Books

Reality Gap:
Alcohol, Drugs, and Sex—What Parents
Don’t Know and Teens Aren’t Telling
by Stephen Wallace, SADD Chairman and CEO

Reality Gap paints an alarming portrait of a modern-day adolescence filled with potentially deadly behaviors carefully hidden from the view of parents and other adults. But it is also a book about hope and inspiration, pointing to the incredibly powerful role that parents and other mentors can play in the lives of young people and highlighting the tremendous contributions that many teens are making to their families, schools, and communities.

Combining stories from today’s teens with original, groundbreaking research conducted by SADD and Liberty Mutual Insurance, Reality Gap offers an intriguing analysis of the adolescent decision-making process and shares important conclusions.

Most critically, the book shares common-sense solutions and practical steps for parents and other important adults, such as teachers, coaches, counselors, and health care providers, to use in their relationships with teens.

Reality Gap reveals:

• When certain behaviors are most likely to peak
• What factors most influence good and bad choices
• The role of development on decision-making
• The influence of parental expectations and modeling on teen behaviors
• How positive risk-taking can make negative risk-taking less likely
• Recognition of important life transitions as a way to reduce destructive behaviors

Order online at SADDStore.com for $16.50 (a portion of the proceeds benefit SADD). Consider purchasing and donating Reality Gap to your school’s library or media center or giving it as a gift to a friend, neighbor, coworker, or loved one. For more information about Reality Gap, visit www.RealityGapTheBook.com.

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Where Should I Sit at Lunch? The Ultimate 24/7 Guide to Surviving the High School Years
by Harriet S. Mosatche, Ph.D and Karen Unger, M.A.

Where Should I Sit at Lunch? gives high school students the inside scoop on figuring out who they are and where they want to go by offering every teen the kind of comprehensive, down-to-earth advice they need and want. In chapter nine, "The Pressure’s On," SADD Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Stephen Wallace shares his perspective. Teens Today research by SADD and Liberty Mutual Group found that what teens and their friends feel about themselves plays a significant role in whether they choose to drink or take drugs and make other unhealthy choices. Wallace offers five action steps to help teens make healthy lifestyle choices.

Where Should I Sit at Lunch? is filled with checklists, quizzes, and tips from a variety of experts. Parents, teachers, and guidance counselors will find it helpful as it provides an inside view of the lives of high school students today and can help start conversations on managing time and money or settle arguments about curfews and parties. Through the four years of high school, teens will keep coming back to this book for the information, ideas, and insights that help them keep their perspective, hang onto their sense of humor, and survive the most challenging days.

Where Should I Sit at Lunch?
The Ultimate 24/7 Guide to Surviving the High School Years
Harriet S. Mosatche, Ph.D. and Karen Unger, M.A.
$14.95/paperback
Order online at www.amazon.com or www.bn.com

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Videos

• SADD’s 25th Anniversary DVD – A documentary about SADD’s history and mission to empower youth to make a difference and help save lives.
  
  
• SADD recommends the “True Stories” series and other DVDs from Words Can Work.  These compelling and research-based DVDs and accompanying discussion guides are available on a variety of topics, including alcohol, drugs, bullying, steroids, mental health, and sexual health.  To learn more and purchase the videos, please visit wordscanwork.com.
  
  
• Smashed: Toxic Tales of Teens and Alcohol
  
  
• “The Road Ahead: Stay Safe at the Wheel” by Liberty Mutual
  This kit, developed in cooperation with SADD and RADD – "The Entertainment Industry’s Voice for Road Safety" – and free to all families, includes a powerful video of teens discussing their driving attitudes and behaviors before and after viewing the HBO Family documentary "Smashed: Toxic Tales of Teens and Alcohol." The kit also includes a guide with tips for how to foster a discussion with teens about staying safe at the wheel and a family safe driving pledge. A free copy of "The Road Ahead" is available by calling 1-800-4-LIBERTY or your local Liberty Mutual office.
  

• "The Truth About Drinking" with Leeza Gibbons
  Presented by The Teen Files
  In the Emmy Award-winning "The Truth About Drinking," produced by Arnold Shapiro and Allison Grodner and hosted by Leeza Gibbons, teens see firsthand the potential consequences of drinking and alcohol use from every perspective, including how drinking impairs a person's coordination, vision, and reaction time; how the brain and other organs suffer lasting damage from alcohol use; how an impaired person really drives; and how drinking can lead to spending months in a rehabilitation center. The program culminates in a realistic simulation of the "deaths" of three participants who got into a car with a fourth who was driving drunk. "The Truth About Drinking" is part of The Teen Files, a series of videos for educating teens and challenging their views on behaviors such as substance abuse, racism, violence, and more. For more information, please contact Discovery Education toll-free at 888-892-3484 or visit their website at http://store.discoveryeducation.com.
  
  
• "The Truth About Drugs" with Leeza Gibbons
  Presented by The Teen Files
  In "The Truth About Drugs," produced by Arnold Shapiro and Allison Grodner and hosted by Leeza Gibbons, teens get a firsthand view at the potential consequences of using illegal drugs. By asking teens what they think about drugs and then having experts teach them the facts, host Leeza Gibbons offers an in-depth look at the realities for teens and their families of what it is like to live a drug nightmare. "The Truth About Drugs" is a powerful program that makes evident the "invisible" damage drugs do to the body and the often overlooked dangers teens face when using, such as the inability to focus and study, rape, homelessness, suicide, and jail time. This compelling program is part of The Teen Files, a series of videos for educating teens and challenging their views on behaviors such as drinking, racism, violence, and more. For more information, please contact Discovery Education toll-free at 888-892-3484 or visit their website at http://store.discoveryeducation.com.
  
  
• Twisted Love: Dating Violence Exposed
  Your issues. Your interests. Your favorite celebs. In the Mix, the national award-winning TV series for teens and by teens, brings you all of it ... and gets everyone talking. The In the Mix series airs on PBS and also has a companion Web site where you can find information about many issues teens face.
  
  Neve Campbell of Party of Five joins In the Mix reporters for a powerful and emotional look at something that more and more teens are facing: dating violence.
  
  http://www.inthemix.org/dateviol_index.html

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