Editorial Review

Did you know that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had an older sister who was another musical genius? Musicologists even speculate that some compositions attributed to Mozart were actually the work of his sister. Nannerl Mozart is just one example of how women and their accomplishments have been ignored or erased entirely from world history. This important book seeks to amend that gaping absence in history books and popular culture by acknowledging the countless women whose contributions have made a difference to modern society. Arranged chronologically, Read more

Reviews (3)

All About Women!
Here's one of the few great books that focus on women and their accomplishments only instead of men. This book featured 120 biographal sketches of women such as Cleopatra VII, Queen Victoria, Anna Pavlova, Gabrielle "Coco" Channel, Harriet Tubmanm, Elizabeth Blackwell, Queen Elizabeth I, and much, much more. These biographies are all wonderful, easy to read, and clearly say what these women have done and accomplished. This is the perfect book for anyone who wants to read about women who have done amazing things. After all, women are capable of accomplishing and doing anything, and this book clearly shows that!

A necessity to anyone interested in women's history
What a gem!I have many history books about women because I want to share women's history with my children.I was of the generation where women were left out of the history class and I feel that women are still in large left out of much of the classes in today's schools.This book does a great job of including many women from different eras, genres and ethnicities.There are photos and great summaries that are short enough to interest children, but in-depth enough to give the reader a knowledgeable understanding.I highly recommend this book to anyone, at any level!

exellent!
This is the best book! Are you tired or reading about history through the eyes of a man? Before this history was documented by wars and treatys but this book is totally different.You learn about history as well asher-story,I learned about more than a hundred other women who changed themovement of the world.Some created inventions, others opened schools,they fighted for wemens rights and protested their weekness by workingtwice as hard as any man.This was a great book I really injoyed readingit, I hope you do too. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography - Historical    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Children's 12-Up - Sociology    5. Children's Books/Young Adult Misc. Nonfiction    6. Girls & Women    7. History    8. Women   

Editorial Review

The birds and bees have never been so hip, thanks to Esther Drill, Heather McDonald, and Rebecca Odes, creators of gURL.com and authors of Read more

Reviews (83)

Great book.
Girls in my ninth grade class brought it into school to share with each other because they liked it so much; I was relieved because I do not think they would practice safer sex without learning it from a resource that makes it 'cool'.

Unbelievable
I can't believe any responsible parent would buy or allow their daughters to read this.Sexual education about your body should be taught by the parents.CHILDREN should not be having sex or given INSTRUCTIONS and TIPS on how to do it like this book does.
Holy Cow - I was floored!
I admit first off that I did not read this entire book - I flipped it open to a page at random in the bookstore today, and the first thing I read was instructions on how a girl could give a boy a B*ow J*b.
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Subjects:  1. Children's Books/Young Adult Social Situations    2. General    3. Girls & Women    4. Health & Daily Living - Maturing    5. Health & Fitness    6. Health/Fitness    7. Life skills guides    8. Psychology    9. Sex instruction for girls    10. Sex instruction for teenagers    11. Social Issues - Adolescence    12. Teenage girls    13. Body & health    14. Juvenile Nonfiction / Social Situations / Dating & Sex    15. Personal issues    16. Women & girls   

Editorial Review

Kaz Cooke knew women needed a book that cut through the confusing and cruel messages about body image, beauty, eating disorders, diets, and cosmetic surgery. "Mostly, we needed a book that wasn't trying to sell us anything except self-confidence and the truth," says Cooke. "I couldn't find one so I had to write one." Written in the spirit of life, liberty, and the pursuit of body acceptance, Cooke playfully challenges some of the most oppressive misogynists of the 20th century: the beauty, fashion, and diet industries. Simultaneously funny and reassuring, Cooke boldly asserts her opinions and research on push-up bras (they dig and hurt), cellulite (it's a cosmetic company-induced condition, not a medical condition), and fashion models ("some of the most insecure, tortured souls around"). The cartoon illustrations offer comic and compassionate accents to this poignant discussion. ... Read more

Reviews (32)

