The Girls' Guide to Growing Up: the best-selling puberty guide for girls

This is the perfect little book for my fourth-grade daughter. So glad I bought it. I wanted her to be informed about human biology as she will enter middle school next year, but I wasn't sure how to explain everything from periods, matters and details of hygiene, to how babies are made without making her (or me, maybe) feel awkward. I have mom friends who are great at such explanations, while I have to think for quite some time how to say what and when. As she is reading the book, I can now talk to her about the content. She likes reading it so far. The content covers everything from the body changes to expect from puberty to where babies come from in short, factual, effective, child-appropriate, and friendly phrasing. The author succeeds at making girls feel normal about their soon-to-change bodies and gives them the information they need to understand what is going on. The illustrations show enough to support the text but without making the reading experience "weird." It is an informative book that even featured a fact or two (about the brain) that I wasn't aware of. Overall, the book normalizes puberty and girl's bodies, assures girls that they have control (to shave or not, to use different menstrual products that suit them, to continue sports), leaves room for inclusion (girls might find themselves thinking about a boy or a girl as they get older), addresses that boys undergo significant changes too, and provides the groundwork for other discussions we need to have with our kids as they grow older (it mentions that adults may use birth control to not have babies but does not go into detail).

Within the first 20 pages, it was clear that this author was leading me on a different type of learning experience. It feels spacious, reverent, and respectful of my opinions. I believe I’m learning more because I’m not triggered into defending my existing point points of view. Not that this is common for me, but I often find authors, more concerned with asserting the rightness of their opinion than offering it up for collaborative consideration. This is definitely the ladder.

The book is short and gives really a cliffs notes overview of the changes ahead. I liked it because it was clear enough for my 8 year old to understand and easy for me to explain. We both made it through it in one sitting without too much embarrassment and only the attack of the giggles twice. We got through it in one sitting and I stopped to ask questions along the way and I think because the material was presented concisely and simply she was able to ask questions easily. This is by no means a be all end all book. But for an 8 year old its perfect. Simple, not too much detail, no talk of boyfriends. It doesn't talk of marriage which seriously most of us have had sex outside of marriage. It does have 2 pages on boy puberty which I actually appreciated. I think girls should understand boys are also going through changes. I'm assuming the boy version of this book does the same thing. Both sexes should understand they are both physically and emotionally a hot mess. My only nitpick is the male genitals are so badly drawn I had to go into greater detail than I would have liked to describe how they actually look. Overall I recommend the book if you have a kid on the younger side and are the type of parent who appreciates frank discussions.

What a lovely introduction for a young girl about her growth and development. I appreciated the sensitivity, the wording, and the drawings - all done in such good taste!

My daughter is 9 and she really enjoys this book.

I was very surprised when I read the reviews of people concerned about the anatomical diagrams in this book. Children are having their periods at 8 and 9 years old. They need to understand their body and how it works. They also need to be somewhat aware of the opposite sex. Yes, there is a small discussion on how babies are conceived. But it is not graphic in nature. Preparing your child by providing this information arms them and protects them. 1 in every 3 females are sexually abused. If you give them the words to use and show them how things work perhaps they will come to you if a situation arises. I want to protect my child and feel this book opens the door to many more conversations.

Bought this for my 10 and 11 year old who have not went through any puberty changes yet. They know about periods and what happens but this book does a great job of explaining everything and the pictures are informative. It does have a section that explains sex. If my daughters were 8-9 I don’t know if I would want them reading that part just yet because it’s very detailed. I also didn’t realize this book was written/from outside the US before buying. So measurements and weights mentioned wasn’t in pounds and inches. It wasn’t a big deal because I can help my daughters convert it but it might be confusing if younger girls read it alone.

This particular book, I would not recommend to parents with children under 14 years old. There is explicit sexual content that is not appropriate for a nine and 10-year-old. That is not what I was looking for at all. I just wanted a book that explained to young girls the changes that are coming in their body. That is not the time to discuss sexual intercourse.

Informative. Written in the right language for them and very thorough!!! I even recommended it to other mommies with preteen kids.

Muy bonitas ilustraciones y descripciones.

Everything your young girl needs to know about growing up.

This book is phenomenal, THIS BOOK SPEAKS TRUTH and sugar coats nothing which I love. Its very detailed not only in words but great pictures. It shows children of the same sex or opposite that not all bodies are the same and give examples and reasons. I bought the girl and boy version of this for my son and daughter who are going on their 10th birthdays soon. I remember starting my period at age 11 so they aren't far off from puberty. (Hygiene part has already been here and body changes have started). This book is just perfect and very pleasing to read

The book explains very well and in a very gentle language everything a girl going through puberty should know. Definitely recommend!