Voices: The Stories of Four Troubled Teenagers

by Beatrice Sparks

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Genres: Young Adult

174 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Beatrice Sparks was an American therapist and Mormon youth counselor who was known for producing books purporting to be the 'real diaries' of troubled teenagers. The books deal with topical issues such as drug abuse, Satanism, teenage pregnancy or AIDS, and are presented as cautionary tales. Although Sparks always presented herself as merely the discoverer and editor of the diaries, records at the U.S. Copyright Office show that in fact she was listed as the sole author for all but two of them.
Sparks began working with teenagers in 1955, after attending the University of California at Los Angeles and Brigham Young University. She has worked as a music therapist at Utah State Mental Hospital and taught continuing education courses at BYU.
Critics have called the precise extent of Sparks' qualifications and experience into question. The editorial credit on some of the diaries published by Sparks identifies her as "Dr Beatrice Sparks, PhD". However, when journalist Aileen Pace Nilsen interviewed Sparks for School Library Journal in 1979, she was unable to find any confirmation of where or when Sparks earned her doctorate. Nilsen also wrote that Sparks was "vague about specifics" when asked about her counseling qualifications and professional experience.
Sparks said that her experience working with troubled adolescents made her want to produce cautionary tales that would keep other teens from falling into the same traps. Her first work, Go Ask Alice, was published under the byline 'Anonymous' in 1971.

Reviews

[Elyse]

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...

[Emily Chandler]

I couldn't put this book down. It was both out-of-this-world awful and devastatingly interesting for everything it revealed about 70s social attitudes to things like religion, cults, homosexuality, suicidality, class, grooming, divorce, working/single parents, race and more. They're compelling narratives, but unfortunately Beatrice Sparks can't write her way out of a bag of crisps, so her four POV characters all talk exactly like each other, which coincidentally means they all talk like a middle-aged Mormon woman trying to sound like a punk teenager. This gives the unintentionally hilarious impression of being a chronicle of the harrowing, tragic lives of four of the prissiest teens you've ever met in your life.

[Vicki Gooding · Rating 3 out of 5]

Teens lead troubled lives no matter what social, economic, or ethnic class. The differences are as personal and unique as the individual lives part of whichever class they're from. This is a book of four different teens telling their stories. Their struggles and need of love and acceptance. It is not written as teaching manual, but from the hope of a compassionate & listening ear.

[Alisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read many of Beatrice Spark's books and have enjoyed each of them! Though usually they only follow one persons story and this one followed 4 so each if their stories weren't as filled out as I would have liked but I still enjoyed reading about each one.

[Diego Arias · Rating 4 out of 5]

Qué forma tan interesante y adecuada de ver a la juventud. De una manera clara y sin tapujos, sin dejar atrás los pensamientos propios y como consecuencia de la narración, la cercanía de los mismos entrevistados al lector.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buena escritura, historias interesantes.