Allen Flaming

My Crazy Life is a collection of stories from troubled youth aimed at providing perspective and advice for teens experiencing similar problems at home. Its design is simple: each chapter begins with a short introduction to the teen author, followed by personal accounts from each teen with bolded headings summarizing each challenge addressed (such as “Crazy Mom,” or “Facing Angry Feelings”). Specific issues are hard to search for but the inclusion of a teen voice in each chapter is of great value to readers. The Introduction sets up the purpose of the book and directs readers to the back for some information on finding help with any similar problems, but the advice is relatively general (“calling a hotline”-with no numbers, or “talking to a counselor”). Also, searching for specifically relevant issues will be difficult for teen readers. A great dose of perspective for at-risk teens, but not much help past that. Recommended for any YA non-fiction collection, in school or public libraries.… (mere)