SparkNotes

Scared of speaking in public? You're not alone! This accessible guide, written by a former teacher and poetry slam coach, will help tweens and teens find their voice!   If you have weak, wobbly knees and a pounding heart when you face an audience-don't worry, that's good! Joy Jones is here to show teens and tweens that stage fright is your friend. With its funny, friendly, slightly irreverent approach, Fearless Public Speaking helps young people feel more comfortable and confident in front of a crowd. Jones covers it all, from how to write and organize your speech, to how to deliver it and use audiovisual equipment, to how to troubleshoot when things go wrong. Joy Jones has taught creative writing and public speaking to middle school students and coached poetry slam teams. Her children's book Tambourine  Moon (Simon & Schuster) was chosen in 2000 as a Kid's Pick of the Lists by the American Booksellers Association, selected as one of the best books for children by the black caucus of the ALA, and seen on Fox TV's hit show The Bernie Mac Show. She is also the author of Private Lessons:A Book of Meditations for Teachers (Andrews McMeel) and a contributor to the anthology Days I Moved Through Ordinary Sounds: The Teachers of WritersCorps in Poetry and Prose. Joy is the director of The Spoken Word, a performance poetry ensemble. She lives in Washington, DC. Visit her on the web at joyjonesonline.com.