The Teen's Guide to Social Skills: Practical Advice for Building Empathy, Self-Esteem, and Confidence Paperback – February 16, 2021

This book is perfect for those with social anxiety and/or socially awkward. For decades, I struggled with fear of trauma, closing myself off from the world, suppressing my emotions and I often felt uncomfortable around others. I struggled expressing my emotions and being vulnerable due to my childhood. This book is phenomenal in teaching you the right social skills and empathy needed to thrive in human connections. If you missed out on your childhood, or you were not modeled social skills by your parents, you must get this book! It’s a life changer and has relieved a lot of my stress and social anxiety. This book has also helped me understand others and myself more. Thank you so much for the author for writing this book and helping teens and adults all over. The author also writes in a way that makes you feel seen and understanding of your struggles.

Long story short, my tween really began going through some hard times; friends, social media, just how she felt about herself, etc. I was desperately looking for something that she could connect with, without the. . . as she would say, "preaching" part of it. I took a chance on this book and what a difference. She has actually been asking herself to read this book. In fact, I like this book so much I am going to use it for classroom meetings right before lunch with my 6th graders. This book is funny, engaging, and real. There isn't anything inappropriate in it. Just advice in a very practical way. I really recommend this book!

My household is out of the teen years but in the extended family, we have teens. They're all pretty well adjusted but like almost all aspects of life, it isn't like more can be learned and it was with that in mind that I selected Kate Fitzsimons's "The Teen's Guide to Social Skills: Practical Advice for Building Empathy, Self-Esteem, and Confidence."I meant to read another book that is on my TBR stack, but this one caught my eye and I read it fairly quickly and thought, "This has advice that carries past the teen years. In fact, if it is a good reminder for those of us who are no longer teenagers." Bottom line: Good advice is good advice.It did go to one of the extended family and I was a little nervous. I didn't want her to take it the wrong way (ex: "Are you saying that I don't have social skills?") because again, the teens in the extended family are pretty well adjusted. I'd say that they are way more well adjusted than my generation at the same age. Anyway, she was open to reading since it was short and easy reading overall. Her feedback? Pretty much the same as mine. Good advice is good advice. Some things she was already aware. They're getting a lot of 'empathy' talk of late. What she did find interesting was body talk. She knows about body language and non-verbal cues, but she liked how the author broke it down. It might be a bit simplified but it was also digestible. She also liked the chapter that followed regarding active listening and she recognizes what 'tuning out' does.So overall, she liked the book. Her main critique was that she didn't like the verbiage of 'social awkwardness' because she felt it was something that would actually make a teen like herself not want to read the book. The book has a lot of good information for social etiquette in general. She doesn't feel like she's 'socially awkward' (and to be honest, she isn't) so if I hadn't asked her to read it, she would never have picked it out. That aside, she did appreciate the read and again, like me, felt it had good advice.

I bought this for my 13 year old son, he reads a lot and I was hoping this would help him out a little. It definitely serves as an ice breaker for tough conversations that you’re ready to have with your kids. Good read and can be passed down to the younger children in your family.

so far my daughter is enjoying this book. I read a few pages and its easy to read, and applicable for high school students.

Kate took her personal tragedy to empowering and encouraging teens. Her tone is kind and helpful and "I've been there". Highly recommend for any teen - to realize they are not unique in Their worries!

In order to truly transmit her message to teenagers, Kate writes her book in a relatable, easy-to-read style. It seems like she knows the brain of a teenager quite well.

I thought this book was "okay". I should preface that I am a speech-language pathologist that teaches social skills regularly to middle and high school students who struggle with these skills. I was hoping I'd find a book that might be more direct and helpful for my students. This book seemed targeted for more typically-developing kids that might struggle with very mild social issues. Any teen that would/could read this book or be able to follow the narrative of this book would likely not be the type of kid that would require a social skills class - but be a teen that would like an informal "polishing" of their social skills. The book does provide some good information, it's just in a narrative format that would be overwhelming to many teens who would benefit from this information. Anyway, overall good information - just a little wordy for my neuro-diverse students who often struggle with social skills. ~Amy

Kate’s motto is to “leave people better that I found them” and that’s exactly what she has done with this book. Don’t be fooled by the word ‘teen’ because this book has teachable lessons for everyone. The takeaways are practical and easy to manipulate into your every day life. Nothing is easier said than done within the pages of this book. It’s as if Kate is your bestie encouraging you to be the best version of you. It’s something you can refer back to when you’re lost or you can simply jot quotes down in the notes page of your phone to refer back to quickly. She writes just like she talks. It’s less formal than your usual self help book where you might feel like it’s less of an advice and more of a scientific project.Kate knows her audience and it shows, but she also knows how to leave each individual reader feeling like she cares. Her words are impactful and they’ll stay around long after the last page.