Digeronimo, Theresa Foy

PERSONAL: Children: three. Education: William Paterson University, M.Ed., 1975.

ADDRESSES: Home—Hawthorne, NJ. Office—English Department, William Paterson University, 300 Pompton Rd., Wayne, NJ 07470. E-mail—digeronimot@wpunj.edu.

CAREER: Educator and writer. Former high school English teacher; William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ, adjunct professor of writing and editing, 1989–.

WRITINGS:

(With Charles E. Schaefer) Toilet Training without Tears, illustrated by Laura Alexander, New American Library (New York, NY), 1989.

(With Karen Hein and others) AIDS: Trading Fears for Facts: A Guide for Teens, Consumers Union (Mount Vernon, NY), 1989, published as AIDS, Trading Fears for Facts: A Guide for Young People, Consumer Reports Books (Yonkers, NY), 1991, 3rd edition, 1993.

(With Douglas G. Avella) Raising a Healthy Athlete British American (Latham, NY), 1990.

(With Charles E. Schaefer) Help Your Child Get the Most out of School, Plume (New York, NY), 1990.

(With Charles E. Schaefer) Teach Your Child to Behave: Disciplining with Love, from Two to Eight Years, New American Library (New York, NY), 1990.

(With Frank P. Manginello) Your Premature Baby: Everything You Need to Know about Childbirth, Treatment, and Parenting of Premature Infants, illustrated by Robert E. Myers, Wiley (New York, NY), 1991, revised and expanded edition published as Your Premature Baby: Everything You Need to Know about Childbirth, Treatment, and Parenting, 1998.

(With Charles E. Schaefer) Winning Bedtime Battles: Getting Your Children (Ages Two to Ten) to Sleep, Carol Publishing Group (New York, NY), 1992.

(With Rebecca Prussin and Philip Harvey) Hooked on Exercise: How to Understand and Manage Exercise Addiction, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1992.

(With Charles E. Schaefer) Good Kids/Bad Habits, Prince Paperbacks (New York, NY), 1993.

(With Charles E. Schaefer) Helping Children Get the Most out of School, Jason Aronson (Northvale, NJ), 1994.

(With Charles E. Schaefer) How to Talk to Your Kids about Really Important Things: For Children Four to Twelve, Jossey-Bass (San Francisco, CA), 1994.

(With Myrna B. Shure) Raising a Thinking Child: Help Your Young Child to Resolve Everyday Conflicts and Get along with Others: The "I Can Problem Solve" Program, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1994, revised edition published as Raising a Thinking Child Workbook: Teaching Young Children How to Resolve Everyday Conflicts and Get along with Others, illustrated by Jackie Aher, Research Press (Champaign, IL), 2000.

(With Brian Fradet and others) Chronic Pain, Dell (New York, NY), 1995.

A Student's Guide to Volunteering, Career Press (Franklin Lakes, NJ), 1995.

(With Brian R. Clement) Living Foods for Optimum Health: A Highly Effective Program to Remove Toxins and Restore Your Body to Vibrant Health, Prima (Rocklin, CA), 1996, published as Living Foods for Optimum Health: Staying Healthy in an Unhealthy World, 1998.

(With Frank DiMaria) Insomnia: Fifty Essential Things to Do, Plume (New York, NY), 1997.

(With Myra Cameron) Mother Nature's Guide to Vibrant Beauty and Health, Prentice-Hall (Englewood Cliffs, NJ), 1997.

(With Reggie Wells) Face Painting: African-American Beauty Techniques from an Emmy Award-winning Makeup Artist, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 1998.

(With Kenneth Giuffré) The Care and Feeding of Your Brain: How Diet and Environment Affect What You Think and Feel, Career Press (Franklin Lakes, NJ), 1999.

(With Marc Roberts) Roberts Rules!: Success Secrets from America's Most Trusted Sports Agent, Career Press (Franklin Lakes, NJ), 1999.

(With Charles E. Schaefer) How to Talk to Teens about Really Important Things: Specific Questions and Answers and Useful Things to Say, Jossey-Bass (San Francisco, CA), 1999.

(With Ian Tofler) Keeping Your Kids out Front without Kicking Them from Behind: How to Nurture High-achieving Athletes, Scholars, and Performing Artists, Jossey-Bass (San Francisco, CA), 2000.

(With Carlson Wade) The Family Guide to Symptoms, Ailments, and Their Natural Remedies, revised edition, foreword by Kenneth Giuffré, Reward Books (Paramus, NJ), 2000.

(With Charles E. Schaefer) Ages and Stages: A Parent's Guide to Normal Childhood Development, Wiley (New York, NY), 2000.

