Posted September 19, 2006 Book: Now What Do I Do? A Guide to Help Teenagers with Their Parents’ Separation or Divorce Author: Lynn Cassella-Kapusinski Acta Publications. Skokie, IL. 2006. Pp. 174 An Excerpt from the Jacket: If your parents are separated or divorced, then you’re already an expert in the feelings and emotions that can develop from such a disaster. What you may not be an expert in, however, is how best to channel and learn from those feelings. Author Lynn Cassella-Kapusinski endured her own parents’ divorce when she was seven, and she has written this book to share her own experiences to make your journey easier. An Excerpt from the Book: I did a pretty good job of not showing my anger to my dad, but that didn’t make it go away. In fact, it made things worse, because my anger came out in destructive ways. I took it out on my mom at times by being overly critical of her and argumentative. This got her angry and hurt her feelings, which pushed us away from each other. I pushed away my friends, too, because I was so competitive in school. Anger is one determined emotion! If you try to push it away, it only comes back in some other form or place. Since anger is going to come out whether you want it or not, you need to take charge. Take control of your anger before it takes control of you. The first step is to pay attention to the signs that warn you whey you’re getting angry. Your heart may pound faster or your mouth may get dry. Maybe you talk louder or start throwing out insults. Pershaps you clench your fists or breathe faster. Maybe you start pacing. Treat these signs as a red light that tells you to stop and think. This is your chance to do something constructive — not destructive — with your anger. If you ignore this red light, your anger will only cause you to lose control and you’ll likely find yourself in trouble. Table of Contents: 1. Feeling Bummed out: how do you deal with it? 2. Blame: whose fault is it anyway? 3. Self-esteem: am I any good? 4. Parents: if I ignore the problems, will they go away? 5. Parents: what am I going to do with them? 6. Family: will I ever have one again? 7. War zone: how do I get out? 8. Anger: how do I get past it? 9. God: where are you when I need you? 10. Forgiveness: what if I don’t want to?