A Smart Girl's Guide: Liking Herself: Even on the Bad Days (American Girl® Wellbeing) Paperback – February 19, 2018

So, I ordered this book in spite of the negative reviews and comments about "stereotyping" and forcing girls into a certain category....Here's the thing: even though its 2019 and female empowerment is taking on a whole new meaning, kids still feel a certain way. Middle school is rough. Period. That hasn't changed in the 20 years since I had to endure it, and personally I found the book helpful. I took the quizzes and answered how I thought my 11 year old daughter would, and I didn't find the results offensive or categorizing.I totally get it if people didn't care for the book, but honestly I read it cover to cover and found the subject matter is along the exact lines of what my child is currently experiencing at school. It covers topics such as shyness vs. low self esteem, which I found helpful. Sometimes, kids just need to read about something on their level, rather than from an adult's view point and just process from their level of understanding. I found the best part to be a small blurb on one of the pages titled "help is on the way." It talks about if you (young girl) can't shake negative self - talk and feelings, talk to someone about it. Parents, teachers, psychologists, social workers, school nurse, etc. I found this especially interesting because it says, plain as day, ITS OK TO FEEL THIS WAY AND MENTAL HEALTH IS HEALTHY! Remove the stigma of therapists, and feeling like you HAVE to be happy or else you're "crazy."I recommend this book. My daughter is 11, she is seeing a therapist, and I did not find the print detrimental in any way. It lays out feelings and emotions from a kid's perspective, and offers elementary - middle school aged advice.

I’ve been reading several of these books to my daughter in the hopes of helping her reach a higher emotional intelligence and survive the drama of tweenagehood. These books are beautifully written with amazing tools and psychology behind them. I have recommended them to every mother I know. I would have loved to have had these growing up. They have done an amazing job of simplifying personal developmental concepts that most kids don’t have access to until much later in life usually. I love the idea of investing in my daughters soft skills and helping her exceed on life through more then just what they teach you in school.

I have a 10 year old daughter who struggles with being highly emotional. She is a kind hearted girl that always wants to please everyone. This book is so great for her. It has stories and examples about the struggles of being a young girl and how to deal with friendship problems, sibling problems and just everyday pressures of being a kid. There are great examples on how to deal with conflicts at school and how to learn to like yourself regardless of what others think of you.I am trying daily to teach my daughter the art of self love, and sometimes she needs to learn it from other examples. I believe this book helps teach that and I am grateful for the examples and stories and advice.

Alright, so I grew up with American Girl. I have two dolls that I treasure to this day, and the books helped me through a lot while growing up. I am not ashamed to say that as a twenty-year-old college student, I bought this book for myself! It gives really great information on self-esteem, how to change it, and basically how to improve who you are altogether. Of course some of it is for younger girls (as it was written primarily for younger girls ten and older) but take it from me - if you are a young adult and you might be struggling with being away from home at college and trying to discover yourself, this is a good book to look at. It isn't a difficult read, the art is cute, and the information is timeless. I especially like page 32, which discusses worrying about the future. I know plenty of young adults who could benefit from reading that page alone.

First I would like to offer my opinion about these books, they’re the greatest conversation starters that I can have with my 10 and 12 year old daughters, and yes I’m a father of 2 girls and at this stage I love listening to them and hearing their school life and drama as they mature into young ladies. I’m so pleased that there are comments and situations in these books by actual girls who have been through most of what they will be experiencing for the first time and hearing it from real girls give the books more credence for me. And I like reading to them about what others have experienced which let’s them know they’re not alone. These books are great, and maybe the author could write more about “sex, sexuality, sexual behaviors, sexual situation, and how to cope with the sexual peer pressure, sexual abuse and many more sexual related topics that girls should have some idea of and brought to light while in school that’s where they get most of the wrong information most of the time anyway. These books give me insight and hope for my daughters and other young ladies future to achieve some standard “morals” and “dignity” about all that’s still left to teach

A unique publication that is oriented towards girls dealing with everyday challenges.Parent approval!!