Behaviors of Addiction

By Brooke Nessen & Brittani Bailey

Text SetTopic: Addictions (Eating Disorders & Drug Use)

Grade Level: Highschool (9-12th grade)

Reason: Addictions are a prevalent and growing problem

especially with the age level we would present it to

Important for students to understand that there are other forms of addiction unrelated to drug use

Go Ask Alice

Go Ask AliceBy: Anonymous

Style: Memoir, Diary style- however no one knows if it’s real or fiction

Summary: About a teenage girl whose life spins out of control after she is slipped LSD in her drink at a party; downfall ultimately robbed her of her life

For 35 years, was the best-selling account of teenage girls perils with drugs

Use: Have whole class read book independently, then first discuss in small groups, then discuss main points and importance with class; possibly have students keep journal of their thoughts and feelings as they’re reading

Addiction(also turned in to an award winning HBO documentary)

Addiction By: No author listed, just Publisher (Rodale Books, Editor

(Susan Froemke), Afterword (author Susan Cheever)

Style: Informative Research Based with Personal Narratives

Summary: Book sheds light on the hidden American epidemic of

addiction by blending compelling personal narratives with statistics and expert opinion.

Shows impact of chemical dependency on addicts, their loved ones, society, and the economy.

Makes you look at things from a medical point of view- addicts are not just weak, but drugs alter chemical balances

Use: As read aloud, pick out certain parts we think students would find intriguing or that we find significant; also maybe show parts of the HBO documentary with it

Beautiful Boy

Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s

AddictionBy: David Sheff

Style: Memoir (about author’s son)

Deemed “Outstanding Book for College Bound and Life Long Learners” by American Library Association

Summary: A teenager’s addiction from the parent’s point of view; intense and emotional story as he watches his varsity athlete, honor student son turn down a path of Meth addiction

Use: Book Club

Bridges to Recovery

Bridges to Recovery: Addiction, Family Therapy,

and Multi-cultural Treatment

By: Jo-ann Krestan

Style: Research/ Personal Insight

Summary: First book to bring together experts from three major

fields within psychotherapy -- family therapy, addiction counseling and multicultural treatment

Provides a practical and flexible framework for working with families within their individual cultural contexts;

Provides unique insight into the individual cultural nuances that make addiction recovery a very personal journey.

Use: Take home reading (certain sections)/ homework- use this book to form assessments regarding different strategies among various cultures

Winter Girls

Winter GirlsBy: Laurie Halse Anderson

Style: Fiction

Summary: Two girls who were once very close drifted apart into their own eating disorders; One’s death doesn’t stop the other from bouncing out of the disorder, and the book discusses her gruesome decomposition.

Use: Books Clubs- allows students to feel whatever emotions they want while reading and then be able to share with small groups if they’re comfortable

Next To Nothing

Next To NothingBy: Carrie Arnold. & B. Timothy Walsh

Style: Personal Account

Summary: Broken down into simpler, easy to understand terms, this book discusses the authors seven year battle with anorexia starting during adolescence including her recovery and therapy; Also discusses people who are at risk for eating disorders and helps makes some sense of it

Use: Since it’s in simpler terms, most would be able to read this independently- either individually or as book club

Bibliography Anderson, L.H. (2009). Wintergirls. Viking Juvenile.

 Anonymous. (1971). Go ask Alice. Upper Saddle, NJ: Prentice Hall.

 Arnold, C., Walsh, B. T. (2007). Next to nothing: A firsthand account of one teenager’s experience with an eating disorder. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

 Cheever, S., Fromke, S., Hoffman, J., & Nevins, S. (Eds). (2007). Addiction: Why can’t they just stop?. Emmanus, NY: Rodale Books.

Krestan, J. (2000). Bridges to recovery: Addiction, family therapy, and multi-cultural treatment. New York, NY: Free Press.

Sheff, D. (2009). Beautiful boy: A father’s journey through his son’s addiction. New York, NY: Mariner Books.