The Underground Guide to Teenage Sexuality
Grade 7 Up.  Addressing young men and women and their parents, this guide is comprehensive and treats readers with honesty and respect. Its only "underground" element is in the smudgy chapter headings that look like they came off an old dirty typewriter. The book is minimally illustrated with black-and-white line drawings that are often cartoonlike and too small to be seen clearly when they deal with technical information. The author is a sexuality educator who knows his stuff and communicates mainly in a question-and-answer format. In an objective manner, Basso covers all the basics (physical, emotional, and social) as well as facts about contraception, sexually transmitted diseases, and homosexuality. He also makes a strong case for abstinence without appearing to be pushing that agenda. The approach is especially reasonable in including help on how to say no and deal with peer pressure to have sex, drink, or do drugs. The tone of the book is very much that of a classroom teacher, which lends it an air of authority but works against the "underground" theme. A good choice for young adult collections looking for something new in this subject area.?Melissa Gross, Beverly Hills Public Library, CACopyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.