura give a crash course in Teen Trauma 101, covering every topic from puberty and sex to making friends and choosing colleges. Both Potashes emphasize the positive message that being weird is normal, because "everyone feels that they are different," but the book is at its best when the two disagree, resulting in humorous interchanges that often lighten their serious subject matter. What mother-daughter team Lynda and Area Madaras did for puberty (the revolutionary What's Happening to My Body? books) Marlin and Laura Potash have done for 21st century grrrlhood. But grrrls, keep in mind that this no-embarrassing-stone-unturned treatment of teen issues and sexuality is probably best kept among best girlfriends--parents may blush over the detailed section on oral sex. While the exuberant authors needed a little more help with chapter placement (the sections on sex, STDs, and rape precede the chapter that should probably come first--puberty, periods, and nutrition) there's no doubt that they sincerely care about their female adolescent audience, and that Am I Weird is an excellent girl guide for the thoroughly modern miss. (Ages 14 to 18) --Jennifer Hubert
From Publishers Weekly
In Am I Weird or Is This Normal?: Advice and Info to Get Teens in the Know, Marlin Potash and his 16-year-old daughter, Laura Potash Fruitman, with Lisa Sussman, touch on, among other things, dating, drugs, money, college admissions, eating disorders, friendship and sex. Pressing questions are followed by honest answers from the psychologist and the teenager, each experts in their own way. Sidebars provide helpful tips, checklists and straightforward discussions.
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