ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many good-hearted people spent days reviewing early drafts of The Teen Survival Guide
to Dating and Relating and sharing their ideas and suggestions with me. Their insights
helped shape a manuscript into what I hope is a useful, compassionate book filled with
highly accessible information. For that I thank Cheryl Amon, Kasey Arnold-Ince, David
Fox, Deborah Roberts, Geoffrey Wild, and Jenna Woodul. Likewise, I’m indebted to my
dear friend Peg Shalen, MFCC, whose compassionate and insightful work with teens has
made her an invaluable resource to our community.
I’d also like to thank Talk City, original host of The InSite, for giving Terra her first
online home. Without the support of Peter Friedman and company, Terra would have
remained just another idea inside my head. Of course, this book wouldn’t exist without
the thousands of teens online around the world who reached out to Terra and trusted
her to help them sort out their confusion, worries, fears, and dreams. Nothing pleases
me more than knowing I’ve helped them.
Thank you to my editor at Free Spirit Publishing, Elizabeth Verdick. Her knowing
hand guided the structure of what could have been a very unwieldy project. I wish also
to acknowledge my agent, Harvey Harrison, a man who knows how to recognize,
encourage, and promote ideas that can change the world. I’m honored to have him rep-
resent me.
Finally, I’d like to proclaim my love and admiration for my daughter, Fayette, and
my son, Ezra. It has always been a delight and a great source of pride for me to be their
mother. There’s no doubt in my mind that they’ve taught me more about being a teen
than I ever learned from being one myself.