D
ear Teens,
Six years ago we had the idea to write a Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul book for teenagers. As you know, it was very well received and millions of teens have found comfort and support in the stories that were written by their fellow teens. We received thousands of letters requesting that we compile more books for teens. These requests, combined with the deluge of stories that were being sent, gave us the needed motivation and resources to continue the series.
Every week we continue to receive hundreds of letters and stories from teenagers around the world via the Internet and through the mail. As we read the mountain of mail, we began to notice that the chapter on tough stuff was the most popular chapter in the books. After a while, we began to get requests for an entire book on tough stuff. Our response to these requests is the book you now hold in your hands.
Although the content of these stories is often disturbing and sometimes even tragic, the potential for insight, learning and “growing up” is enormous. We believe this is the reason for the overwhelming response to these types of stories. For example, we have had stories in previous books that dealt with the death of a parent. This is one of every child’s worst fears and one might question the benefit of including such stories. However, we have repeatedly heard comments such as these from our readers: “After reading that story, I immediately sat down and wrote my parents a letter apologizing for giving them such a hard time.” And, “Though my mom and I still have our little arguments, it is different now. I appreciate her so much more and I KNOW that everything she does is because she loves me. I didn’t really understand that before reading that story.” We rarely print a story unless the person writing it has learned or realized something profound from their experience. Hopefully, this lesson gets passed on to you, the reader, and will spare you similar pain. At the very least, it will let you know that you are not alone in the world with your challenges.
One of our most important criteria for including a story is that it leaves the reader a better person for having read it. An example of this is the much-loved poem “Somebody Should Have Taught Him”. In this poem a young girl is killed by a drunk driver on her way home from a party. It is an extremely emotional poem that still makes us cry when we read it. The response this simple but powerful poem has evoked from thousands of teenagers is a commitment to never drink and drive. Many teens have written letters promising this to their parents; while in other cases some teens simply made a promise to themselves. The most gratifying part of all of this is that years later we have received follow-up letters informing us that they have kept their commitment.
There are no words to describe what we feel when we hear this kind of story. We are grateful and we are humbled, but more than anything, we are certain that as long as these stories are changing lives, we will continue to compile these books.
JACK CANFIELD & MARK VICTOR HANSEN