Guide to self-soothing
"Road to Hell is paved with good intentions" - that's an exact characteristic of this book. Busting the unrealistic self-image sold to (or stuffed into) us by media and corporations is a great intention.But the book runs to the opposite extreme. Its main message repeated over and over is "Whatever you are - that's normal. Don't do anything, trust you body in its candy cravings and food selection and be happy, even if you ARE looking like a space-porker." Excuse me, but our modern environment, food quality and living habits are far, far away from being normal. And to restore the balance, to get close to a slight resemblance of normal the huge work needs to be done, including strict restraining yourself from over-eating over-processed over-refined food and getting a lot and lot of exercise. Suggested 15-20 minutes three times a week is laughable, you might as well call pushing button on your TV remote an exercising...

Give Yourself a Break From Your Own Negativity
Who is Kaz Cooke and why haven't I heard of her? Cooke is another creative artist from down under. The Australian writer, cartoonist, filmmaker and columnist has a slew of works to her name. She is the creator of Hermoine, the Modern Girl, a colourful caricature who's also featured between the pages of Real Gorgeous.
Laughter is the best medicine
Real Gorgeous is a well-rounded myth-buster about various aspects of the beauty and diet industries. The cartoons are crazy and humorous, the writing easy and witty. While definitely geared toward adolescents and young adults, the information isn't exclusively helpful to that age range. Recommended for any girls entering puberty or your Cosmo-obsessed friends who buy every new moisturizer & wrinkle-cream on the market. Actually, recommended to everyone just for the one cartoon about the devil and food. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Beauty, Personal    2. Body image    3. Feminine beauty (Aesthetics)    4. General    5. Psychological aspects    6. Psychology    7. Self-esteem in women    8. Women's Health - General   

Reviews (4)

WONDERFUL
I borrowed this book and read it back when I was a coming-of-age sixth grade girl.I had just gotten my period, was growing breasts, and was interested in boys for the first time.It helped clear up so many issues I was having, and all in all was a great read.Reccommended for any girl/woman over the age of 9, because it tends to get a little detailed.Anyway...ladies...from one to another...GO READ IT!

It's a great book that will make you confident like I have.
Girls Speak Out is about how Andrea Johnston runs this wonderful club and how girls have changed from it. Girls have written poems and Andrea has putparts of strong, moving stories about other girls in it.

This is a wonderful self-esteem book.
This book is a great book for any woman or girl from ages 9-16.It helps raise self-esteem and is a fun book to read aloud to a daughter.Andrea Johnston did a wonderful job of getting out the main theme with having somefun as well.Ms. Johnston and Gloria Stienem have created and published awonderfully powerful book.The book is a great book for a teenage girl toread. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Fiction    2. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Nonfiction    3. Children: Young Adult (Gr. 10-12)    4. Girls & Women    5. Health & Daily Living - Maturing    6. Health - Maturing    7. Juvenile Nonfiction    8. Juvenile literature    9. Psychology    10. Self-esteem in adolescence    11. Self-perception in adolescence    12. Social Issues - Adolescence    13. Social Issues - Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance    14. Social Situations - Self-esteem & Self-reliance    15. Teenage girls    16. United States   

Editorial Review

Nowadays teenage girls--at least those depicted in books--seem to wadethrough rivers of pain to reach womanhood. Time and again we hear of girls temperingtheir voices and leaving behind skills and interests like cast-off baggage. And smallwonder, when faced with serious issues such as sexual abuse, teen motherhood, drugs,lack of a spiritual toehold, and the hoary chestnut that guys don't like smart, outspoken,athletic girls. To counter such sapping influences, K. Wind Hughes, a onetime teenmother, and Linda Wolf started a weekly focus group for girls designed to hurdleubiquitous mumbles of "I don't know" and draw out personality and desires.Read more

Reviews (8)

way too mature for young girls!
I wanted to send a gift to a 12 yr. old girl to mark the beginning of menstruation and I choose this book after reading several reviews. I was horrified when her parents called to tell me about some of the testimonies from the later chapters. Everthing from rape, to 3-way sex, to teenage prostitution is discussed vividly. This book is intended for a much older audience, particularly survivirs of abuse.

