Beatrice Sparks

Author profile

born

January 15, 1918 in Goldburg, Idaho, The United States

gender

female

website

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrice_Sparks

About this author

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Beatrice Sparks is an American therapist and Mormon youth counselor who is known for producing books purporting to be the 'real diaries' of troubled teenagers. The books deal with topical issues such as drug abuse, Satanism, teenage pregnancy or AIDS, and are presented as cautionary tales. Although Sparks always presents herself as merely the discoverer and editor of the diaries, records at the U.S. Copyright Office show that in fact she is listed as the sole author for all but two of them.

Sparks began working with teenagers in 1955, after attending the University of California at Los Angeles and Brigham Young University. She has worked as a music therapist at Utah State Mental Hospital and taught continuing education courses at BYU.

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Books by Beatrice Sparks

Average rating: 3.66 · 69,920 ratings · 4,761 reviews · 15 distinct works

	Go Ask Alice by Beatrice Sparks (as "Anonymous"), Anonymous 3.67 avg rating — 64,959 ratings — published 1971 — 46 editions	My rating:
	It Happened to Nancy: By an Anonymous Teenager, A True Story from Her Diary by Beatrice Sparks, Dathan Sheranian (Foreword by) 3.84 avg rating — 1,455 ratings — published 1994 — 6 editions	My rating:
	Annie's Baby: The Diary of Anonymous, A Pregnant Teenager 3.58 avg rating — 1,023 ratings — published 1998 — 8 editions	My rating:
	Jay's Journal 3.22 avg rating — 1,146 ratings — published 1978 — 9 editions	My rating:
	Treacherous Love: The Diary of an Anonymous Teenager 3.28 avg rating — 348 ratings — published 2000 — 7 editions	My rating:
	Kim: Empty Inside: The Diary of an Anonymous Teenager 3.22 avg rating — 278 ratings — published 2002 — 6 editions	My rating:
	Almost Lost: The True Story of an Anonymous Teenager's Life on the Streets by Beatrice Sparks, Phillip Morgenstern (Foreword by) 3.36 avg rating — 195 ratings — published 1996 — 4 editions	My rating:
	Finding Katie: The Diary of Anonymous, A Teenager in Foster Care 3.57 avg rating — 178 ratings — published 2005 — 4 editions	My rating:
	Go Ask Alice/Jay's Journal by Beatrice Sparks, Anonymous 4.14 avg rating — 130 ratings — published 2010 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Voices: The Stories of Four Troubled Teenagers 3.61 avg rating — 18 ratings — published 1978 — 2 editions	My rating:

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Quotes by Beatrice Sparks

“I'm not really sure which parts of myself are real and which parts are things I've gotten from books.”
― Beatrice Sparks, Go Ask Alice

tags: identity , sense-of-self

151 people liked it

“I'm partly somebody else trying to fit in and say the right things and do the right thing and be in the right place and wear what everybody else is wearing. Sometimes I think we're all trying to be shadows of each other, trying to buy the same records and everything even if we don't like them. Kids are like robots, off an assembly line, and I don't want to be a robot!”
― Beatrice Sparks, Go Ask Alice

82 people liked it

“It's a good thing most people bleed on the inside or this would be a gory, blood-smeared earth.”
― Beatrice Sparks, Go Ask Alice

tags: beatrice-sparks , diary , drugs , go-ask-alice , heroin , marijuana , pot

69 people liked it

See all Beatrice Sparks's quotes »

Polls

What frequently challenged or banned children's or young adult book (or book about banning books) should we read in May and June?

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

21 votes, 27.3%

Go Ask Alice by Beatrice Sparks

14 votes, 18.2%

Memoirs of a Bookbat by Kathryn Lasky (about banning books)

11 votes, 14.3%

Scary Stories to Tell In the Dark by Alvin Schwartz

8 votes, 10.4%

The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler

8 votes, 10.4%

The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson

6 votes, 7.8%

Anastasia Krupnik by Lois Lowry

5 votes, 6.5%

Girls and Sex by Wardell Baxter Pomeroy

3 votes, 3.9%

The Stupids Step Out by Harry Allard

1 vote, 1.3%

Running Loose by Chris Crutcher

0 votes, 0.0%

77 total votes

4 comments

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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The Book Challenge: Michelle Kay's Reads 2009	4	437	Apr 17, 2009 12:42am
College Students! : Michelle Kay's 2009 Reads	7	188	May 06, 2009 09:12pm
The Seasonal Read...: FALL CHALLENGE 2009 PLANS	174	1301	Oct 14, 2009 08:10am
Read 150+ Books a...: Diane's 150 of 2009 (163)	47	110	Dec 31, 2009 06:10am
Between the Lines: 50 Books in 2009	62	249	Dec 31, 2009 11:16am
Goodreads Librarians: Author published as anonymous but known	8	41	Apr 16, 2010 08:11am
The Seasonal Read...: Summer Challenge 2010 Completed Tasks (do NOT delete any posts in this thread)	3072	2869	Aug 31, 2010 10:39pm
Task Completion: What are you planning to read?	52	37	Dec 21, 2010 10:44pm
Cover to Cover Ch...: Darcy's 2010 Book List	52	214	Dec 28, 2010 08:07pm
One Million Pages...: Sherri's 1 Million Pages	80	69	Jan 02, 2011 05:57pm

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