Positively Teenage by Nicola Morgan, reviewed by Dawn Finch

First the blurb…

Full of practical, proven strategies for physical and mental health, Positively Teenage will show you lots of ways to flourish physically and mentally - from doing things you enjoy to learning new skills; looking after your diet, exercise and attitude to being healthy online; getting great sleep to understanding your personality - allowing you to take control of many areas of your life. With these new strengths and skills, you can survive any storms and thrive on the challenges of your exciting life.

I’m going to cut to the quick on this one. If I had been given this book when I was a young teen, I would have definitely (positively!) had happier teenage years. Nicola Morgan (author - NOT former politician, that's a different one) is one of the very finest writers on matters of mental health and well-being for teens and young people, and this book is a perfect example of the very best kind of self-help guide. No, not self-help, this book is more like a survival guide to help young people navigate their teens. Frankly, I found it made me feel a lot more positive about life too!

Inside this book you’ll find wise (but never patronising or cringeworthy) advice on staying positive. Positive attitudes to health and friendship abound, and there is so much good advice in these pages that it is hard to put down. Advice like how to notice what went well, how to improve the quality of your sleep, and how to appreciate yourself and boost your own self esteem...and loads more.

The book is uplifting and supportive in language that is approachable and direct. It never veers towards those glib soundbites that drip in a honeyed and sticky mess from the pages of other books of this type. Instead, Morgan speaks clearly, honestly and directly to the young reader, and comes up with practical and solid advice on how to feel..well.. positive about stuff. It is elegant in its simplicity, and heartwarming in its honesty. The advice is truly brilliant, and all of it is totally doable, and none of it makes you want to vomit. No sickly and hackneyed platitudes here!

This is a book that should be on the shelves of every public and school library (in multiple copies!), but more than that – this should be quietly slipped under the pillows of every young teen in the world. If that happened, the end result would be a more positive world all round.

Positively Teenage: A positively brilliant guide to teenage well-being, is out now and is published by Franklin Watts

ISBN - 978-1445158143

Find out more about Nicola Morgan's books, and her excellent classroom and learning materials, and her public speaking events and services on her website - www.nicolamorgan.com 

Dawn Finch is a children’s author and librarian.

@dawnafinch

www.dawnfinch.com

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'Blame My Brain' by Nicola Morgan, reviewed by Rosalie Warren

 

As someone who constantly blames my brain for all sorts of things (not my fault - my brain did it!), I was intrigued by the title of Nicola Morgan's book and only slightly disappointed to learn that it was aimed at teenagers. Since I have many days when I feel that I am barely out of my teens (though the mirror, sadly, does not bear this out), I decided that the book might still be relevant to me, and indeed to my relationships with my no-longer-teenage children.

The subtitle is 'The amazing teenage brain revealed' and amazing is, I soon discovered, exactly what the teenage brain is. I learned that one of the things that happens to the brain in our early teenage years is a flurry of growth of the dendrites (connections between neurons), followed a few years later by a major pruning session where many of the relatively unused connections are culled and the remaining ones are strengthened and coated with a fatty myelin layer ready for adult life. Not surprisingly, all this activity is not without its downside for the person 'within', and it goes a long way towards explaining why teenagers can be so difficult to live with (and can find it so difficult to live with themselves).

There are also brain-based explanations of why teenagers need so much sleep, why they don't tidy their rooms, why they come alive when the rest of the world is going to sleep and why some of them, at least, are risk-takers. There's stuff about alcohol and drugs and why such things are not good for the brain, but all of it is written in a very sympathetic and understanding way that I think teenagers will warm to.

Nicola Morgan is not a neurologist or a professional scientist, but she clearly done a great deal of research and consulted experts including Professor Simon Baron-Cohen and Professor Susan Greenfield, among many other eminent names in the field. Morgan has a gift for simplifying and explaining complicated subject matter with a light but precise touch, and she is careful to distinguish between established facts and theories and speculations of her own and other people's.

There's plenty of humour and a good few well-deserved digs at the crass stupidty of parents and other well-meaning but misguided adults, which teenagers will appreciate. There are diagrams, tests, photos (what emotions can you recognise? Do you confuse other emotions with anger? Apparently the teenage brain often does, which may explain quite a lot). What kind of thinker are you - which mental tasks do you find comparatively easy or difficult? There's also sound advice about addiction, self-harm, depression and other mental illnesses, and some pointers towards recognising when you may need to seek help.

The illustrations by Andy Baker are great, too. And oh yes - there's some interesting discussion on the differences between girls' brains and boys'. If there are any. You'll have to read it to find out...

I wish I'd had this book when I was a teenager (wish my parents had had a copy too). And that it had been around when my children were that age. It might have made me a better parent. Ah well - I will make sure I buy copies for any grandchildren I have, when they reach their teenage years.

This book was first published in 2005 and, I am sure, must have helped a great many young people and their parents and other carers since it first came out.

Details:
Title: Blame My Brain
Author: Nicola Morgan
Illustrator: Andy Baker
Publisher: Walker Books Ltd
First Published: 2005

Happy reading! Best wishes,
Ros

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