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Summary and Reviews of Chicken Soup For The Preteen Soul by Jack Canfield

Chicken Soup For The Preteen Soul by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen

Chicken Soup For The Preteen Soul

101 Stories of Changes, Choices and Growing up for Kids Ages 10-13

by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen
  • Critics' Consensus (1):
  • Readers' Rating (62):
  • First Published:
  • Oct 1, 2000, 350 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Oct 2000, 380 pages
  • Rate this book

About This Book

Book Summary

Written by and for preteens, this uplifting collection of stories touches on the emotions and situations we experience every day.

Our preteen years, ages nine to thirteen, can present some of the most difficult times in our young lives—a period of tremendous physical and emotional change. We're eager to leave the 'kid' stage, yet we're uncertain about what adolescence will bring; we start hearing the familiar refrain 'wait until you’re older' far too often. Chicken Soup for the Preteen Soul is a companion guide for these transitional years.

Written by and for preteens, this uplifting collection of stories touches on the emotions and situations we experience every day: making and losing friends, fitting in while keeping our personal identity, discovering the opposite sex, dealing with pressures at school including violence, and coping with family issues such as divorce.

Chapters include: On Love, On Family, On Friendship, On Choices, On Changes, On Overcoming Obstacles, Eclectic Wisdom, Tough Stuff, Attitude and Perspective and Achieving Dreams.

Contributors include: NSYNC, Mia Hamm, Beverley Mitchell and Karl Malone.

My Best Enemy

Examine the contents, not the bottle.
The Talmud

Once again, I was in a new school. So was a girl in my class named Paris. That's where the similarities ended.

I was tall, with a big, moony face. She was petite and skinny with a model's delicate features.

My thick, black hair had been recently cut short into a shag style. Her natural caramel blonde hair flowed to her waist and looked great when she flipped it around.

I was twelve and one of the oldest in the class. She was eleven and the youngest in the class.

I was awkward and shy. She wasn't.

I wore baggy overalls, sweatshirts and lime-green hiking boots. Paris wore rhinestone platform shoes, little twirly skirts and expensive, size-one designer jeans.

I couldn't stand her. I considered her my enemy. She liked me. She wanted to be friends.

One day, she invited me over and I said yes. I was too shocked to answer any other way. My family had moved six times in six years, ...

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Reviews

Media Reviews

School Library Journal - Elaine Fort Weischedel
Gr 5-7-Like other titles in the "Chicken Soup" series, this volume contains numerous short pieces of verse and prose, interspersed with comic strips of "Calvin & Hobbes," "Family Circus," and "Dennis the Menace," as well as pithy quotations selected as lead-ins to some of the pieces. The writings are grouped under headings such as "Achieving Dreams," "Overcoming Obstacles," "On Choices," and "Eclectic Wisdom" (for the bits that didn't fit elsewhere?). They are intended to encourage, inspire, and comfort. Each of the stories carries an author's name, and those written by young people give an age as well. Snail mail and e-mail addresses are included for those who want to respond to the book or submit stories and poems of their own. Children who loved Chicken Soup for the Kid's Soul (Health Communications, 1998) will no doubt welcome another serving.

Reader Reviews

dcthunderlover123

my best enemy
OMG! This is the best book I have ever read. It's such a good role model for kids. I will go to Amazon Prime and buy this book.
aarya shah

likeable by preteen and my teen sister as well
Mom bought this book as an add on gift which I did not want and I refused to read it, but since I was out of any more dumb diaries and princess diaries I started to read and could not stop until I finished reading it. It's amazing, and there are so ...   Read More
shelby

Awesome!
I didn't want to put the book back down! All the sad stories made me want to tell mine! I want to make a difference like all those pre- teens did. I remember when one of my friends parents went to jail and I cried for her but in the end she decided ...   Read More
Katelyn

Wow!!!
At first when my mom handed me this book as a present I was like whatever and I didn't read it..... After a while I decided I had nothing better to do so I started reading...... This book is amazing! I highly recommend this book! I am a preteen so ...   Read More

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