(With Jack DiSalvo) College Admissions for the High School Athlete, Facts on File (New York, NY), 1993, second edition, 2001.

How to Talk to Your Senior Parents about Really Important Things: Specific Questions and Answers and Useful Things to Say, Jossey-Bass (San Francisco, CA), 2001.

New Hope for People with Fibromyalgia, foreword and medical review by Joseph E. Scherger, Prima (Roseville, CA), 2001.

New Hope for Couples with Infertility Problems, foreword and medical review by Paul R. Gindoff, Prima (Roseville, CA), 2002.

New Hope for People with Lupus, foreword and medical review by Stephen A. Paget, Prima (Roseville, CA), 2002.

How to Talk to Your Adult Children about Really Important Things: Specific Questions and Answers and Useful Things to Say, Jossey-Bass (San Francisco, CA), 2002.

(With Steve Adubato) Speak from the Heart: Be Yourself and Get Results, Free Press (New York, NY), 2002.

(With Michele Isaacs Gliksman) Christian Family Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth, Alpha Books (Indianapolis, IN), 2003.

(With Joyce A. Ladner) Launching Our Black Children for Success: A Guide for Parents of Kids from Three to Eighteen, foreword by Alvin F. Poussaint, Jossey-Bass (San Francisco, CA), 2003.

(With Andy Macdonald) Dropping in with Andy Mac: The Life of a Pro Skateboarder, introduction by Tony Hawk, Simon Pulse (New York, NY), 2003.

(With Richard Kadison) College of the Overwhelmed: The Campus Mental Health Crisis and What to Do about It, Jossey-Bass (San Francisco, CA), 2004.

(With Michele Isaacs Gliksman) The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth, Alpha Books (Indianapolis, IN) 2004.

Baby Boys: A Complete Guide to Your Son's First Eighteen Months, Penguin Group (New York, NY), 2005.

Baby Girls: A Complete Guide to Your Daughter's First Eighteen Months, Penguin Group (New York, NY), 2005.

(With Scott Haltzman) The Secrets of Happily Married Men: Eight Ways to Win Your Wife's Heart Forever, Jossey-Bass (San Francisco, CA), 2005.

Contributor to periodicals. DiGeronimo's books have been translated and published in Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Argentina, and China.

SIDELIGHTS: After teaching her high school English class about creative writing, Theresa Foy DiGeronimo one day decided to put her money where her mouth was and try to get a book published. She had already published some magazine articles, and this led to her interest in writing nonfiction. While setting up an interview with a psychology professor, Charles Schaefer, for the book she was working on, the professor asked her to help him with his own book. The result was her first coauthored work, Toilet Training without Tears, published in 1989. Since that time, DiGeronimo has released dozens of nonfiction advice books, many of them collaborations with professionals in the field about which she is writing, while some have also been solo works. The majority of her books focus on health care issues, social problems, family issues, and education.

One repeating theme in DiGeronimo's books is the importance of communication among family members, whether it is parents trying to help children or children trying to talk with their aging parents. For example, in her How to Talk to Teens about Really Important Things: Specific Questions and Answers and Useful Things to Say, written with Schaefer, the authors coach readers on approaching their teenagers about problems without being judgmental or bossy. This approach is more likely to encourage teens to open up to their parents, and the resulting dialogue will benefit everyone. DiGeronimo and Schaefer touch on such topics as sexuality, violence, drugs, alcohol, and divorce. A Publishers Weekly reviewer admitted that while there is "nothing earth-shattering here," parents "will be grateful for the convenience of having varied information gathered into a single volume." Ralph Hyatt, writing in USA Today, concluded that it "is a well-written, practical book." DiGeronimo offers similar approaches to family communication—but deals with different age groups—in How to Talk to Your Kids about Really Important Things: For Children Four to Twelve, How to Talk to Your Senior Parents about Really Important Things: Specific Questions and Answers and Useful Things to Say, and How to Talk to Your Adult Children about Really Important Things: Specific Questions and Answers and Useful Things to Say.

In other works, DiGeronimo offers practical advice for parents trying to help children ranging from toddlers to college students. Raising a Thinking Child: Help Your Young Child to Resolve Everyday Conflicts and Get Along with Others: The "I Can Problem Solve" Program, written with Myrna B. Shure, includes various exercises in which parents work with their young children to help them develop the skills they need to deal with conflicts at school or in other situations without resorting to fighting. According to a Harvard Educational Review contributor, the book is "an accessible guide for parents and teachers working with young children, and, ultimately, a valuable skill for the children themselves." Another book by DiGeronimo that guides parents in nurturing well-balanced children is Raising a Healthy Athlete, which she wrote with physician Douglas G. Avella. The book addresses both the benefits and risks of children participating in several different types of athletic competitions. In Launching Our Black Children for Success: A Guide for Parents of Kids from Three to Eighteen, DiGeronimo and Joyce A. Ladner create another parental guide specifically for the African-American audience. Although Library Journal critic Maryse Breton felt some of the authors' solutions and "simplistic," she concluded that "this book will still be helpful to both African American parents and to those studying African American culture."

