Another suggestion for helping stressed out tweens.

Posted on the School Library Journal website as a comment on “Mindful activities for Stressed Out

Teens.”

Christina Kessler’s suggestions of “Mindful Activities for Stressed Out Tweens” are reasonable, but there is no mention of the library’s number one feature: Books for self-selected reading. The quality of young people’s literature has never been higher, and many authors deal with just those issues that cause stress among young readers. Non-fiction will help give tweens at least some of the information they need to deal with their problems, and fiction allows readers to see and explore different possibilities for actually solving their problems. Also, self-selected reading can help a great deal if schoolwork contributes to stress: Those who read more read better, have larger vocabularies, write better, and spell better. They also know more about a wide variety of subjects, including science, literature, history and even “practical matters.”

Victor Nell’s research (Lost in a Book, Yale University Press, 1988) shows that pleasure reading can help you at least temporarily forget your problems and relax a little, which is why so many people read in bed before they go to sleep. One of Nell’s subjects told him that “reading removes me from the irritations of living …(while reading) I escape from the cares of those around me, as well as escaping from my own cares and dissatisfactions” (Nell, 1988, p, 240).

original article and comment: http://www.slj.com/2017/12/industry-news/mindful-activities-stressed-tweens/