PLI Media’s latest book, The Enneagram for Teens: Discover Your Personality Type and Celebrate Your True Self by bestselling author Elizabeth Wagele is now available in both paperback and Kindle versions.
The Enneagram for Teens introduces teens to the nine types of people described by the Enneagram system of personality. It contains many moving accounts by teenagers in their own words, and their own experience with how the Enneagram helped them understand themselves better. Teens will see themselves and discover their own strengths in these personal and relatable stories. Whether you are a teen yourself or have teenagers in your life, The Enneagram for Teens is a must for successfully navigating the transition from being a kid to becoming an adult.
Here is what readers and reviewers have to say:
Lynette Sheppard, Nine Points Magazine review:
“Recently, our daughter came to us and declared that she would not have survived her high school and college years without the help of the Enneagram. As a One, she was able to recognize her tendency for self criticism as well as her drive for continual improvement. Using the Enneagram map allowed her to ease up on herself. Her most insightful comment? ‘I knew who I was, unlike so many of my college classmates who were trying on and discarding identities right and left.’
Throughout Deanna’s junior high and high school years, I had the privilege of interviewing and teaching a number of her friends about the Enneagram. I was constantly surprised by the depth of understanding and self reflection these young people exhibited when introduced to the Enneagram. Many of them served on Enneagram panels when I taught, illuminating type as well as (sometimes better than) the adults.
Alas, when they asked for reading material, there was no book specifically geared to teenagers. The Enneagram Made Easy was generally my first recommendation. Still, nothing is more powerful than stories related about type by your peers.
That is the strongest suit of Elizabeth Wagele’s new book: The Enneagram for Teens. Graced with the whimsical cartoons and straightforward insights of her previous books, this newest addition to the Enneagram literature abounds with stories and quotes from teens describing type in their own words. It’s a must read for any young person struggling through the stormy seas of the teen years. I’d also highly recommend it to parents and teachers for glimpses into the internal terrain of type specifically during the adolescent/young adult years. A great many misunderstandings might be avoided and we might become more compassionate mentors to those in our care.
Compassion blooms out of understanding. My husband, Dewitt, and I often wonder what it might have been like to know the Enneagram when we were teens. How much earlier might we have begun expanding our world views. We are gratified and humbled by what it has meant to our own children. And now, I can point to a resource that may start teens and those who love them on their own journeys of becoming.”
Melanie Bell and Kacie Berghoef, Enneagram teachers:
“Having learned the Enneagram at a young age, bringing the Enneagram to more young people remains a topic close to our hearts. For teenagers, the Enneagram opens a door to improving relationships with parents and friends, and feeling seen for who you are–a person with thoughts, feelings, and needs independent from those around you. It gives a language to describe your viewpoint to the people who matter to you, and helps in making decisions about the direction you want your life to take.
When we were teenagers discovering the Enneagram, wonderful books existed about this system–Melanie has fond memories of holing up in the college library, browsing the “Enneagram corner”–but none of them focused on people our age. The vast majority of our peers were not familiar with the Enneagram, leaving us largely to teach it to them.
Elizabeth Wagele’s latest book, The Enneagram for Teens, has the potential to change this. Wagele previously wrote an Enneagram book aimed at children, but as far as we know, this is the first book exclusively oriented to a teenaged audience. In this fun and clearly-written read, Wagele writes in an engaging manner that teens are sure to enjoy. Wagele’s cartoons, both illustrative of the types and entertaining, grace most of the pages of her book. Wagele dedicates a chapter to each of the nine types, and a final chapter depicts each type’s leadership style. Wagele describes each type in a way that is easy to grasp, with examples most relatable to high school and college-aged readers.
Wagele excels at creating material that connects with the target audience. Each type chapter offers a quiz made of statements that come directly from teenagers–a refreshingly clear and direct approach. (You might be a Six if you “want to be safe and to be told the truth.”) Wagele also offers practical goals for self-development tailored to teens of each type.
The heart and soul of Wagele’s book comes from the primary source material. In each chapter, she interviews several people from each Enneagram type, both teens and young adults looking back on their experience. The subjects Wagele interviews provide a diverse cross-section of perspectives. Some, such as a type One rebel, do a welcome job of defying personality stereotypes, while others give a well-rounded sense of each Enneagram type’s strengths and challenges. Especially affecting is one Three exemplar’s memory of telling the principal her team had lost a tournament as she received her diploma–“That’s all I ever think about when I think about high school graduation.” It should be easy for readers to hear their own experiences mirrored in the young voices in the book.
