Ask Elizabeth

Gr 8 Up—The founder of the nonprofit organization Ask Elizabeth has created a "group diary" filled with questions commonly asked by teens and the advice to guide them through the emotional roller coaster of adolescence. Combining expert sound bites with personal stories from real teens as well as her own experiences, Berkley dishes out guidance to readers and maintains the tone of an older, cooler cousin/hip aunt. The design does indeed resemble a diary as it filled with collage, handwritten asides, Polaroid photos, and other ephemera. The overall format is cluttered and a bit messy, but true to a personal journal. The volume doesn't really add anything new to the canon of teen-girl empowerment, offering up the usual self-esteem tropes, but the message is certainly valuable.—Elaine Baran Black, Georgia Public Library Service, Atlanta