Common ground: Normalizing internal experiences of adulthood

Focus on what adolescents have in common with other adults, and how this knowledge can be just as helpful to them as knowledge of problems that are unique to this age group (or to their ethnicity/sexual orientation/etc). Mental health issues like Seasonal Affective Disorder often fly under the radar for teen books– partly because they may not be as severe as other issues, and partly because they’re so common that people may not even think of them as disorders.

For the journal this week, think about what books like this can do for their readers, in terms of how they see their own daily experiences reflected in the experiences of others.