cover image When Your Parent Drinks Too Much: A Book for Teenagers

When Your Parent Drinks Too Much: A Book for Teenagers

Eric Ryerson. Facts on File, $19.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-8160-1259-6

Thomas V. Seessel, executive director, National Council on Alcoholism, recommends Ryerson's book as ""valuable . . . a breath of fresh air to young people in pain.'' Himself the son of alcoholics, the author uses a pseudonym to deliver sound, empathetic advice to adolescents burdened by parents afflicted with alcoholism. A giant step toward getting help is accepting alcoholism as a disease, which is what troubled boys and girls can learn in meetings with people their age in groups like Al-Anon and Alateen. The disclosures of Ryerson and the young adults he interviewed should convince readers in similar situations that they can solve their many sad problems. The book can promote understanding of how the disease affects families, and it ought to be read by everybody, including those blessed by normal home lives. (12up)