Rules for the Unruly is a distillation of surprising life wisdom from National Public Radio commentator and writer Marion Winik -- a woman who has seen it all, done it all, and would never exchange her experiences for the security of a traditional life. Winik's amusing tales of outrageous mistakes, haunting uncertainty, and the never-ending struggle to stay true to her heart strike a powerful chord with creative, impassioned, independent-minded free spirits who know they're different -- and want to stay that way. Winik's seven Rules for the Unruly are: THE PATH IS NOT STRAIGHT · MISTAKES NEED NOT BE FATAL PEOPLE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN ACHIEVEMENTS OR POSSESSIONS BE GENTLE WITH YOUR PARENTS · NEVER STOP DOING WHAT YOU CARE ABOUT MOST LEARN TO USE A SEMICOLON · YOU WILL FIND LOVE Rules for the Unruly shows us how taking risks, living creatively, and cherishing our inner weirdness can become the secret of our happiness and success, not our downfall. Gr. 10-12. Decades after graduating, Winik, author of The Lunch Box Chronicles (1998), was invited to return to her high school and address the recipients of an award for academic excellence. She did so with trepidation, feeling unqualified to give advice, but the talk went so well that she developed it into a book for high-schoolers. As in her previous books (all written for adults), she describes some of her experiences, including unwanted pregnancies and life-threatening drug addiction, with a candor and sensitivity that keep the stories from becoming sentimental. This is definitely for mature teens (some parents, teachers, and YAs will find the language and subject matter abrasive and explicit), but Winik speaks to teens without the slightest hint of condescension, and her advice about living an extraordinary life is alternately moving, powerful, and hilarious. John Green Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Arthur Golden author of Memoirs of a Geisha Marion Winik has made a career of breaking rules, and here she's gone and done it again. Books of advice just aren't supposed to be this much fun. Ally Sheedy This is a magical, moving, funny book -- as helpful to this almost-40-year-old as it will be for any "young" adult. I love it and keep returning to it for practical guidance. Thank you, Marion! Henry Winkler Marion Winik's ability to see the human condition resonates in every one of us. She's the clearest communicator I know. Marion Winik is a longtime contributor to National Public Radio's All Things Considered and the author of Telling, First Comes Love, and The Lunch-Box Chronicles. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and their children. Chapter 1: The Path Is Not Straight Let's say there's a well-lit, limited-access, four-lane highway stretching straight and clear ahead of you, but the slow, funky back road with the doughnut shop and the cheap motels is calling your name. You call it curiosity and adventure, your parents call it stupidity and rebellion, but something in you can't resist taking the next exit. On the other hand, let's say you have your destination firmly in mind and every intention of taking the interstate to get there -- but the sawhorses are out, the orange Detour sign is up, and there's nothing you can do about it. You've taken a different road and maybe even ended up in a different place. Sometimes life rear-ends you, freezes your transmission, sticks a nail in your tire, or roars up behind you with sirens blaring and blue lights whirling -- and you ain't goin' nowhere, honey, at least not for a while. Unwanted deviations from the plan are also a fact of life, and they are not always as disastrous as they first seem. When you're young, it can seem like the routes are laid out, the itineraries assigned, and the outcome of the whole stupid rat race already decided. Everybody already knows who is pretty, who is rich, who is smart, who is a nerd with no luck at all. Well, wait twenty years and go to your high school reunion, as I did, and see how very wrong this is. In the end, there's no rat race at all because there are neither rats nor a race: just people, becoming who they are. I had planned to start my talk that night in New Jersey by telling my audience that the path is not straight, and that this is the thing I know now that I most wish I knew then. But then I realized that while knowing it is a comfort, one I'm damn glad to have when I need it, it doesn't really change anything. No matter how many times life surprises you, it never seems to lose its capacity to do so. Even you don't lose your capacity to surprise you. Just wait till you think you're all done and settled to see what I mean. Then wait till the time after that. And the one after that, too. Because the path is not straight, nor does it end every time it seems to, life is an adventure. And as dark as the passages and confusing as the cul-de-sacs you find yourself in, it's generally safe to assume