The Art of Being a Brilliant Teenager Review

Someone once likened the teenage years to a switch being flicked and a light going out for a number of years and then when it passes, the light goes back on and you are presented with a reasonable adult.  At the time, I laughed but the truth is that some teenagers do go through a period where life is a bit of an effort; as is speech, being helpful and generally co-operating with your parents.  I often fondly referred to the teen as a Dementor during these grumpy and monosyllabic years.  Luckily we survived and he has come out of the other side and occasionally we even get three syllables.

Having been through one set of teen years and with three more to go, I was intrigued by The Art of Being a Brilliant Teenager.  Written by Andy Cope, Andy Whittaker, Darrell Woodman and Amy Bradley, this book is an interesting idea. It has been written to help teens make better choices in their lives, how to help your teen become more motivated, how to become the very best and to be brilliant in all other aspects of life in general.

It tells you in no uncertain terms on the opening page that the book is for young people and parents should put the book down. Undeterred, I continued as I was hopeful that even at my age, I might pick up some useful tips either for myself or to pass on to the other children as they approach their turbulent teens. As a fully fledged adult, I have to say that the messages in the book could apply whatever age you are.

“You only live once, but if you do it right once is enough” – Mae West

The Art of Being a Brilliant Teenager is full of interesting quotes from all sorts of people but this quote from Mae West really sums up the message of the book; the decisions you make, the attitude you take and the way you choose to live your life now is the key to what will happen in the future. If you choose to sit back and wait for life to come knocking on your door, it won’t happen and claiming that life isn’t fair won’t cut it either.

 The book is written in such a way that it will appeal to teens (and adults), it is split into quotes, anecdotes, advice, lists and questions all written in a very informal way with brightly coloured backgrounds and doodles through out the book.  Visually it is appealing and it is extremely easy to read.  You only have to look at the contents page to realise that this book is very different in its approach.

I always worry that books like this can sometimes be a little bit patronising but The Art of Being a Brilliant Teenager is not patronising, it is a no nonsense guide to making life the best it can possibly be and gives lots of examples that you can relate to.  One good example is famous people and how people want to be famous and to become certain celebrities.  The book gives David and Victoria Beckham as good examples of celebrities to admire because of their work ethic and general attitude to life (and the names of their children at which point in the book I was laughing hysterically).  “Don’t look up to them, look into them” are the words of advice and very wise words they are too.

The grass is always greener provides the focus for another part of the book and I couldn’t agree more with the advice to appreciate what you already have rather than always craning your neck to try and look for something that you think is better.  The addiction to spending money in an effort to find happiness is something that resonated with me.

There are so many examples from this brilliant book that I could talk about but one final one that I made my husband read was about the 4-minute rule.  How you should be the best version of you for the first four minutes of any interaction, for example coming in tired and the children demanding your attention.  They advise to be amazing, enthusiastic, the best version of you for the first four minutes.  Everyone will benefit and I know I should be doing this as all too often I fob my children off and that is not the best version of me.

The Art of Being a Brilliant Teenager is never going to appeal to all teenagers.  Some will think that they know it all and that they are already brilliant.  They are missing out.  This book is clever, funny, interesting and insightful.  If you are the parent of a teen, not only should you buy it for them. You should also read it yourself, I’m glad that I did.

I was sent a copy of this book for the purpose of this review.  All opinions and images are my own.