Welcome to our Author Spotlight page
At Alex Pezaro Press, we are proud to work with authors who are passionate about making a meaningful impact. ​Our Author Spotlight highlights voices that contribute insights, guidance, and real-world experience to readers.
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​Penny Goodwin is a parenting educator, youth mentor, and author focused on helping parents better understand their teenage sons. She supports both parents and professionals in navigating the often-challenging teenage years.
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Drawing on two decades of experience as a mother, alongside several years as a youth mentor, she brings practical insight into the challenges of adolescence with a focus on improving communication, building confidence, strengthening relationships, and helping readers develop a clearer understanding of the teenage brain and the factors that influence behaviour.
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She has also worked as a community ambassador for The Children's Society, contributing to work around young people’s mental health.
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Penny has written for community publications on topics including youth mental health, parenting, and the teenage brain.
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Her work is shaped by a deep understanding of the needs and challenges of today’s teenage boys.
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​​Professional affiliations include membership of The Society of Authors.
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Penny is available for speaking engagements, bookshop events, and author visits. Please contact her via the email address below.
Penny Goodwin - Author of Hold Your Teen Close
Arguments and misunderstandings often accompany parenting during the teenage years. However, conflict and communication breakdowns should not be accepted as inevitable, as they can have lasting impacts on relationships and contribute to mental health challenges.
Challenging the age-old notion of ‘blaming the terrible teens’, Hold Your Teen Close introduces a more effective alternative: the Cognitive-Friendly Parenting Method. Grounded in an understanding of teenage brain development, it helps parents make sense of behaviours such as moodiness, impulsiveness, and risk-taking, while offering practical strategies to improve communication and strengthen relationships.
Drawing on interviews with a prison custodial manager, a school teacher, and several teenagers, the book provides real-world insight into the developmental, social, and institutional challenges facing teenage boys. These perspectives are combined with actionable guidance on setting expectations, establishing boundaries, improving sleep, managing technology, supporting education, and nurturing overall well-being. A dedicated chapter also addresses parental needs.
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"The UK is near the bottom of a league table for the wellbeing of children and the happiness of teenagers."
Sky News, May 2025
Hold Your Teen Close is Available to order
via Amazon and through bookshops.
Early Professional Endorsements:
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Steve Seaton MA, Psychotherapist, Former CEO, Director, & Founder of Youth Talk, Former Deputy Headteacher.
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"Hold Your Teen Close has the potential to exert enlightening influence wherever it gains attention, and that it deserves to be widely read”.
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“No wonder our adolescent boys are struggling, with so many jokes and banter made at their expense. Yet if anyone were to level that kind of humour at other groups in society—disabled people, women, people of colour, LGBTQ+ individuals, religious groups, the elderly—they would rightly be vilified and condemned. In some contexts, they might even be prosecuted. So why, in the UK, do we mock and undermine our teenage boys, when according to The Children’s Society (2023), our 15-year-olds report the lowest levels of life satisfaction in Europe?
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Penny Goodwin’s warm-hearted, painstakingly-researched and well-argued book “Hold Your Teen Close” strives passionately to challenge this ‘ephebiphobic ’ prejudice. (And no - I didn’t know what that term meant either until reading this admirable parenting manual).
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Hold Your Teen Close contains a solid corpus of sound common sense to support the parents of teenage boys. It offers comprehensive advice, based on key neurological and developmental evidence, on how to respond to adolescent behaviour and emotional needs. And the many guidelines offered are practical, humane and wise.
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It is immensely refreshing to encounter Penny’s determinedly positive view of adolescence, in which teenagers’ energy, creativity, passion and growing selfhood can create a firm foundation for sturdy adulthood.
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Penny does not uphold perfection as a gold standard in this process. As throughout all the stages of their offspring’s childhood, it is the “Good Enough Parent” who is most likely to enjoy their child’s teenage years and to succeed well enough. Because if there is love, attention, attunement, and understanding bestowed by the parent on their young adult, there are likely to be rich rewards resulting on both sides."​
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Keith Lowe, Author and Historian, Fellow of The Royal Historical Society and PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize Winner “An enlightening, heartfelt book that’s honest and practical. Read with my son in mind, I found it relatable to my daughter too, though the focus is on boys. I’d recommend it to anyone raising or working with teenagers of any gender.”
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Dawn Kett, BSC (Hons) MSc PGCert PGDip MBABCP Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist “As a Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist specialising in anxiety, I often see first-hand how both anxiety and the challenges of parenting an anxious teenager can affect families. The section on anxiety in this book serves as an invaluable resource, offering practical strategies and a clear roadmap that helps parents build a healthier relationship with their anxious teen, while also empowering them to develop effective coping skills. In CBT, we emphasise the critical role of the relationship between therapist and client. This book mirrors that concept by focusing on the parent-teen relationship, stressing the importance of creating an open space. When teens feel comfortable expressing their anxieties, it opens the door to real, lasting change, making this approach a crucial tool for fostering sustained progress.”