Showing posts with label Teens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Teens. Show all posts

The Complete Works of Gay Head

All right, so it's probably not the complete works--it's only the ones I own.  Hi There, High School by Gay Head (my edition is from 1968) is the first one I picked up, probably at a library sale.  Since the cover's not that engaging, I probably thought the author's name was funny--and I still do.  The following intro from Hi There, High School is a better rendition of Gay Head's style than any I could give. See image below.


Fun fact I just learned:  Gay Head is a woman!  I'm not sure why, but I always pictured Gay Head as a man.  It's kind of shaking my world.  Also, once Gay Head went on to better things, other people wrote under Gay Head's name.  The next thing you'll tell me is that Nancy Drew wasn't written by Carolyn Keene. 

Here's more of the Gay Head ouevre:

Boy Dates Girl (my edition - 1962).  From the back cover:
Those three words, BOY DATES GIRL, can run into hundreds of questions.  In this book, we tackle those you've asked most often.  We look at your individual problems:  Which is the salad fork?  Is it all right to "dutch date"?  And we dig into basic issues:  What makes a successful person  What makes a successful party?
Really?  The most compelling question that would come up in Boy Dates Girl is which is the salad fork?  And for some reason the wording "dutch date" sounds much more interesting (and dirty) than "going Dutch."  Anyhoo.  Hopefully, the letters are more compelling in Dear Gay Head (also printed in 1962), the title of which might just be my favorite non-existent band name ever. 

But the real winner, for title alone, is Etiquette for Young Moderns (1954).  My copy of this is water-stained, falling apart, probably moldy, but I could never throw anything away with so awesome a title.  From the intro:
 "Etiquette--that's just fluff!"  Hank exclaimed when his sister Sylvia, chided him for not holding open the front door for her.  "If you ask me, I'll take brains and ability--and skip the manners--to show what a person's worth."
Whoa there, Hank!  The person who has brains and ability without good manners may never get a chance to provide his worth.  His poor manners will antagonize others--both in business and social activities.
And that's straight from Gay Head!  Just to recap:  Hee, Gay Head.  And I'm six. 

Into Your Teens by Helen Schacter, Ph D, et al (1959)

A textbook published by Scott Foresman in 1959, Into Your Teens is listed as part of the Health and Personal Development Program.  There are a huge amount of these books around, most of which I've seen published from the 30s through the 60s.  After that, they must have given up on teens.  I sure don't remember any guide like this when I was in school.

Into Your Teens is broken down into the following units: Teen Troubles, Understanding Yourself and Others, Living in a Family, Your Health Questions, Living Safely, and Looking Ahead.  This book has everything to correct and develop the young teen, and make excellent citizens of them all. 


Plus, adorable art!  (This time credited to three artists: Connie Moran, Clara Ernst, and Felix Traugott.)

With a friendly, chatty tone, this textbook is liberally illustrated with all sorts of social and personal development situations students can use in their own lives.  One of my favorite things about this book, though, are the little inset images with a wistful youth asking poignant questions.  Such as:




Aw, don't worry, sad and pouty youth!  It will all work out in the end.   If this book doesn't help answer those questions, I don't know what will. 

But of all of the troubled teens, this one is my favorite:

Me too, kid.  Me too.  But look at you figuring it out so early!  There's hope for you and your wavy hair and your styling collar.  My advice to you is to cheerfully ignore it.  It's worked beautifully for me.