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Taste Berries for Teens: Inspirational Short Stories and Encouragement on Life, Love, Friendship and Tough Issues
The Richardella-dulcisica, better known as the taste berry, is a unique fruit. When eaten, it causes the taste buds to experience all food eaten afterwards-even distasteful food-as sweet and delicious. Likewise, there are people who, through their love and compassion, make the lives of others better. Like the taste berry, these people can turn sour days into delightful, even joyful, ones.
With all the confusion, turmoil and heartache that teens experience, they need "taste berries" more than any other group. The authors - a mother/daughter team sensitive to the special needs of teens- have collected a wide array of inspirational material, which they interweave with teens' comments and critiques. The book is divided into units on self-worth, self-respect and self-esteem; friendship; love and meaningful relationships; finding meaning, purpose and direction in life; giving, sharing and making a difference; encouragement and success; and coping with pressure, stress and tough issues.
Real teens reviewed this book and the authors completed it with the collaborative feedback of those teens. This innovative approach enables Taste Berries for Teens to show teens - by means of the responses and reactions of their peers, rather than the rhetoric of adults - what it means to be a "taste berry" and to appreciate the "taste berries" in their lives. In addition, the authors offer their own suggestions and counsel to provide structure for the teen responses.
Taste Berries for Teens--a unique combination of timeless and heartwarming narratives, teen responses and reactions, and the authors' own loving and wise commentary and advice--is sure to become every teen reader's constant guide and trusted companion.
344 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1999
17 people are currently reading
266 people want to read
About the author
Bettie B. Youngs
66 books4 followersBettie B. Youngs, Ph.D., Ed.D., is the critically acclaimed author of 36 books translated into 28 languages. Dr. Youngs is a former Teacher-of-the-Year, and University Professor. Widely considered an expert with a pulse on social issues, she is a frequent guest on television and radio talk shows, including The Today Show, NBC Nightly News, CNN, Oprah, Good Morning America. Time magazine, U.S. News & World Report, USA Today, The Washington Post, New York Post, Redbook, Newsday and Working Woman have all recognized her work. Though Bettie's earlier work focused on education and developmental issues for youth, family and educators, in recent years she is best known for her series of poignantly written short-story books that clearly and warmly elucidate the human spirit, captivating the American psyche and winning her wide-range appeal with audiences young and old alike. Bettie is the recipient of numerous publishing awards, including having an Imprint bearing her name. She is Founder and CEO of Bettie Youngs Books Publishing Co. www.BettieYoungsBooks.com and Founder and co-publisher of Teen Town Press, www.TeenTownPress.com and a popular reading series for kids. She can be reached at info@BettieYoungs.com
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
November 30, 2012
Taste Berries for Teens is one of the most realistic and down to earth book I've ever read. It's one of those books where you read it and you feel as if you're watching a pull-on-your-heart-strings type of movie. It's made up of tons of short stories about things that people go through. It's great for when you're having a bumpy road and you read about things and know that you're not alone. It teaches you that there are happy endings and things really do get better in the long run. It's almost like a sense of security for people, knowing that there's others going through the same situations and there's help out there and people to talk to and that's an amazing thing to get from just reading about people's life.
I really love the message that the book gives to the reader. It's real people and real life stories and it just makes you want to reach out and help others. There's really not a lot of books out there that teach us these things and a lot less that reach a younger audience like this. I love that it's put together by experts on teens and that it's a mother- daughter pair. It makes the book have and even stronger family-feel and a "lets do something about it" attitude.
I REALLY recommend reading this book. It's an easy to read, meaningful book overall. It's really more of a girly read to me but, there are really many, many stories that anyone can relate to. I'll definitely give this book to my sister when she's a little older and she can understand what's going on. All the stories have their own separate message that their own authors are putting out there. It's much more catching when the story is real and it is coming from people who went through these things, not some actors pretending they did. It could be just me, but I really love these types of books.
I really love the message that the book gives to the reader. It's real people and real life stories and it just makes you want to reach out and help others. There's really not a lot of books out there that teach us these things and a lot less that reach a younger audience like this. I love that it's put together by experts on teens and that it's a mother- daughter pair. It makes the book have and even stronger family-feel and a "lets do something about it" attitude.
I REALLY recommend reading this book. It's an easy to read, meaningful book overall. It's really more of a girly read to me but, there are really many, many stories that anyone can relate to. I'll definitely give this book to my sister when she's a little older and she can understand what's going on. All the stories have their own separate message that their own authors are putting out there. It's much more catching when the story is real and it is coming from people who went through these things, not some actors pretending they did. It could be just me, but I really love these types of books.
April 29, 2016
If you read the "Chicken soup for the Teenage Soul" books, you will definitely enjoy this book filled with short stories as well. With more short stories about the little bumps on the road of life, it shows us to be loyal to ourselves and our intuition. This book gave me self explanatory lessons for the future of who we want to become. When I reached the middle of this book, I realized how much I had already learned from other people who were once teenagers as well. To be honest, it is easier to hear lessons about life and how to react to situations when other teenagers explain it to you because they feel the same way I do. They know exactly how to translate what we need to understand in the right way. Their words of wisdom let all of us know that it is difficult to grow up altogether when you are a teenager because you have to behave a certain way and have to be treated in another way. When you read this book, there is no way you can feel left out with all the situations we go through while being an adolescent.