We believe The Enneagram for Teens is a wonderful resource for teenagers and college students first learning about the Enneagram, as well as parents hoping to get into the shoes of their teens. Our own experiences of encountering the Enneagram young were pivotal: for example, Kacie finally understood her parents’ perspectives and why they were different from her own, and Melanie learned strategies to manage her emotions. Wagele’s book has great potential to more widely engage young people in learning the Enneagram. We hope this book will help young Enneagram enthusiasts connect with each other!”
Linda Fadden, Enneagram enthusiast:
“I’ve been eagerly awaiting the publication of Liz Wagele’s book The Enneagram for Teens, to share with my grandchildren and other young initiates. The book surpasses my expectations in powerful and personal ways. My oldest grandchild showed up as a 5-Observer, not the 1-Perfectionist he had self-identified years ago. Even his 4-Romantic Mom who disparaged all Type discussions, said “WOW, this really describes him.” And the best part – he agreed.
This book fills a big gap between Finding the Birthday Cake and The Enneagram Made Easy, or adult tomes that outline the 9 Types in daunting detail. The format is inviting, couched in teen-accessible concepts and language: a brief poll lists characteristics to help readers identify types/chapters that resonate, and others that “model refreshing new ways to behave.” Stories by adolescents stunningly describe their behaviors, motivations and challenges.
Liz’s charming cartoons illustrate, entertain, and draw the reader forward. She lists “Seven Goals for Adolescents,” a “New Golden Rule,” Leadership guidelines, and Resources, with a slogan “Passions will feed your soul while your strengths will support you financially” to guide us all. Liz Wagele has another hugely appealing book to add to her published titles. This one could top the charts.”
Clarence Thompson, The Enneagram Monthly review:
“Elizabeth Wagele has established herself as an Enneagram authority with her earlier publications. Her Enneagram Made Easy is my standard recommendation for the book to read for a client or student who wants to start looking into the Enneagram. Her new book, Enneagram for Teens, is, as expected, clear and accurate in the Enneagram categories. It is a lot more than just clear, though. It is a really helpful educational tool.
Long before je suis Charlie became a slogan that originated because of the power of cartoons, Wagele has impressed and delighted me and my students with her cartoons. The clarity and evocative power of her cartoons are an important part of all of her books. Hint to presenters: copy a page or five of them and use them in seminars; they’re superior to most power point presentations.
Her cartoons carry the exaggeration, distortion and simplification that are also the marks of egotism. Our Enneagram style exaggerates, distorts and filters out the reality we don’t want. That results in simplification. If I have one response (withdrawal, escape, work) to most situations in my life, that simplifies matters. No matter the situation, I just do my thing. Her cartoons are smoothly capable of isolating and specifying a dominant ego strategy.
Teachers know the importance of learning styles and the visual information in the cartoons is powerful, especially in illustrating emphasis. We say that our Enneagram style is a matter of dominant energy and tendencies. To see a style captured in a bit of shading and a line or two is a pedagogical triumph. Because it is a cartoon and a bit funny, we have enough emotional distance to accept the message.
The title of the book contains what is most important for students and teachers using the Enneagram. Wagele makes this book valuable by using research on real teens. She has used the classroom teacher’s resources of a teacher friend and some of her own interviews. Students studied the Enneagram and wrote about their experiences as a style. The result is parallel to interviewing different styles on a panel…”
Tom Condon, Enneagram teacher and author of The Dynamic Enneagram:
“The Enneagram for Teens is another first-rate entry in Elizabeth Wagele’s successful series of targeted books that smartly apply the Enneagram’s system of personality types.
This book uses the Enneagram’s insights to help teens resolve identity issues, ease growing pains and discover their natural talents. Along with her playful inviting illustrations, Wagele has teens with each personality style speak for themselves.
If you are a teen get this book: It will give you valuable guidance for developing your strengths, communicating well and finding your place in the world.”
Fr. Richard Rohr, O.F.M., Center for Action and Contemplation, Albuquerque, New Mexico:
“I always thought that teaching the Enneagram to young people or about young people would be fruitless. But as always, Elizabeth Wagele has shown us a way–and a way that is honest, helpful and enlightening! This is the next stage of Enneagram studies.”
Jack Labanauskas, Publisher, The Enneagram Monthly:
“Elizabeth Wagele just published her latest charming and well illustrated book The Enneagram For Teens, and not a moment too soon, if we want to get the attention of the younger generation(s). After having placed so much focus on issues plaguing seasoned seekers after truth, we often forget that the search for truth is probably most active in teenage years. But in our cultures much of youth is filled in pursuit of practical issues of adaptation, hormones and choosing a future. With an entire life ahead, it’s easy to lose sight of the forest, what with all those trees — a good time to have a road map and a compass is at the beginning of a journey and The Enneagram For Teens is perfect for that.”
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To read an excerpt and purchase your own copy, go to The Enneagram for Teens page on Amazon.com.