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Summary: Every female teen and pre-teen should own a copy!
Review: Catherine Dee's The Girls' Guide to Life: How to Take Charge of the Issues That Affect You tackles the many challenges that face young women and girls today. Let's face it, low self-esteem, lack of political representation and gender inequity in the classroom are a drag. The Girls' Guide is a positive and necessary blueprint for battling the gender bias blues. Young women and girls lend their own voices and experiences of enlightenment and encouragement on topics ranging from math clubs to rock climbing to political activism. The Girls' Guide is an excellent combination of true stories, self-help and resources that will spark any young woman or girl to "take charge of the issues that affect" her. But don't just take my word for it. I gave the book to my eleven year-old niece. "I love it!" she said, "It's fun to read and has lots of ideas for me and my friends to do to help make us active and strong, and love ourselves."
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Summary: An honest look at life, full of positive, relevant advice.
Review: Catherine Dees has taken an honest look at the lives of girls in the USA today. This book is easily readable by a young adolescent. The tone is direct and upbeat as it deals with a lot of difficult topics like staying safe and gender inequity. I like Dee's approach - she calls things like they are but doesn't leave the reader feeling hopeless. She includes workable strategies and empowers girls to try them or not. She teaches them how to say No! with substance. The book also includes relevant cartoons, writings from girls and from famous women. For any parent who's read Mary Pipher's "Reviving Ophelia", and become scared, this is the book to hand your daughter now. I find it totally consistent with the trainings I give as a diversity consultant and with the work I've done for years as a Cadette Girl Scout leader. Esther A. Heller, Independent Consultant and Trainer. http://www.best.com/~esther
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Summary: What a great book!
Review: Girls should really be able to relate to the messages in this book, and the way they're presented. It's a great gift for mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, anyone who knows a 9 to 15 year old girl. The book highlights the more important issues every girl should be aware of to preserve her self-esteem as she grows up. Companies should hand it out on Take Our Daughters to Work Day, and let's not forget the boys. They should read it also. They might learn something about girls and possibly about themselves.
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Summary: A Great Guide Book for Girls and Adults Who Work with Girls
Review: I facilitate a gender transitions group in a boarding program at an arts high school. I also present programs in our community on a variety of health education, wellness and women's issues for this population. I found this book to be excellent as a facilitation resource for my groups and presentations. As a group, the younger girls, 8th-10th grade responded most positively to the book. They thought we should continue to use it for their weekly reading and to promote discussions. My older students liked it too and gave it great reviews but felt it was aimed towards the younger girls. In response to their feedback, I used it with them as a training guide/tool for teaching and mentoring the younger girls. We trained the peer mentors in the group with some of the chapters of the book. They ended up responding positively to this approach and were very open to the issues covered in the book. They used it as a "teaching guide" and that approach to the text worked wonderfully for their leadership and allowed them the opportunity to really examine the issues more deeply. I am always glad to see good materials that are aimed at helping young women!
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Summary: Looking forward to the next edition
Review: I got The Girl's Guide to Life on the recommendation of a Girl Scout professional at Girl Scouts of the USA. It's well-written and easy to use. The information is as appropriate for women as it is for girls. (It's also appropriate for men and boys!).
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Summary: Looking forward to the next edition
Review: I got The Girl's Guide to Life on the recommendation of a Girl Scout professional at Girl Scouts of the USA. It's well-written and easy to use. The information is as appropriate for women as it is for girls. (It's also appropriate for men and boys!).
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Summary: Such a great book for girls
Review: In an interesting and friendly style, the author writes that typical feminine characteristics such as silence in the classroom, insecurity about appearance, and intimidation about sports or science are not the irrevocable fate of being female but simply the result of growing up in a society that maintains a deep-seated bias against girls and women. She uses teen-magazine-style chapters to illuminate these biases: what they are, how to recognize them, and how to change them. Each chapter explores the facts of a particular issue, such as sexism in the media, then personalizes that issue through boxed, multi-cultural, first-person narratives and poetry , comic strips, anecdotes, and quizzes. She provides extensive lists of related books, videos, pamphlets, and organizations that will help give girls their bearings. But one of the book's highlights is it's activist feature, "Things to Do," that shows how to respond with sample letters, organizations to join, and other ways to kick the passive stereotype good-bye.
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Summary: Guiding our daughters
Review: It's magical to witness, over the course of a few years, girls blooming into young women. The spell is broken, however, when we also see sexism consume their self-esteem. Where once they were spunky and imaginative, they become self-conscious and afraid how their ideas will be seen by others. Where once they voiced their opinions, we see them swallowing ideas unvoiced--especially in front of boys. And where once they excelled in math or science, we see them play "dumb" or believe they aren't as smart as "the other gender." The Girls' Guide to Life reclaims the strength and self-assurance for young women. With a fun, appealing style, The Guide addresses gender issues by providing exercises and activities so girls learn who they are and what their strengths are.... If you have a daughter, or care about a girl you know, share The Girls' Guide to Life with them. You may learn a lot you never knew. You also may be reminded of things you learned the hard way and never thought to share with her. Encourage sons to read it, too, so they'll learn it's all right for women to be strong, to be leaders.
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Summary: Awesome
Review: Let me tell you this book is awesome! I have never felt so empowered! Not only does this book have real experiences and stories, it also unveils many myths about society and gives real ways to correct those myths. This book is for everyone, woman and man, who cares about the ways women are treated in our culture and worldwide. I highly recommend it! (Posted on Girl Scouts of Kentuckiana web site)
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Summary: Best book of the Century (no kidding!)
Review: This book is a great work, probably the best of the Century. OK, I'm a guy. But I do have four nieces that are growing up quite well. Better now because of this book. I wish I had a book like this for guys when I was their age. It well explains the complexities in life we adults usually learn the hard way. A more level coverage of such a complex topic I don't think is possible. What politics is, the prejudice girls are subjected to, and many other complex subjects clearly covered. I will always remember the passage about what we think when girls act up in class, that we consider them "bad" girls. But what happens when boys do it? "Boys will be boys," we say. My sister always "acted up" in class and now is a PhD and former NASA Project Scientist, and she still acts up, go figure. My other sister did straight A's in math until someone told her that "boys don't like smart girls," and she went straight to C's. I gave her daughter this book and have seen no sign of that problem arising.
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