Celebrate Your Body (and Its Changes, Too!): The Ultimate Puberty Book for Girls Kindle Edition

My daughter turned ten a few weeks ago and I wanted to start preparing her for the eventuality of her period and other bodily changes. She is gifted and a straight A+ student but she's also a very young ten maturity-wise (thank God). She does not know how babies are made really. She still plays with horse toys and dragons and Harry Potter dolls etc. We have raised her to be accepting of people no matter their sexuality. We are liberal leaning even though we're also Catholic. She is obsessed with reading and because she's so smart, it's hard to find books as she gets older that are not about catty girls or romantic relationships in any kind of physical detail (Harry Potter has been the hardest one for us so far). So many of the books about a girl's body include discussions about boys and sex -- and eating disorders, fashion etc. I don't think girls need to be thinking about that sort of stuff at this age. I'm happy to find so many of my daughter's friends' parents agree -- even some with boys who say their sons still don't really know how babies are made (they shouldn't at this age!!!). Let them be kids a while longer!! This world rips away their childhoods long before that should happen as it is! Before giving this book to my daughter, I read it cover-to-cover on my own and I LOVED it. There was nothing in this book that would spoil your unspoiled daughter. The closest the author comes is talking about how your daughter might find herself having different kinds of feelings for kids she used to think of only as friends or classmates, and that's okay. The writer doesn't say having feelings for "boys" -- she keeps it sexually neutral -- which is refreshing. It doesn't get into sex education. There is a very troubled boy in my daughter's school who routinely says inappropriate sexually charged things to her & her friends. My daughter thankfully doesn't understand most of the slang words he uses (so she comes home to ask me -- to my horror that this boy is saying such things). Well this charming young man asked my daughter the other day if she is gay. My daughter knows this term because she has an uncle who is gay and she loves him dearly. She was raised with no concept that being gay is in any way different from being straight. She was raised to know that being gay is not a choice people make -- they are born that way -- and that God doesn't make mistakes. Her answer to this boy who asked if she is gay was, "I don't know -- I haven't fallen in love with anyone yet". OMG!! I about died of pride!!! This book helped prepare her for a question of that nature. I wanted a book that explained the process of a period and the general purpose of it without prehistoric ideas of sexuality. I wanted a book that would tell her what is happening to her body without the extra street knowledge of sex. This book is very "clean" in that regard but it's also not religious or conservative -- which we didn't want either. It's as informative as it needs to be for total understanding of what's happening in puberty, written in an open-minded and progressive way, without being too advanced. It is well written. This is such a good book that I'm recommending it to everyone I know with girls this age who are like my own daughter. Bravo to the writer.

This is a great book for introducing puberty and all that comes with it to your child. I like that it doesn’t lean into crushes and other useless stuff like that that the other really popular puberty books include. There is so much body positive and inclusive laungage, I wish I had had this book when I was young. I’ve been reading a section aloud with my 9yo daughter every night at bedtime and we get into big deep discussions about changes she has already started to notice in her body, what the changes were like for me, etc. I honestly dreaded starting this convo with my daughter but I’m so glad I did — our time reading this together and talking about it are now some of my most cherished time with her. I will highly recommend this book to all my friends with daughters. It’s really that great!

I read this book cover to cover before reading it with my girls and I enjoyed it! It's well written and doesn't read like a boring textbook. My girls like it now too! Where was this when I was young?!

Bought this for my almost 11 yr old daughter and read through it before I gave it to her. I am glad I did. This book is very informative and covers everything. Things you didnt even think about. But just be ready for very clinical terms to be used, diagrams and getting into things such as labia, mounds and Clitoris.While I find the book well written and super informative --- I dont think 8,9 year olds need this much detail.Also, the book starts very progressive which was done in a very non aggressive suggestive forceful way (which I appreciated) but I hoped that this would be a book free of the hot topic gender issues. But i found this was the ONLY mention of it and I easily ripped those pages out.

I bought this book for my 9-year-old who is starting her journey. She was embarrassed to read it at first, so we started it together. Now she reads it on her own and throws facts and trivia at me. It's easy for her to read and understand.

We love how inclusive this book is. My 9year old devoured this in one sitting. She's very comfortable talking about periods and all sort of body topics, but this helped her learn some things that she didn't know to ask about. We're really open in this house and not at all shy about these discussions, but if your child is shy to ask, or if you don't feel like you're ready to talk about some things comfortably, this is a great book.

