Things Get Hectic: Teens Write About the Violence That Surrounds Them [Paperback]

Youth Communication (Author), Philip Kay (Editor), Al Desetta (Editor), Andrea Estepa (Editor), Geoffrey Canada (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 20, 1998

A collection of powerful, disturbing, and ultimately inspiring writings on the violence children witness, suffer, and inflict on one another in this country.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Powerful teen writings that invite the reader into a world where violence is a part of everyday life. Often raw and brutal, these essays, focusing on war, terrorism, abuse, gangs and other kinds of violence, provide a moving testimony to the resilience of youth in the midst of mayhem.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

A startling series of testimonies about urban violence from New York City teens. These first-person essays on sociological issues first appeared in New Youth Connection, a newspaper for and by students of New York City high schools. By choosing the best essays on the theme of violence, the editors have compiled a book more eloquent than a thousand police reports. For the writers live in housing projects; they know violence all too well. So why do kids kill each other? In their own words, ``Kids nowadays are ready to kill . . . over the dumbest things.'' You'll hear talk of trafficking in gold chains--one young man is stabbed for a good fake. Yet the cause of violence is rarely just material. Instead, it erupts when one gets dissed (disrespected) too often in a life where to hold onto a shred of dignity is rare. To their credit, two of the teenage boys here write about why they will not pack a pistol: because they've seen innocent loved ones get killed, and because it gives the owner a dangerously distorted sense of power. While all the killing seems to involve young men who treat life ``like a reset button in a video game,'' some of the most abused victims are the young women in their lives--or, in one case, a homosexual young man who cannot take part in their bad-mustached, bad-mouthed behavior. Among the women, one Chinese girl, not dressed provocatively enough to earn the usual stream of catcalls from the corner full of unemployed truants, is angry enough to say, after a bottle is thrown at her, that it's as though a female in the city ``has a bullseye on her body.'' Unheard voices crying for a hearing. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone; Original edition (August 20, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684837544
• ISBN-13: 978-0684837543
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #533,088 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's down to earth emotions behind violence and teenagers., August 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Things Get Hectic: Teens Write About the Violence That Surrounds Them (Paperback)

If you have ever experienced violence in any form, as you read this book you will realize that you are not alone. The thoughts that struck your head when violence presented itself upon your life are guaranteed to be similar to these teenagers. It's down to earth, not toned down in any way. You feel the pain, frustration and anger of these kids. Makes you wonder what you can do for them.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read, March 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Things Get Hectic: Teens Write About the Violence That Surrounds Them (Paperback)

this book because it is a must for who have no faith of teens being good and believing in change for a better world to live in as well as ones who are like the ones potrayed so they can change making their environment better. Pg 75 is a good example.