When my children were babies and toddlers, I found overwhelming amounts of information about their needs and care-- magazines, books, TV shows. Now that they are 15 and 9, I can't find much worth reading to help me with their needs. I found that this book was very helpful. The author interviewed many teenagers and profiled 12 of them in this book. The book is an interesting glimpse into their lives, and the lives of their families, and the unique problems they each face. Although this is not a "self-help" book, with prescriptions for how to solve the problems parents face, the final chapter summarizes the author's findings from the interviews and gives advice to parents. This summary should be copied and posted where every parent of a teenager will see it frequently because it's a very complete summary of things that teenagers need from their parents.

I am also starting to work my way through the books listed in the bibliography. It appears to be a great resource for further reading about adolescents.

Finally, I wanted to explain the reason I awarded only 4 stars. I felt that the book focussed too much on teenagers who have some kind of "problem": poverty, drugs, neglect, etc. Although the book was useful for all parents of older children and teens, I think it would have been better for me if there had been a few more middle-class kids who are doing well in school in the book. That's the kind of kids that I am dealing with, and they still have problems. I suspect that's the kind of kid a lot of... customers are raising too.

I felt like I was reading "MY Last Best Shot" as I read through this book. I have three sons, ages 10, 12, & 13, and this book was lent to me by my middle son's teacher. I liked it so much I bought my own copy. Every chapter opened my eyes to something else I didn't know about or have not been doing with my sons. I strongly recommend this book to anyone with children near or at the pre-teen age level, particularly parents who find most parenting books boring, patronizing or unrealistic.

For Christmas 2000, I only requested a few gifts. Besides paper white bulbs and a red matte lipstick, I wanted this book. As a parent of younger children and a youth development consultant and writer, I had committed to reading it in the New Year!

I read Last Best Shot in less than 2 days and enjoyed it immensely. In 12 profiles of young adolescents, the author touches on the turbulence but wonderful promise of young teens. She cuts through all the theoretical jargon with an amazingly graceful writing style. This is its finest strength---to communicate what experts in the field know about youth development in engaging storytelling profiles. This makes it a wonderful read for anyone, with children or without.

Beautifully insightful, and at times poignant, the private look into the lives of these children gives you the freedom to draw many of your own conclusions. It is also extremely refreshing to see children from many backgrounds portrayed--Children of married families, divorced ones, white, city, rural, Hispanic and African American. My only wish is that we will see a followup. What will happen to all these children in three or four years?