Beat Stress! The Exam Handbook. (Really Useful Handbooks). Anita Naik. St. Catharines, ON: Crabtree, 2009. 48 pp., pbk. & hc., $11.95 (pbk.), $21.56 (RLB). ISBN 978-0-7787-4400-9 (pbk.), ISBN 978-0-7787-4387-3 (RLB). Subject Headings: Test-taking skills-Juvenile literature. Study skills-Juvenile literature. Test anxiety-Juvenile literature. Grades 7-11 / Ages 12-16. Review by Joanne Peters. ****/4

Coping with Loss: The Life Changes Handbook. (Really Useful Handbooks). Anita Naik. St. Catharines, ON: Crabtree, 2009. 48 pp., pbk. & hc., $11.95 (pbk.), $21.56 (RLB). ISBN 978-0-7787-4404-7 (pbk.), ISBN 978-0-7787-4391-0 (RLB). Subject Headings: Loss (Psychology)-Juvenile literature. Life change events-Juvenile literature. Death-Juvenile literature. Grief-Juvenile literature. Divorce-Juvenile literature. Grades 7-11 / Ages 12-16. Review by Joanne Peters. ****/4

Too Fat? Too Thin? The Healthy Eating Handbook. (Really Useful Handbooks). Melissa Sayer. St. Catharines, ON: Crabtree, 2009. 48 pp., pbk. & hc., $11.95 (pbk.), $21.56 (RLB). ISBN 978-0-7787-4405-4 (pbk.), ISBN 978-0-7787-4392-7 (RLB). Subject Headings: Nutrition-Juvenile literature. Body image-Juvenile literature. Eating disorders-Juvenile literature. Grades 7-11 / Ages 12-16. Review by Joanne Peters. ****/4

I’m Broke! The Money Handbook. (Really Useful Handbooks). Liam Croke. St. Catharines, ON: Crabtree, 2009. 48 pp., pbk. & hc., $11.95 (pbk.), $21.56 (RLB). ISBN 978-0-7787-4402-3 (pbk.), ISBN 978-0-7787-4389-7 (RLB). Subject Headings: Finance, Personal-Juvenile literature. Money-Juvenile literature. Saving and investment-Juvenile literature. Grades 7-11 / Ages 12-16. Review by Joanne Peters. ****/4

	Read the Signals: The Body Language Handbook. (Really Useful Handbooks). Anita Naik. St. Catharines, ON: Crabtree, 2009. 48 pp., pbk. & hc., $11.95 (pbk.), $21.56 (RLB). ISBN 978-0-7787-4401-6 (pbk.), ISBN 978-0-7787-4388-0 (RLB). Subject Heading: Body language-Juvenile literature. Grades 7-11 / Ages 12-16. Review by Joanne Peters. ****/4

Making a Difference: The Changing the World Handbook. (Really Useful Handbooks). Ali Cronin. St. Catharines, ON: Crabtree, 2009. 48 pp., pbk. & hc., $11.95 (pbk.), $21.56 (RLB). ISBN 978-0-7787-4403-0 (pbk.), ISBN 978-0-7787-4390-3 (RLB). Subject Headings: Sustainable living-Juvenile literature. Environmental protection-Juvenile literature. Environmental responsibility-Juvenile literature. Grades 7-11 / Ages 12-16. Review by Joanne Peters. ****/4

Almost everyone will agree that there’s no handbook to life, but a guide to coping with its unavoidable problems (lack of money, body size issues, loss, and stress) certainly helps. While there is a plethora of self-help material available for adults, until recently, little existed for adolescents, and even less was available for students who need high-interest, but low readability materials. At-risk teens typically are struggling academically, and, if a book is to be of help, it has to be of a format that is appealing, approachable, and accessible at their literacy level.


     All of the books in the series are comparatively short (48 pages long), illustrated with colour photos of high-school age students of varied ethnic backgrounds and both genders, explain textual content with easy-to-read charts and graphics, and end with a glossary, an index, as well as suggestions for sources of information. Although Crabtree does have a Canadian publishing arm, its main base of operations is in the United States, and so, all of the sources of further information are American. Canadian sources would have been helpful for its Canadian audience. However, the web-sites provided are all valid and reliable, going beyond the typical “Google” search.


     Beat Stress! The Exam Handbook offers a variety of study strategies, discusses exam stress and test anxiety (including the truly terrifying “freeze-up” experience), as well as a post-exam perspective. Positive suggestions for dealing with very bad results are a particularly useful component of this book.


     Although the cover of Coping with Loss: The Life Changes Handbook features a line drawing of a young woman who is obviously grieving the loss of her pet cat, this book is about more than death. Life changes (changing schools), family changes (a move or divorce), and loss of parental employment (a real concern right now) all involve loss of security, and this book provides helpful coping strategies for teens facing these issues. The biggest loss – death – is handled particularly well. Attending a funeral, how to face the sadness of having missed the opportunity to say good-bye to someone, acknowledging that no one truly ever “gets over it”, and finding positive and productive ways to process the loss are all provided in this volume.


     A different sort of loss is addressed in Too Fat? Too Thin? The Healthy Eating Handbook. Actually, the focus of this volume is on body image; specifically, developing a healthy and realistic body image, and maintaining that body through healthy diet and exercise. Over-eating and both ends of the spectrum of eating disorders (anorexia, bulimia, binge eating, and compulsive eating) are discussed, along with strategies for management of those problems.


     With the current economic crisis, I’m Broke: The Money Handbook may be particularly timely book. Many teens have part time jobs, but where does that money get spent, and what sort of guidance do they receive on banking, budgeting, using credit wisely, investing, and borrowing? Despite some differences between the American and Canadian banking and investment systems, the fundamentals of day-to-day economics are explained in easy terms which even the most math-challenged individual can understand.


     But not all of the “Really Useful Handbooks” are about “problem” situations. Read the Signals: The Body Language Handbook is a really useful guide to effective communication. Hand gestures, facial expressions, body stance – all of these convey messages, nonverbally, and learning how to decode these messages can be crucial to effectively managing all kinds of social situations. And, I have seen few other books which offer helpful suggestions on “flirting” (including “How to tell if someone wants to kiss you”).


     Finally, for teens with a social conscience, who are interested in volunteerism and who care about the future of the world in which they live, there is Making a Difference: The Changing the World Handbook. Although the focus of this book is largely about environmental activism, about being “green,” the book presents reasons for “making a difference,” no matter the cause one chooses to champion, and it presents its message in a positive, non-preachy, and energetic tone.


     When I first received this collection, I wondered if they would be age- and interest-appropriate for a high school audience. At the same time, I thought that their format, vocabulary and subject material might make them especially useful for EAL (English as an Additional Language) students. I asked Katie Josephson, an EAL teacher at Kelvin, to take a quick look at the books and to indicate how she might use them. She agreed that all of the books in the series would be worth having in the school library’s collection and saw a place for them as classroom supplementary resources; Making a Difference “would be a great resource for our Science unit on Ecology” and Read the Signals would become part of “a unit on body language that would move into conflict resolution.” For my part, I am going to make sure that teachers and counselors know that the books are in Kelvin’s collection, so that they can use them, too.

Highly Recommended.

Joanne Peters is a teacher-librarian at Kelvin High School in Winnipeg, MB.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

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Published by The Manitoba Library Association ISSN 1201-9364

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