"Teaching and Reaching Without Preaching (or Screeching)" The teenage years are a period when young people want to experiment, grow and try new things at the same time that they are not only going through emotional growing pains but are also extraordinarily hypersensitive to anyone (but especially a parent ) giving them advice. This can make the teenage years a time of stress, not only for the person in question but also for their parents, who hate to see their child suffer through mistakes but also know that "preaching" to them will do little good. (As the saying goes: "You can always tell a teenager...but you can't tell him much ") Based on his own experiences (read: "mistakes") as a teenager (and post-teenager), Richard Showstack's stories serve up a large portion of wisdom sweetened with a teaspoon of fantasy and seasoned with a pinch of magic. His two books, The Gift of the Magic and A Horse Named Peggy, teach - and reach - teenagers without preaching to-or screeching at-them. The stories will not only provide pleasure and a gentle "heads up" warning about some wrong turns on the road of life but will also hopefully inspire conversations between children and their parents about the stories' subject matter and life lessons. As one early reviewer said, "The world needs more of this "