Stay Strong: Simple Life Lessons for Teens

by Terrie Williams

Hailed as "411 for the Under-21" by People Magazine, Stay Strong is equal parts advice and inspiration from Hollywood public relations pro Terrie Williams.



At the core of Stay Strong is the idea that with the right attitude and strategies, kids can truly accomplish anything. And Terrie Williams is the ideal person to encourage and inspire. Her solid advice about ambition, goals and making real, personal connections speaks to readers without a hint of preaching. Urging them to stick to just a few simple but powerful rules -- tools that have successfully served Terrie's famous clients - Janet Jackson, Wesley Snipes, and Boyz II Men, for example. Terrie also lends insight into real teens' lives, and captivates with true rags-to-riches success stories. People will respect you if you respect them, she urges - as long as you can have that courage not to conform. As Terrie says at the closing of every conversation, above all else, "Stay Strong."

Genres: Young Adult

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Tyree · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about, famous people who try to convince kids to do something important for themselves and for the citizens around. Queen Latifa talks about how, in school people destract you like girls and boys you may like or dating. those types of people mess with your mind, like when you are in a realtionship and other boys/girls are messing with the person you dating. You may want to fight them or get people to fight them and stuff. That stuff messes with your head and your grades. I can connect to this book because, I had a special girlfriend. We recently broke up and I was worrying about who may touch her in wrong places when we were going out. And that started messing with my head a couple of times so when I read this bok it calmed me down and told me how to react to problems like this. I would give this book a 20 but I can only go up to 5. So i'll give this book a 5 because it really helped me change the way I wanna be when I get older. And it helped realize thatt girls, they don't make the world. Myself makes up the world and people around me.

[Matthew Leszynski · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is meant for teens and teaches them many lessons about life. This book talks about life’s challenges and how to get through them and stay strong and make the right choices. This book has many quotes from very famous people who are trying to impact youth to do something for themselves and make a difference in the world. I really enjoyed reading this book and I learned so much. When I first chose this book I didn’t think it would be as good and helpful as it really was. This book was very inspiring and had lots of tips for life. I had so much fun reading this book and learning about all the lessons in it. This is a very positive book and I think it would be a good book for teens to read who are going through a lot or might just need some encouragement or inspiration. This book teaches you ways to solve problems with relationships, to how to have proper manners, and solving fights with family. This is honestly just a very good book to read for teens and young adults and I think everyone should give it a look.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is a good tool to use- have the students open randomly to read advice and discuss the real stories and advise being given.

[Jenny]

Required as part of participation in the Timilty Middle School's Promising Pals program.

The message isn't a bad one; the author uses a lot of cliches, but if her audience is mainly teens, they might be hearing them for the first time. (And of course, cliches are cliches for a reason...) She attempts to reach out to teens in their own language (well, the language of 2001); it's a decent result. She name-drops constantly, but that may be effective, even necessary; a random author without a platform or any cultural weight probably wouldn't have been published in the first place.

This is superficial, but I found the design of the book to be glaringly awful - especially the bold sans-serif font on a middle-gray background for block quotes, and chapter headings along the sides of the pages instead of on top. Maybe it works for younger readers...?

p. 27 "We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are." -quoted from Every Woman Has a Story

p. 84 "Everybody has bad days. It's how we respond to them that makes a difference."

p. 111 "And I wanna see a reflection / that stands up to inspection" -Sharita Hunt

p. 114 "Courage is not acting in the absence of fear, it's acting in the presence of fear."

p. 139 "Using manners or being considerate means putting aside our own immediate gratification to accomodate others. It is also about how you, in turn, expect or want to be treated."

[Lily C. · Rating 1 out of 5]

When I first got this, I thought it was going to be somewhat helpful and full of advice, and it was. That wasn't the problem I had with it, though. For some reason that I still can't explain, reading this was a chore and I hated every second of it. There was just something that made me feel that I was being talked down to, like the author was being a bit condescending. I remember when I first read this, Terrie was giving little anecdotes of kids being encouraged and helped out by some famous celeb that she knew. That was all good and stuff, but by the second or third chapter, I was getting sick of hearing them all, and I think that's why I liked the '7 Habits' book for teens better than this one--it had stories of regular teens sharing their own experiences and how that helped them grow as a person. Sean Covey also had some personal stories of his own, but the difference between his recollections and Terrie's is that I could relate to some degree what Sean was talking about more than Terrie.
However, it's been a while since I read this, so I could be wrong in some of the impressions I've given out but every time I hold this book in my hands I want to set it on fire.

[Maggie Pellegrom · Rating 4 out of 5]

when I picked out this book I didn't think it would be as helpful as it really was to me. This book covers every problem. From solving problems with relationships to solving fights with your family. Queen Latifa talks about how friends, boys, girls, dating and relationships can distract you from what is really important. I rated it 4 stars because it taught me a lot of important lessons, but I didn't give it a full 5 stars because the book didn't pull me in and get me addicted to it, like most books I read do.

[GiLbErTo MeNa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this book is good but, not great. I think these life lessons most teenagers or young adults already know but, this book teaches you the consequences of when you don't follow these life lessons. For example, in a basketball game another kid pushed the best team player on the other team and a week later he got shot three times in the chest. He was in high school. I think this book inspires young adults to follow the law so something really bad happens.

[Daniel Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book and all the lessons in it. It was very positive and encouraging for teens going through a lot. I really value this book and it made a difference in my life. I encourage Young Adults and teens to read this book to get them through their lives. It really makes you feel proud what you can learn from this book.

[Simone Ferguson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a let down it was repetative and used stories with names of famous poeple that students would recognize but seemed unrelated and pointless.

[Madeline Peralta · Rating 4 out of 5]

THIS BOO IS ABOUT SO TEENAGERS TAHT HAVE PROBLEMS IN THEIR FAMILYS AND THEY EXPRESS THEM SELVES TALKING ABOUT THERE FAMILY.....

[Aksheeya]

VERY INSPIRING!!! I CAN LEARN A LOT FROM IT!!! VERY GREAT TIPS!!! NICE EXAMPLES AND GOOD WAY TO MAKE TEENS UNDERSTAND ABT LIFE!!!

[Hafiza Dharmaputri · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was 14 yo when I read this on 2002, good enough for me , n my niece now ;)

[Ernestasia Siahaan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in high school.

[Carmen Rodríguez]

recordando viejos tiempos jajaja