- Straight talk on growing up, menstruation, body changes, and more.
- Maintains upbeat, positive tone throughout the book.
- If the authors left something out, I couldn't find it.
- Includes a section on boys maturation.
- More information than some girls need (or want).
- I've said this before about books concerning puberty, needs more illustrations!
- Helpful
- Very thorough
- Includes a section just for parents
Lynda Madaras knows a thing or two about puberty. The author of What's Happening to My Body? Book for Girls taught puberty and health education for more than 25 years in California schools. She also helped her own daughter, and coauthor, Area Madaras, navigate through the wonderful world of puberty.
Madaras successfully creates a tone of excitement, rather than dread, of impending menstruation and puberty for parents and their daughters. She also leaves nothing out in this book. Masturbation, sexual harassment from peers, AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, and bisexuality are all discussed, delicately. Madaras even addresses the anxiety girls experience when their period arrives unexpectedly.
The easygoing style of Madaras's writing allows readers to trust her with some of the more difficult and embarrassing questions of puberty and growing up. She lightens each chapter with situations or questions posed by girls or grown women remembering their own puberty.
The transition from childhood to womanhood isn't an easy one, but Madaras sees to it that girls and their parents have all the information they need to troubleshoot the difficult times and embrace the rest.