Positive. Very informative. Great guide for parents of a pre-teen or tween. Wish I had this growing up

This book did an excellent job explaining things to a ten year old. It wasn’t too “adult,” but it also didn’t sugar coat things. Far more informative than some other popular alternatives, and SO much more inclusive!! Loved the representation of different bodies, races, and ethnicities throughout. I also liked that it actually talked about the emotional as well as physical aspects of puberty

I got it due to reviews and i was disappointed. t's more for 12+ and shows how to insert tampons. I don't think that's right for a child of 9 or 10 to see.It also talks about friendships, drug and alcohol. That's not why i bought the book.My child is going through puberty at 9 and I felt that this book in their inclusitivity of 13, 14 and 15 year olds might make my already self conscious at going through the changes early daughter even more self consciousness as it kept going on about ages in several points. It should be enough to say it once that it can start from x age to x age.I think this book is fine if your daughter is older.

I’ve been searching for the right kind of book for my daughter to help me explain puberty to her. I bought this book because of the good reviews and I am not disappointed.The author writes perfectly for either children to read on their own or together with an adult. I have been reading it with my daughter and it’s great for answering all the questions she has.But my biggest reason for thinking this book is so great is the positive body image messages all the way through the book. It talks about how every body is completely unique and beautiful. It states the importance of there being no one way for your body to develop as well as celebrating all different body types.Also, if anyone would rather avoid sex topics in a book then this is the one for you.

I have an 8 year old tomboy daughter who is very fearful about puberty and dreading the changes to her body. I was looking for a book that explains puberty in a way that won’t be intimidating, and which isn’t overly girly in a way that would alienate my daughter and make her feel even more worried.This book is 100% what I was looking for after seeing a number of others which didn’t look like they would appeal to my daughter.The text is written in a very warm, reassuring and straightforward way. The pictures are great, showing girls of different races, sizes, shapes, disabilities, different degrees of femininity etc so that I think there is something that every reader could relate to. My daughter immediately wanted to look at the book and talk about what she saw in it with me. The body positivity message is reinforced throughout- something that I try to do with my daughter but I think it sinks in more when she reads it in a book independently. I am very happy I bought this book and I think she will be referring to it for years to come.

This is a great book with some great information about puberty and growing up. I love the body positive attitude and the idea that everything about your body is choice.I'm disappointed that the section on bra measuring contains outdated information (recommending the 'plus 4' method for band size)I'm also disappointed that it doesn't give many options for period products. It mentions pads, tampons and menstrual cups but neglects to add cloth pads and period pants, both of which are washable, reuseable and a better environmental choice (our children & teenagers are very environmentally aware)

As a weight bias researcher, teacher, and parent, I was seeking a weight-neutral, body-positive book on puberty to give to my tween daughter. Puberty, with its naturally accompanying weight gain, is a common time for eating disorders to start. Given Sonya Renee Taylor's impressive work aimed at adults, I thought this might be a good fit and decided to order this. For the most part, this is a down-to-earth, colourful, myth-busting book than many would find accessible and body positive.However, there are just a few messages that I disagree with and mean that I will not give this book to my daughter. Firstly, I found some of the food recommendations kind of "diety," which I was surprised about. There is an emphasis on eating fruit and vegetables, and then eating "chips, candy or cake" in moderation. Most tweens are not doing the grocery shopping for a household, and so the advice to "try to avoid processed foods" and lauding a fresh peach over "canned peaches in sugary syrup" may create undue anxiety and pressure on young people who cannot control or change the food their caregiver buys. It would all depend on the personality of the reader and their moral and intellectual development whether such "should" and "should not" messages would be taken up as helpful suggestions to consider or rigid guidelines to live by in all circumstances. A 9 or 10 year old may have a more black-and-white reaction than an older teen to such advice.Lastly, this book's message on gender was more progressive than I anticipated. In the introduction, Taylor gently broaches the topic of gender identity: "In this book I use the world 'girl' to describe the gender of the humans I imagine are reading it. The word 'girl' may not feel like the right word to describe you. Maybe you feel more like a boy or maybe you feel like a boy and a girl sometimes. That is okay! You don't have to feel like a girl at all to read this book and learn how your unique body works. The information in these pages will help you understand your body even if the word 'girl' isn't the right fit. As you read, you can swap out 'girl' for any word that feels good for you and your body. If you have questions about your gender, check out the amazing resources in the back of this book and share them with an adult you trust" (xii). While I am in full support of Taylor's broader message to adults that all forms of oppression focused on the body are harmful (including racism, homophobia, fat phobia, transphobia, and ableism), I am uncomfortable with handing over these nuanced subjects to her to teach to my daughter in a book that is supposed to be about puberty.If a parent thought their daughter was struggling with gender identity, this book might be a good fit. Because my concern was more with disordered eating, this book's messages did not fit my needs. I have found My Body's Superpower by Maryann Jacobsen, who is a registered dietitian to be a closer match to my own views on food and have given this book to my daughter instead.