The Creative Journal for Teens, Second Edition: Making Friends with Yourself

As an English teacher, I use The Creative Journal for Teens: Making Friends With Yourself for journal topic ideas even though it seems to be meant as a teen's personal and private journal. Some of the topics are repetative and others I feel are too personal for me to be asking my students to write about. It has given me some great ideas nonetheless and I think a teen that likes to write or has shown interest in journaling would love this book. I know I would have thoroughly enjoyed this book as a teenager.

This book is a great help in journaling for self-discovery. The exercises are easy but can lead to some really interesting insights. I really love how writing and drawing are mixed, and looking back at my drawings is really interesting. A few small complaints: the examples in here would look much better in full color instead of bad grayscale copies with a page layout that looks like something I would do for a school project; and the cost of this book, plus the sketchbook you'll need to get started, plus a good set of markers, is a tad expensive for people still dependent on allowance money. If you've got the cash, however, this is a fun way for a teen to develop her sense of identity and work through all the nasty issues teens face.