American Medical Association's Boy's Guide to Becoming a Teen

Bibliographic Information

Middleman, A. & Grunewald Pfeifer, K. (2006). American Medical Association's boy's guide to becoming a teen. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Summary

Divided into nine chapters, this book covers the major changes teen boys can expect during puberty, such as skin care, reproductive growth and development, relationships, and personal hygiene issues like body odor. The book is organized into common questions and answers, some of which include cartooned medical diagrams as well as illustrations.

Rationale

The cover is reasonably discrete and the illustrations, while more cartoonish than other books on the same topic, are still appropriate for the intended age group. The title is similarly innocuous.

That being said, there are some content issues that parents need to be mindful of. This book goes beyond simple health and hygiene topics and gets to thornier, more controversial topics such as tattoos, piercings, STDs, and masturbation. Because it's published by the American Medical Association, the information is medically accurate. Considering the barrage of inaccurate information teens are exposed to by the media and by each other, having access to the facts is an important asset for teens. While some parents may be alarmed by the content, others may find that it provides a non confrontational way to start important conversations with their tween or teen.