June 5, 2017
What keeps you going every morning? What's your motivation that drives you to reach your goal everyday? Well what ever your goal is, losing weight, thinking better, overcoming fear or even becoming a better person, we all in some point lose motivation at some point in our lives. We let our mistakes, our failures take over us and we stop trying to become better and stronger. Despise all this I believe everything has a purpose. I believe we come across tough situations to make us stronger and find a way to see things in a different way.
When I began to start losing motivation I began to search things that would help me reach my goal, and that's when I came across Taste Berries for Teens. I'm a 17 year old high school student, and I always thought that the world was against me. Before coming across this book, I would let my failures control me, I would think that if I failed , it just wasn't for me, and that was my mistake.
The cover of this book isn't eye catching to me, I usually pick books that have a really cool cover but that's when I realized a cover is just a protection. A protection to protects it's value, what's inside is really the big thing, the cool thing. I never thought this book could've make a huge impact in my life, but I guess that what books are for.
I highly recommend this book to people that are in search of motivation or accepting themselves. This book hold many short stories of different people that went through tough times times or changed their perspective in things. This book hold stories of love to becoming a better person. Their was one particular short story that I just can't forget, a story that I highly relate to, It's called , "If You Want a Car in My Car." This story talks about how her father didn't know how to be a father. When she asked her father for a car, he told her get a job and get it yourself. So she raised up money and bought her brand new car. When her dad asked for a ride, she told him that she would charge him money, the father just replied with a, "I see." The next morning she drove her dad to his work, she than realized it was getting hot and her dad had to work all day outside. He never complained because he wanted his family to be okay and provided them what they needed. In that moment she realized he never asked her for anything before.
I began to cry so hard that I could stop because I always thought my father didn't want to spend time with us. All he did was work and work and work. After reading this short story it made me change my perspective on him, Now I appreciate my dad and love him even more for his hard work. All he ever asked was to work hard in school and be someone in life,I truly admire my dad.
Well what I'm really trying to say is, Taste Berries for Teens is an amazing book! If you ever lose focus in your goals and need a little lift to get back on track, I highly recommend this Book.
When I began to start losing motivation I began to search things that would help me reach my goal, and that's when I came across Taste Berries for Teens. I'm a 17 year old high school student, and I always thought that the world was against me. Before coming across this book, I would let my failures control me, I would think that if I failed , it just wasn't for me, and that was my mistake.
The cover of this book isn't eye catching to me, I usually pick books that have a really cool cover but that's when I realized a cover is just a protection. A protection to protects it's value, what's inside is really the big thing, the cool thing. I never thought this book could've make a huge impact in my life, but I guess that what books are for.
I highly recommend this book to people that are in search of motivation or accepting themselves. This book hold many short stories of different people that went through tough times times or changed their perspective in things. This book hold stories of love to becoming a better person. Their was one particular short story that I just can't forget, a story that I highly relate to, It's called , "If You Want a Car in My Car." This story talks about how her father didn't know how to be a father. When she asked her father for a car, he told her get a job and get it yourself. So she raised up money and bought her brand new car. When her dad asked for a ride, she told him that she would charge him money, the father just replied with a, "I see." The next morning she drove her dad to his work, she than realized it was getting hot and her dad had to work all day outside. He never complained because he wanted his family to be okay and provided them what they needed. In that moment she realized he never asked her for anything before.
I began to cry so hard that I could stop because I always thought my father didn't want to spend time with us. All he did was work and work and work. After reading this short story it made me change my perspective on him, Now I appreciate my dad and love him even more for his hard work. All he ever asked was to work hard in school and be someone in life,I truly admire my dad.
Well what I'm really trying to say is, Taste Berries for Teens is an amazing book! If you ever lose focus in your goals and need a little lift to get back on track, I highly recommend this Book.
November 2, 2025
A lot of the stories are recycled from Chicken Soup for the Soul.
Also, theologically inaccurate:
Page 133:
"Oh Mom," I groaned, "I have a crush on two boys, both equally as wonderful as the other. What am I going to do? Neither guy wants me to date both of them at the same time! How will I chose between them?"
"Ask your heart to make the decision," my mother advised. “The heart knows who to choose."
Perplexed, I frowned, wondering how a person knew when it was really their heart making a decision. "But how will I know?" I asked. I was in my teens at the time, and I was looking for a fast, short answer in trying to understand the romantic workings of the heart.
"Listen to your heart. Your soul contains an image of the man you desire. In the right-hand top corner, there's a checklist of all the things you need in love. When you meet someone akin to the list, your soul nudges your heart, and you just know."
"But how does it know?" I asked.
