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Book Review
Sherman, M. D., and Sherman, D. M. (2009). My Story: Blogs By Four Military Teens.
Edina, MN: Seeds of Hope Books.
My Story: Blogs by Four Military Teens is written by Michelle D. Sherman, PhD, and
DeAnne M. Sherman. Together, the daughter-mother duo has channeled their
knowledge, career expertise (in psychology and education, respectively), and writing
talent into a guide designed to help adolescents through a service member parent’s
deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan. The book is set up in four sections. Each chapter
shares the feelings and experiences of a different teenager whose life has been impacted
by parental deployment.
In this review, I will explore Sherman and Sherman’s (1)
depiction of four teens, (2) decision to frame the story in a blog format, and (3)
contribution to supportive resources for teens going through deployment separation.
In their book, Sherman and Sherman introduce readers to the lives of four
adolescents- Mariah, Adam, Carlos, and Meredith. Each teen’s story, though fictional,
feels realistic given his or her age, gender, ethnicity, family composition, and parent’s
military component affiliation. Mariah, Adam, Carlos, and Meredith each keep a diarystyle blog where they write about their daily lives. As their posts unfold, they talk about
normal teenage experiences such as significant friend and family relationships, school,
and extra-curricular interests. The presence of each teen’s service member parent and
how directly the changes associated with deployment is revealed in their posts, as well.
The teens’ levels of resilience vary, as do the continuum of adjustments each face when
their parents return from deployment. The teens also talk about their response to, and
adjustment to any physical, psychological, and behavioral challenges parents when they
return from deployment, how their parents attempts to address these concerns, and how
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these overall circumstances impacts the quality of their individual parent-child
relationships. For example, Mariah wrote about how, during her mother’s deployment,
she couldn’t watch TV because she felt “terrified Mom might get really hurt or not come
at all… what would I do without her?” Adam indicated that, since his dad returned
home, it might be difficult to have friends over since “I never know how Dad is going to
act. This stinks.” Carlos discussed the benefit of talking to those who understood and
“just spilled my guts about Dad and his leg and his moods and how I just wish everything
could be the way it used to be…” And Meredith reflected how she was working through
her adjustment to the changes she had experienced following her parent’s deployment
and noted “my grades are getting better and I’m writing an article for the newspaper on
what it’s like to have a dad in the military.”
Sherman and Sherman’s decision to write My Story: Blogs By Four Military
Teens in a blog format will invariably distinguish their book from previously written
texts geared toward adolescents for several reasons. Their book speaks the language of
today’s “Generation Y” teen (born 1991-1997) and ‘tween (born 1998-2000), whose
communication preferences are blogs, social network sites, and online communities
(Pfeil, Arjan, & Zaphiris, 2009; Subrahmanyam & Greenfield, 2008). By meeting their
intended audience of military teens where they are at, Sherman and Sherman make the
accounts of other teens accessible, “show” how difficult transitions can be worked
through, and encourage others to find their voice. This book’s blog format goes one step
beyond conventional educational texts to include further reflective exercises and
encourages teens to start their own blogs. While Sherman and Sherman model how
teens benefit from writing and maintaining blogs, they are also giving teens resources
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which may improve their capacity to self-reflect, understand their beliefs, and confirm
their life-direction (Subrahmanyam & Greenfield, 2008).
Sherman and Sherman have created a supportive resource for teens going through
deployment separation which, like other books who use internet-supported interventions,
can be used alone or in conjunction with professionally monitored interventions (Barak,
Klein, & Proudfoot, 2009). Used alone for self-help purposes, My Story: Blogs by Four
Military Teens guides readers through each blog, provides relevant education and ideas to
think about after each teen’s account, then provides a framework to assist readers with
starting their own blog at the end of the book. To increase their audience and utilities for
this book, Sherman and Sherman might consider pairing this book with professionally
monitored interventions. For example, an online companion could be written for helping
professionals to educate various audiences about the stressors children of military service
members. These online companions could be changed or modified in accordance with
changing dynamics within the war (e.g., as military operations shift wind down in Iraq
and heat up in Afghanistan).
In conclusion, whether you are hoping to better understand what military teens go
through, how they communicate, or what ways you can support them throughout their
separation from a deployed parent, this book has a lot to offer. Sherman and Sherman are
remarkably skillful yet subtle at weaving their developmental knowledge into the
storylines of Mariah, Adam, Carlos, and Meredith.
Reviewed by Kari L. Fletcher, Assistant Professor and PhD Candidate
School of Social Work, St. Catherine University/University of St. Thomas
St. Paul, MN
Smith College School for Social Work
Northampton, MA
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REFERENCES
Barak, A., Klein, B., & Proudfoot, J. G. (2009). Defining internet supported therapeutic
interventions. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 80, 4-17.
Pfeil, U., Arjan, R., & Zaphiris, P. (2009). Age difference in online social networking;
A study of use profiles and the social capital divide among teenagers and older
users of MySpace. Computers in Human Behavior, 25, 643-654.
Sherman, M. D., & Sherman, D. M. (2009). My story: Blogs by four military teens.
Edina, MN: Seeds of Hope Books.
Subrahmanyam, K., & Greenfield, P. (2008). Online communication and adolescent
relationships. The Future of Children, 18, 119-146.