Imagine driving a team of wild horses along a mountain road while blindfolded, using only your teeth to navigate. Good. Now you know what parenting can feel like. Martha Tod Dudman knows that road first hand. Just a couple of years ago her daughter Augusta was taking drugs, cutting herself, and constantly running away. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the pleasure and pain of growing up. Also, life lessons in young adult fiction.

Martha Tod Dudman tells Anne Strainchamps about the difficult times she went through with her daughter Augusta -- drug use, running away, self-mutilation -- and how they eventually worked things out. Dudman's book is "Augusta, Gone."

William Strauss is the co-author (with Neil Howe) of "Millennials Rising." He tells Jim Fleming that the Millennial Generation - kids born since 1982 - is known for doing things in groups and worries about getting into college. They're not the alienated, violence-prone zombies the press makes them out to be. Also, Joan Bauer writes award winning fiction for young adults. Her latest is "Hope Was Here." Bauer reads an excerpt and tells Steve Paulson how she gets into the heads of her teenaged subjects.

Ronald Grimes is the author of "Deeply Into the Bone." He studies rites of passage around the world. He describes a few coming of age ceremonies for Jim Fleming, and explains what his family does to commemorate birthdays. Also, Simon Russell Beale plays "Hamlet" in the Royal National Theatre production touring the United States. He tells Steve Paulson that emotionally, Hamlet is a pretty ordinary guy, and what he brings to the role as a slightly overweight 40 year old. Beale's Hamlet is at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis May 2-13. There's more information at www.guthrietheater.org

Books:

• Joan Bauer, Hope Was Here (Putman)
• Martha Tod Dudman, Augusta, Gone: A True Story (Simon & Schuster)
• Neil Howe and William Strauss, Millennials Rising; The Next Great Generation (Vintage)
• Ronald Grimes, Deeply Into the Bone: Re-Inventing Rites of Passage (University of California)

Music:

• Nanci Griffith: Time Keepers Turn Around Minnesota Public Radio
• Los Angeles Guitar Quartet: L.A.G.Q. Muir Woods Sony
• Dar Williams: End of the Summer Teenagers Kick Our Butts Razor and Tie
• Los Angeles Guitar Quartet: L.A.G.Q. Passages Sony
• Jay Ungar & Molly Mason: The Lovers' Waltz Lovers' Waltz Angel
• Ennio Morricone: Soundtrack from Hamlet Virgin

Distribution dates:

• week of 04/29/2001 - hour 2