"Your soul has an innate wisdom when it comes to what it needs," she replied, and then using a popular parable, explained, “There once was a little soul who knew itself to be the light. In the realm from which this little soul emerged, every soul shone with the awesome brilliance of profound light. And so the little soul was a candle in the sun—but very much wanted to experience something other than light. So it called onto it the experience of darkness. But the darkness didn't feel right and so the little soul felt out of her element and longed to come back to the light, something that felt right to her heart." My mother looked at me and smiled. "The moral of the story is that darkness was inappropriate and unsuitable for the little soul-so, her heart knew to be unhappy in the dark. Just like the little soul's heart gave her correct feedback, your heart will too. Your soul intuitively knows what and who is right for you and intuitively knows when…
Page 134:
…something or someone isn't." And then she added the most important words of all: "You must listen carefully."
I remember when I went out with Grant. I met him in my anthropology class and he seemed like a really nice guy. He was smart, outgoing and had a great sense of humor. But when we went out, I noticed that his humor could be somewhat cruel and was always at someone else's expense. Although he tried his best to charm me, I listened carefully to my heart, which told me he wasn't the right guy for me.
I've had the chance to test my mother's theory about the innate wisdom in knowing who is "right" for me and who isn't!
She's right! The soul points us in the right direction of what it needs, of what is right for it. And, just as important, the soul holds the innate wisdom of what we need in life-of the people that are right for us in friendships, even what is right for us in music, foods and the things we do for work and play.
Listen carefully.
Also, theologically inaccurate:
Page 133:
"Oh Mom," I groaned, "I have a crush on two boys, both equally as wonderful as the other. What am I going to do? Neither guy wants me to date both of them at the same time! How will I chose between them?"
"Ask your heart to make the decision," my mother advised. “The heart knows who to choose."
Perplexed, I frowned, wondering how a person knew when it was really their heart making a decision. "But how will I know?" I asked. I was in my teens at the time, and I was looking for a fast, short answer in trying to understand the romantic workings of the heart.
"Listen to your heart. Your soul contains an image of the man you desire. In the right-hand top corner, there's a checklist of all the things you need in love. When you meet someone akin to the list, your soul nudges your heart, and you just know."
"But how does it know?" I asked.
"Your soul has an innate wisdom when it comes to what it needs," she replied, and then using a popular parable, explained, “There once was a little soul who knew itself to be the light. In the realm from which this little soul emerged, every soul shone with the awesome brilliance of profound light. And so the little soul was a candle in the sun—but very much wanted to experience something other than light. So it called onto it the experience of darkness. But the darkness didn't feel right and so the little soul felt out of her element and longed to come back to the light, something that felt right to her heart." My mother looked at me and smiled. "The moral of the story is that darkness was inappropriate and unsuitable for the little soul-so, her heart knew to be unhappy in the dark. Just like the little soul's heart gave her correct feedback, your heart will too. Your soul intuitively knows what and who is right for you and intuitively knows when…
Page 134:
…something or someone isn't." And then she added the most important words of all: "You must listen carefully."
I remember when I went out with Grant. I met him in my anthropology class and he seemed like a really nice guy. He was smart, outgoing and had a great sense of humor. But when we went out, I noticed that his humor could be somewhat cruel and was always at someone else's expense. Although he tried his best to charm me, I listened carefully to my heart, which told me he wasn't the right guy for me.
I've had the chance to test my mother's theory about the innate wisdom in knowing who is "right" for me and who isn't!
She's right! The soul points us in the right direction of what it needs, of what is right for it. And, just as important, the soul holds the innate wisdom of what we need in life-of the people that are right for us in friendships, even what is right for us in music, foods and the things we do for work and play.
Listen carefully.
April 29, 2014
i really have liked this book so far. im half way through and im going to finish it during May. the stories inside are modivational and encourageing. just like the cover says:)i love how its structured too. it has a teen story and then a word from the authors about that teens story. i cant wait to keep reading teens stories and learn for them. definitly 4 stars!
April 17, 2008
A great set and a very warm heart felt stories that you could apply in your daily life. learn to understand and put yourself in every situation specifically the book has no dull scenario or moment..:) enjoy.
February 5, 2009
This is an incredible book that anyone can relate to. After reading it, I knew I wasn't the only one dealing with teen issues. I highly suggest you read this book if you're facing the same problems in everyday teen life.
October 20, 2007
Dulu suka baca2 yang gini2 ... heheh ... funny how i feel deh ... doyan bgt cerita2 gini ... skrg ga gt lagi sih ... udah dewasa bo' ... huahauha ... kayak teen love deh bukunya
March 30, 2016
This book reminds me about my own teen life. Hahahahaha... And I think it successfully makes me keep young....
January 24, 2008
buku kedua yg gw baca..tp gak kelar.. ;p
May 22, 2008
Also biased with this one as my grandfather had poems published in this book.
Read
January 22, 2010This book is enjoyable... very relaxing stories about teenagers n the most important thing is, we can see how the different thinking form different people. It's also a motivational book...
September 17, 2008
This was a good book but the book was really short and it didnt really have alot of good stories.
November 26, 2009
There are lots of things happen in this life..
April 8, 2013
Christian lit with scriptures for teens...
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews