This book is a must read for anyone in close proximity to middle schoolers. Using actual events from the lives of real teenagers, the authors (a middle school principal and a child neuropsychologist) combine perspectives to provide an engaging, light-hearted journey into the adventures and misadventures of newly-minted teens. First, the authors put to rest some long-standing misconceptions about teenage behavior. However bizarre they appear to adults, teenagers’ emotional reactions and their behaviors can no longer be explained solely by raging hormones. Using the stories as a backdrop, the authors provide emerging findings from developmental psychology and the neurosciences to explain why young teens do the things they do. The developing brain of a young teenager produces thoughts and feelings that are vastly different from an adult. Knowing this helps us to appreciate and accept the unique challenges they face.

"Who would eat the heart of a frog pickled in formaldehyde? A middle school boy, of course, after pilfering the amphibian organ from a dissection tray in his life science class. That story, one of many anecdotes Sharon Neuman has collected during 17 years as principal at Lakeland's Lawton Chiles Middle Academy, illustrates the sometimes inexplicable behavior of middle-school students. Neuman and co-author Richard Marshall strive to help parents and educators understand why middle-schoolers do what they do in their just-published book, The Middle School Mind: Growing Pains in Early Adolescent Brains.... Neuman and Marshall, an associate professor of education at the University of South Florida Polytechnic, hope to promote empathy and understanding of oft-maligned early adolescents with the 130-page book. They state their premise with one declarative sentence in chapter 2: "Middle school students have gotten a bad rap."" - The Ledger (Lakeland, FL)

"Reading The Middle School Mind reminded this reviewer of starting out as a teacher in the 1970s and of the middle-school kids and that often awkward time in their lives. The discussions in this text are practical in nature, covering such topics as the adolescent brain, identity formation, and the kinds of predicaments middle-school students often get themselves into. The most enjoyable chapters are those that review the emotional and social struggles young people face during early adolescence. However, the most insightful chapter is "The Gifted Teen's Adventurous Nature." It contains some interesting and thoughtful perspectives about the "bottom line" and the gifted student. Marshall (Univ. of South Florida Polytechnic) and Neuman (principal, Lawton Chiles Middle Academy) share with readers some intriguing thoughts on puberty and brain development. The appendix contains some interesting lists of "developmental characteristics" of middle-school students from intellectual to moral to physical and emotional. Summing Up: Recommended." - CHOICE