Having six brilliant older sisters comes in very handy sometimes.  It doesn’t seem to matter what struggle I’m up against at the moment, chances are at least one of them has been through it before and has some hard-earned know-how to share.  A few years ago when my daughter came home from first grade with some big questions about her body and it’s intriguing parts I didn’t panic.  I just turned to my favorite resource – my sisters.

We were wandering the aisles of Target at the time on a girl’s weekend when I asked them the best way to start having conversations with my daughter about her body.  Three of them replied in near-unison – “You need to get the Body Book.”  They walked me over to the book section and showed me this cute little book by the American Girl company called “The Care and Keeping of You – The Body Book for Girls”.

As usual, they were right.  The Body Book was exactly the kind of resource I was looking for.  Catered to tween-age girls (I’d recommend it for ages 7 -13), this book is a perfect introduction to all things girl.  It offers simple health and hygiene tips such as how to care for your hair and how to beat bad breath as well as more delicate topics like how breasts change and what happens when you get your period.

I love that the illustrations are informative without being too graphic so it’s comfortable for girls to flip through the pages.  I liked the writing style as well – it’s upbeat and casual without being too cutesy.  It was the perfect balance for my inquisitive daughter.  My daughter and I read a few chapters each night together and I’d answer any questions she had.  Once we’d finished it, I gave the book to her and let her read it on her own.

It’s been 4 years since then and she still has it in her bookshelf.  In fact, I had to do an image search on Google to get a picture of the cover because she’s used it so much that the cover was too tattered to photograph.

Overall, I’ve been really happy with this book.  It gave my daughter a solid introduction to the world of womanhood in a comfortable, non-formal format.  Now that she’s 10 and right on the verge of entering this next phase of life, she seems confident that she knows the facts and knows what to expect.  Additionally, since our first chats about her body were so casual and non-threatening, she seems far more likely to come to me with questions in the future.  What more can you ask for as a Mom?  If you’ve got a daughter in this age range, you should take my big sisters’ advice and grab this book.  It’s made a world of difference for my girls.  Just thought I’d pass it on.

By the way, if you like this book you may want to check out the American Girl Smart Girl Series.  My daughters have several and I think they’re fabulous teaching tools.  Here are a few of the titles we own (I bought them all at Target)…

A Smart Girls Guide to Money

A Smart Girls Guide to Friendship Troubles

A Smart Girls Guide to Starting Middle School