Synopses & Reviews
The bestselling author of Pledged returns with a groundbreaking look at the pressure to achieve faced by America's teens
In Pledged, Alexandra Robbins followed four college girls to produce a riveting narrative that read like fiction. Now, in The Overachievers, Robbins uses the same captivating style to explore how our high-stakes educational culture has spiraled out of control. During the year of her ten-year reunion, Robbins goes back to her high school, where she follows heart-tuggingly likeable students including "AP" Frank, who grapples with horrifying parental pressure to succeed; Audrey, whose panicked perfectionism overshadows her life; Sam, who worries his years of overachieving will be wasted if he doesn't attend a name-brand college; Taylor, whose ambition threatens her popular girl status; and The Stealth Overachiever, a mystery junior who flies under the radar.
Robbins tackles teen issues such as intense stress, the student and teacher cheating epidemic, sports rage, parental guilt, the black market for study drugs, and a college admissions process so cutthroat that students are driven to suicide and depression because of a B.
With a compelling mix of fast-paced narrative and fascinating investigative journalism, The Overachievers aims both to calm the admissions frenzy and to expose its escalating dangers.
Review
"An overwritten account of the overachiever culture that is stressing out teenagers....Some worthwhile research here, buried under an off-putting amount of teenage trivia." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"[I]t's difficult to ignore [Robbins'] perspectives on such issues as the influence of the SAT or the day-to-day struggles of the kids, who can't rest until they 'outwit, outplay, and outlast' the competition." Booklist
Review
"Compelling investigative journalism....The author concludes this eye-opener with suggestions for high schools, colleges, counselors, parents and students alike." BookPage
Synopsis
The bestselling author of Pledged returns with a groundbreaking look at the pressure to achieve faced by America's teens.
Synopsis
An account of child genius Taylor Wilsonand#8217;s successful quest to build his own nuclear reactor at the age of fourteen, and an exploration of how gifted children can be nurtured to do extraordinary things.
Synopsis
How an American teenager became the youngest person ever to build a working nuclear fusion reactorand#160; By the age of nine, Taylor Wilson had mastered the science of rocket propulsion. At eleven, his grandmotherandrsquo;s cancer diagnosis drove him to investigate new ways to produce medical isotopes. And by fourteen, Wilson had built a 500-million-degree reactor and become the youngest person in history to achieve nuclear fusion. How could someone so young achieve so much, and what can Wilsonandrsquo;s story teach parents and teachers about how to support high-achieving kids?
In The Boy Who Played with Fusion, science journalist Tom Clynes narrates Taylor Wilsonandrsquo;s extraordinary journeyandmdash;from his Arkansas home where his parents fully supported his intellectual passions, to a unique Reno, Nevada, public high school just for academic superstars, to the present, when now nineteen-year-old Wilson is winning international science competitions with devices designed to prevent terrorists from shipping radioactive material into the country. Along the way, Clynes reveals how our education system shortchanges gifted students, and what we can do to fix it.
About the Author
Alexandra Robbins, the author of two New York Times bestsellers and a former New Yorker staff member, has written for publications such as Vanity Fair, the New Yorker, the Atlantic Monthly, and the Washington Post. Her five books also include Secrets of the Tomb, which investigated the secret society Skull and Bones.