Book Review: The Girl Guide by Christine Fonseca

Finding your unique voice in a noisy world can be hard—very hard. But not if you have a great guide! The Girl Guide: Finding Your Place in a Mixed-Up World is a must-read for girls in grades 6–8 as they enter the tumultuous world of adolescence. Packed with fun worksheets and quizzes, as well as stories from older girls and women, The Girl Guide covers everything a teenage girl needs to know on the journey toward her own identity. Proven strategies for dealing with stress management, confronting relational aggression, being safe online, navigating the changing mother-daughter relationship, and more make this the ultimate guide for any girl to get through the teen years and discover her unique point of view in the world. (From Goodreads)

Best Bits: I've never accepted a non-fiction book for review before, but with my new job I couldn't pass up on the chance to peek inside this one. In my non-book life I work in counseling, and I often see middle school and teenage girls who are dealing with stress and anxiety. As such, I am always on the hunt for great homework resources that I can suggest for learning and thinking at home. I'm happy to say that this is a book I've suggested to other counselors, and may be a great resource for middle school girls who are ready to work on a variety of issues. Here are a list of my favorite activities and topics from the book: My Boundaries, My Emotional Vocabulary, What Are Your Skills, How to Deal with Friendship Drama, Bouncing Back From Bullying. Okay, so that's a lot of language without a lot of description, but I think that it speaks for itself. Each chapter focuses on something different, and each topic is relevant. I think that a majority of us can look back to our middle school and high school days and think "man, I wish that I only had to deal with one of those topics, and not all of them at once". So, it's gets two thumbs up from me for content.

Nit Picks: Although I understand the thought process behind it, I think that some of the font is a bit hard to read. Sure, it's cute and fun (so maybe that will keep people more engaged than Times in 12 point), but I definitely had to devote a little bit of time to deciphering some of the quizzes and worksheets. 

The Girl Guide
By Christine Fonseca
Published by Prufrock Press
175 Pages
Received for Review
Rating: B