The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids

Robbins, Alexandra

ISBN 10: 1401302017 / ISBN 13: 9781401302016

Published by Hyperion Books, 2006

About this Item

439 p. Endnotes. No table of contents. The bestselling author of "Pledged" returns with a groundbreaking look at thepressure to achieve faced by America's teens. Very good in very good dust jacket. Signed by author. DJ has slight edgewear and soiling.

Seller Inventory # 64849

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids
• Publisher: Hyperion Books
• Publication Date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1401302017
• ISBN 13: 9781401302016
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First edition. First edition stated.
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)

About this title

Synopsis

The bestselling author of Pledged returns with a groundbreaking look at the pressure to achieve faced by America's teens

In Pledged, Alexandra Robbins followed four college girls to produce a riveting narrative that read like fiction. Now, in The Overachievers, Robbins uses the same captivating style to explore how our high-stakes educational culture has spiraled out of control. During the year of her ten-year reunion, Robbins goes back to her high school, where she follows heart-tuggingly likeable students including "AP" Frank, who grapples with horrifying parental pressure to succeed; Audrey, whose panicked perfectionism overshadows her life; Sam, who worries his years of overachieving will be wasted if he doesn't attend a name-brand college; Taylor, whose ambition threatens her popular girl status; and The Stealth Overachiever, a mystery junior who flies under the radar.

Robbins tackles teen issues such as intense stress, the student and teacher cheating epidemic, sports rage, parental guilt, the black market for study drugs, and a college admissions process so cutthroat that students are driven to suicide and depression because of a B.

With a compelling mix of fast-paced narrative and fascinating investigative journalism, The Overachievers aims both to calm the admissions frenzy and to expose its escalating dangers.

About the Author

Alexandra Robbins, winner of the prestigious 2014 John Bartlow Martin Award for Public Interest Magazine Journalism, is the author of four New York Times bestsellers, including Pledged and The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth. She has written for the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, New York Times, and other publications, and has appeared on numerous television shows from 60 Minutes to The Colbert Report.