Gifted Teens - Giftedness and Adolescence

The Handbook of Secondary Gifted Education, Edited by Felicia A. Dixon and Sidney M Moon, 2006, Prufrock Press, Waco, Texas.

This book is a comprehensive look at both the development of gifted adolescents and the options available for their talent development. There are chapters devoted to the unique psychological and social-emotional issues of adolescence such as identity formation, career development, and how these are traversed by gifted students and particularly special populations of gifted adolescents including students of color, students with learning disabilities and gifted females. Other chapters discuss the talent development process in various domains including sports, the visual arts, and academic domains. There are chapters devoted to various curricular areas and what schools can do within these to develop the abilities of gifted adolescents as well as chapters on various program options currently available including special schools and extra-curricular options. Finally, the last section of this comprehensive book looks at teacher education and professional development for teachers who work with gifted adolescents. This book is comprehensive but written at a level for even newcomers to the field. It is recommended for teachers, adminstrators and parents as well.

Galbraith, J. The Gifted Kids Survival Guide: A Teen Handbook. Minneapolis: Free Spirit Publishing, 1996.

Talented Teenagers. The Roots of Success and Failure, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Kevin Rathunde, and Samuel Whalen. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
This book is the most comprehensive look at talented teenagers. It reports the results of a study of teens from two suburban schools in Illinois. The data reveal the day-to-day lives of gifted adolescents. This book deals with many issues but particularly factors involved in remaining engaged in one's talent field during the adolescent years. Recommended for educators mainly, but many chapters would be good reading for parents also.