The Teenage Guy's Survival Guide: The Real Deal on Girls, Growing Up and Other Guy Stuff

I bought this book on the strength of some of the reviews in Amazon.com. Having read the book (or at least about 40% of it until I decided to throw it away before my son saw it) I now suspect that most of the favorable reviews came from either parents who only skimmed the book or kids. The format is good and if you skim the book I can see why you might think it is well done and appropriate. PLEASE READ THIS BOOK IN DETAIL BEFORE DECIDING TO GIVE IT TO YOUR SON. I found myself disagreeing with minor stuff at first. For example, the book teaches that a girl is being unreasonable if she expects a boy who asks her out to pay for all of the date. Baloney - you asked her out, you pay for it. If she offers to pay part of it, great. The discussion of "love" was very sophomoric and would only reinforce the righteous attitude most teenagers have when they mistake lust and/or crushes for love. The deal breaker for me was the discussion of homosexuality. According to the author, "it isn't weird or abnormal to develop huge crushes on, or even be sexually attracted to, members of the same sex....It's very common... IN FACT, ONE OUT OF EVERY THREE BOYS AND ONE OUT OF EVERY FIVE GIRLS HAVE FOOLED AROUND WITH MEMBERS OF THE SAME SEX." By the way, the author put that part in all caps in the book, that's not my emphasis. I defy the author to come up with credible evidence to support that statement. Or how about, "It's completely normal...Just because you experiment, it doesn't mean you are gay." If you suspect your child might be gay, this book will make them feel better about it. If not, be warned that the book's approach to the subject is pretty much - give it a try, it's perfectly normal and you might like it. This was all presented, at least in this part of the book, without any reference to the STD risks involved in homosexual "experimentation." I can't comment on the rest of the book, because I only got through page 55 of 132 before I gave up on it.

I got this book for my twelve year old son who is turning 13 at the end of the year. Although I did not read it myself, it was certainly a conversation starter between my son and I about sexuality, drugs and other stuff kids are usually too scared to ask their parents. He read the book fairly quickly, which was great because it is hard to get him to read on his own. He told me he enjoyed the book and it had provided him with information on a lot of the things that he was interested in(scared about or anxious about). I would definitely recommend this book to others of his age category.

We bought this book for our son who is now a freshman in high school. It covered alot of information and he seemed to be more receptive of some of it coming "from someone else" other than his parents. It's a great book!

The random font changes throughout this book are simply ghastly, making the book practically unreadable and detracting from the seriousness of the topic.

Much better are: "What Smart Teenagers Know...About Dating, Relationships & Sex" by Deborah Hatchell, "The Guy Book" by J. Mavis, and my 15 year-old son's choice, "Doing it Right" by B. Pardes.

That's the phrase I heard from my son when I gave this to him. He also informed me that his cousin, whom I also gave this book to, thinks I'm weird. But guess what?? THEY ARE READING IT!
So does it bother me to be the weird mom/aunt? Heck no! This book is very informative and gives them the info in a humor-filled and age appropriate way. It's an easy read.
I suggest parents read it through first and address issues as they see fit.