The author interviewed some middle school students. Their responses throughout the book are supported by Cushman's commentary aiming to help teachers understand the developmental needs of middle school kids. Everything in this book was obvious if you've ever taught youths in this age group. I mean, how could I not know that middle-schoolers change their opinions every other minute? Was it really an amazing find that tweens are pressured by their peers, want class to be more fun, and experiment with their identities? Nothing that the teens said in their interviews were any different from what we hear every day when we work with these kids.

I guess that maybe this could be useful to a first-time teacher who was placed in a middle school position who really wanted a high school job, but to get our secondary education degrees, we DID have to take a class on child development focusing on grades 7-12, so I guess I would rate this book: Irrelevant to its intended audience.


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