"In her argument on how to raise our young adolescents, Laura Sessions Stepp helps us navigate this critical age, this last, best shot at helping our youngsters grow up to be responsible, happy adults. Ten- to fifteen-year-olds are often dismissed as moody, baffling creatures.

Yet the years through which they pass - developmentally very different from the later teenage years - are perhaps the most critical time in the human life cycle, a fateful juncture at which unmatched physical and intellectual growth, expanding creativity, emerging moral sensibilities, awakening sexuality, and maturing emotions powerfully converge. Amid all this change it is easy for parents of young adolescents to feel unsure of what constitutes "normal" behavior; too often they can fail to distinguish between behaviors that signal healthy growth and those that indicate real trouble.

Without understanding the difference, they are in danger of forfeiting their greatest opportunity to effect decisive changes."--BOOK JACKET.