From Booklist
Evans is the author of several books about verbal abuse, beginning with The Verbally Abusive Relationship (1992). Here she targets the minefields of teen behavior in a book for parents, teachers, and teens to share. In her first section, which defines verbal abuse, Evans revisits some of the material in her previous titles, but she shows how teens are particularly affected: verbal abuse impairs the self-confidence and self-knowledge necessary to develop into healthy, functioning adults. And she discusses the role of verbal abuse in violent behavior. In the book's second half, Evans looks specifically at verbal abuse in the media, on the sports field, at home, and in school, and she closes with a section on stopping verbal abuse, with separate chapters for parents, teachers, teens, and "boyfriends and girlfriends." Evans' approach is more practical and anecdotal than scientific, using approachable language enhanced with plenty of checklists, charts, and an appended resources section. The result is an easily digested, empowering guide to identifying and curbing damaging behavior and to strengthening communication in general. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Newsweek for The Verbally Abusive Relationship
"A groundbreaking new book."


Anne Rule, author of Every Breath You Take, for Controlling People
"Great advice about how to stand up for yourself!"


Sonya Friedman of CNN for The Verbally Abusive Relationship
"A great, great book."


Book Description
Ask teens and they’ll confirm it—verbal abuse is "a fact of teen life." From simple put-downs to hate-filled "trash talking," teens are drowning in a sea of poisoned words. How can it be stopped? In her previous bestsellers, The Verbally Abusive Relationship and Controlling People, author and relationship expert Patricia Evans blazed new trails in helping us understand verbally abusive adults. In Teen Torment, Evans explores how verbal abuse affects parents, teachers, peers, and the abusers themselves. She also reveals how teens become verbal abusers and how this verbal poison can spread into every aspect of teen life. In this must-read book, Evans shows teens, parents, and teachers how important it is to detect this hurtful behavior early on, and how to deal with and end this escalating epidemic in America before painful words and ugly talk ruin young lives.


About the Author
Patricia Evans is a highly acclaimed interpersonal communications specialist, public speaker, and consultant. She has appeared on hundreds of radio shows and dozens of television programs, including Oprah and CNN. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area in California.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In her previous bestsellers, The Verbally Abusive Relationship and Controlling People, author and relationship expert Patricia Evans blazed new trails in helping us understand verbally abusive adults.

In Teen Torment, Evans explores how verbal abuse affects parents, teachers, peers, and the abusers themselves. She also reveals how teens become verbal abusers and how this verbal poison can spread into every aspect of teen life.

In this must-read book, Evans shows teens, parents, and teachers how important it is to detect this hurtful behavior early on, and how to deal with and end this escalating epidemic in America before painful words and ugly talk ruin young lives.

Patricia Evans is a highly acclaimed interpersonal communications specialist, public speaker, and consultant. She has appeared on hundreds of radio shows and dozens of television programs, including Oprah and CNN. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area in California.

SYNOPSIS

Ask teens and they'll confirm it-verbal abuse is "a fact of teen life." From simple put-downs to hate-filled "trash talking," teens are drowning in a sea of poisoned words. How can it be stopped?

FROM THE CRITICS

Newsweek

A groundbreaking new book.

Library Journal

With these two titles, the genre on navigating adolescence continues to grow but gets no boost. The publisher is comparing Blanco's story with Dave Pelzer's A Child Called "It," but that's inaccurate, for it lacks that book's honest writing. A public relations agent, Blanco writes about growing up a misfit and reject, constantly tormented by her classmates. Never really fitting in, she moved from school to school in the Chicago suburbs, with verbal abuse soon turning into physical abuse. Then, when Blanco was 16, her parents decided to vacation in Greece, and they flew the next day (what about passports?). She met a guy in his "quaint" club and spilled her life story, including problems with her asymmetrical breasts (one huge, one tiny). She then shed her bra so that he could admire her lopsided chest. Back home for breast surgery and her senior year, she was soon driving one of Dad's company cars (!) to school. Though she was a proud, God-fearing "good girl," she turned assertive, even muttering "Screw you!" to one of her enemies. On to New York University, a public relations career, and back to a high school reunion to see all the kids who had tormented her-and more bizarre fodder. With too much in this memoir failing to ring true, and much of it sounding preposterous, readers have no reason to sympathize with the author. In her latest book, consultant and speaker Evans (The Verbally Abusive Relationship) turns to teenagers with the goal of identifying verbal abuse and stopping it, but she is long-winded, repetitive, and self-serving. Too many generalities get in the way of facts here; and lists with examples of abuse and ways to respond are mostly useless. For example, Evans suggests that one fire back the comment, "That's silly talk," which hardly constitutes teen lingo. Verbal abuse always precedes violence, she claims, but this is not supported with facts. The chapters on where to find abuse (in media, sports, the home, and school) could have been lumped into one. Finally, in the text and in the slim bibliography, Evans recommends her own books and her own web site. Libraries are much better off with Rachel Simmons's Odd Girl Out and Rosalind Wiseman's Queen Bees and Wannabes. Neither of these new books is recommended.-Linda Beck, Indian Valley P.L., Telford, PA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Sonya Friedman

A great, great book.  — CNN for The Verbally Abusive Relationship

Anne Rule