In College Admissions for the High School Athlete, a collaboration with Jack DiSalvo, DiGeronimo looks at the issues both parents and their teenage child face when considering a college education. The thrust of the book, which is aimed at high-school students thinking about their futures in athletics, is to offer these readers realistic advice that might help prevent them from rushing into decisions that could sacrifice their education or their chances of being recruited for college teams. "Too many students miss opportunities due to poor advising," noted Charlotte Decker in RQ. Decker concluded that the "practical advice" offered by DiGeronimo and DiSalvo is "invaluable."

In another book about college, College of the Overwhelmed: The Campus Mental Health Crisis and What to Do about It, DiGeronimo and Richard Kadison express their concerns about the incredible stresses students face in college that can trigger mental health problems, and they worry, too, about what they feel is an inadequate support system offered on campuses. Stress is an important issue for college students, say the authors, because it can lead to drug and alcohol abuse, or even suicide. Although Charles Pekow, writing in Community College Week, faulted the authors for basing many of their conclusions "on a single 2002 American College Health Association survey," the reviewer added that the "book is most helpful when it provides ideas for how schools can cope with the crisis it identifies" and that it includes "some innovative ideas." A Publishers Weekly writer praised the authors for doing "a commendable job of outlining the many stresses students face" and concluded that readers would "find helpful, if sometimes disturbing, information" in the book.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, March 1, 1994, Jo Peer-Haas, review of How to Talk to Your Kids about Really Important Things: For Children Four to Twelve, p. 1168; March 15, 1994, Kathy Bonnar, review of College Admissions for the High School Athlete, p. 1341; April 15, 1999, Stephanie Zvirin, review of How to Talk to Teens about Really Important Things: Specific Questions and Answers and Useful Things to Say, p. 1493; June 1, 2003, Gillian Engberg, review of Dropping in with Andy Mac: The Life of a Pro Skateboarder, p. 1790.

Community College Week, January 3, 2005, Charles Pekow, "An Underwhelming Take on Overwhelmed Students," review of College of the Overwhelmed: The Campus Mental Health Crisis and What to Do about It, p. 14.

Ebony, August, 2003, review of Launching Our Black Children for Success: A Guide for Parents of Kids from Three to Eighteen, p. 32.

Harvard Educational Review, summer, 1995, review of Raising a Thinking Child: Help Your Child to Resolve Everyday Conflicts and Get Along with Others: The "I Can Problem Solve" Program, p. 339.

Kliatt, July, 2003, Tom Adamich, review of Dropping in with Andy Mac, p. 52.

Library Journal, October 15, 1990, review of Raising a Healthy Athlete, p. 99; June 1, 1997, Sue Hollander, review of Insomnia: Fifty Essential Things to Do, p. 130; April 1, 1999, Chogollah Maroufi, review of How to Talk to Teens about Really Important Things, p. 118; March 15, 2002, David Leonhardt, review of Speak from the Heart: Be Yourself and Get Results, p. 96; August, 2003, Maryse Breton, review of Launching Our Black Children for Success, p. 121; November 1, 2004, Terry Christner, review of College of the Overwhelmed, p. 99.

Magazine of William Paterson University, fall, 2002, "Theresa Foy DiGeronimo," p. 25.

Publishers Weekly, March 15, 1999, review of How to Talk to Teens about Really Important Things, p. 54; May 5, 2003, "Fanatical Fun," review of Dropping in with Andy Mac, p. 223; August 30, 2004, review of College of the Overwhelmed, p. 41.

RQ, fall, 1994, Charlotte Decker, review of College Admissions for the High School Athlete, p. 102.

San Francisco Chronicle, September 15, 2001, Laura Thomas, "Our Parents Seem like Eternal Bulwarks of Support. Then They Turn the Tables on Us," review of How to Talk to Your Senior Parents about Really Important Things: Specific Questions and Answers and Useful Things to Say, p. 8.

School Library Journal, September, 1995, Sylvia Hook, review of A Student's Guide to Volunteering, p. 223.

USA Today, January 2000, Ralph Hyatt, review of How to Talk to Teens about Really Important Things, p. 80.

Whole Earth, spring, 1998, review of A Student's Guide to Volunteering, p. 97.