Thrive: How the Science of the Adolescent Brain Helps Us Imagine a Better Future for All Children

by Lisa M. Lawson

From the noted business and foundation leader, a bold new argument for harnessing brain science to make sure all children thrive



At nine, a boy named Sixto Cancel was adopted by a woman who kept a lock on her refrigerator and was verbally abusive. Meanwhile, extended and loving family members lived just an hour away—and would have taken him in if a public system had made an effort to find them. Sixto moved in and out of broken households for years, one of the hundreds of thousands of young Americans who lack the relationships essential to succeeding in adulthood.



A major new book for parents and policymakers alike, Thrive argues that how we understand the unequal experiences of adolescence holds the key to ensuring that all children have an equal chance of becoming successful adults. Drawing on her deep engagement with public systems and youth at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, author Lisa M. Lawson condenses a broad range of brain science, exploring the personal and institutional structures every child needs, as well as the shocking gaps in our systems for disadvantaged children.



Arguing that we all have a shared stake in helping young people navigate the road to adulthood, Lawson lays out the ways that families, government, nonprofits, and business can draw lessons from science—and take steps to help all young people thrive.

Genres: Nonfiction

240 pages, Hardcover

Published September 16, 2025

Reviews

[Trista · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biggest takeaway: treating adolescence as you do early childhood from a developmental perspective.

[Maddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 - To me, it isn’t radical that adolescence is a critical intervention and life point. I have been working with adolescent/youth development programming for almost 4 years, so a lot of this information familiar to me. However, I also see many people be afraid of working with teens/adolescents/young adults because they seem like a lost cause because they’re after the early childhood development period. This book is for that crowd who needs to see how their work translates and continues past elementary school.

I appreciated the chapter about the value of youth leadership in supporting youth to thrive, and I wish there was more emphasis on that aspect. It is genuinely a big gap in adolescent programming and is SO important. I would’ve appreciated more discussion about gaps like this and integration with the science of adolescent development. The challenges they face were well laid out, as were the discussions about how we need more widespread and integrated programming, but I wish there was more connecting parts 1 and 3.

Overall, I felt that there was a lot of valuable information for individuals who don’t work in social work or public health. As someone who specifically works in public health, I was waiting for the social determinants of health to be acknowledged. (All of the pieces were laid out!!)

[Maddy Hayes · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. The writing is just fine, the science is just fine, everything is just… fine. I wish it had talked more about schools specifically, and there is very little actual brain science in here for what it promises—it claims that the ages of 15-24 are just as vital in terms of brain milestones as the ages of 0-3, but very few milestones are delineated by age. It reads mostly like a nonprofit call to action during a fundraiser, which is… fine.

I did like a couple of stories highlighted about what different group are doing across the country, like the PBIS-inspired probation.