Inspiring
I cannot begin to express my fondness for this book. It is truely excellent. I was given the book for my 16th birthday. It has opened my eyes to what I really am and has taught me to love myself for who I am. TheDaughter/Sisters project, the inspiration begin the book, is an excellentprogram. Infact, the author of the book lives in my home town. I was ableto meet her, and since knowing her, I have become best friends with herdaughter, one of the young women to tell her story in the book. It is apleasure to know the minds behind such a wonderful book. I highly recommendit for those of you in search of you identity.

incredibly heart felt, unbelievably brave
"Daughters of the Moon, Sisters of the Sun" is the most enlightening book I have ever read into the hearts and souls of young girls and young women. It confirms every fear and every joy I ever had as a younggirl. I only wish this book and the Focus Group inwhich it was born fromwere around when I was growing up. Even today--in my 30's--it spoke to meand made me feel I can make a difference in the upbringing of my youngniece. I highly reccommend this book to everyone who ever wanted to make adifference in the lives of young women--and, also,young men. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Case studies    2. General    3. Life Stages - Adolescence    4. Maturation (Psychology)    5. Parenting - General    6. Psychology    7. Role models    8. Self-perception in women    9. Social Science    10. Sociology    11. Women's Studies - General    12. Young women    13. Adolescents    14. Child care & upbringing    15. Juvenile Fiction / General    16. Other prose: from c 1900 -    17. Women's studies    18. Teenagers   

Reviews (6)

BAD
THIS BOOK HAD SOME THINGS IN IT THAT WERE OK BUT IT ISN'T REALISTIC AT ALL. SHE IS ALL ABOUT PROVING YOU ARE BETTER THAN A BOY. SHE ACTS LIKE IT IS ILLEGAL TO HAVE A CRUSH ON A BOY UNTILL YOU'RE AN OLD MAID.THIS BOOK IS SOMETHING THAT WOULD GO IN MY BURN PILE. IF YOU ARE AROUND THE AGE OF 7-9 YOU MIGHT AND THATS A REAL BIG MIGHT LIKE THIS BOOK.

I thought it was great! It expreased great comebacks!
The fun section showed great suggestions on things to do for fun. I would have never thought to stick my toes to the sky. I enjoyed the part about starting your own band. It made my friends and I start our own band. Ienjoyed learning about different women and what they achived. My favoritesaying and comeback was You throw like a girl. Just like Jackie Mitchell.Thanks! I have used it on some of the boys at my school and they werespeechless. The comeback was simple but it blew their socks off. Girl Talkis a great book about the power of girls!!!!!!!

The perfect gift book
This upbeat, whimsical little guide is one of the best books to come out of the "Girl Power Movement." Girls and women alike will love its good advice, empowering suggestions, and entertaining, easy-reading format.I especially liked the chapter on the importance of having fun and findingjoy in one's life. Highly recommended for a daughter, granddaughter, niece,or young friend! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Fiction    2. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Nonfiction    3. Children: Grades 4-6    4. Girls    5. Girls & Women    6. Health & Daily Living - Maturing    7. Health - Maturing    8. Juvenile Nonfiction    9. Juvenile literature    10. Preteens    11. Self-esteem    12. Self-esteem in children   

Editorial Review

Vibrant, combative and broad-ranging, the new voices in Read more

Reviews (27)

Inspiring
This book provides a very broad view of the struggles women face in every aspect of life.A new perspective is gained when reading the first hand experiences of those who have really struggled, as a result of merely being themselves.This book provides a lot of insight and is a must read for anyone who sympathizes with feminist struggles, or who just cannot yet grasp why there is a need for feminism.

still worth listening too
Not sure how to rate this, as all the old essays are here and just as good as I remember them. However, I felt, for the most part, that the quality of the new pieces did not measure up to the old. It wasn't necessarily the abundance of four-letter words, but what it was (or wasn't) exactly, I couldn't quite put my finger on. I suppose you could say they felt more tossed off. If it's true, as a reviewer said, that the new authors are angrier, that's intriguing. Has nothing been accomplished in a decade, or are women just less shy about demanding change? I wish I knew. Voices that ring true...
Profound, eloquent articulate, wrenching. After the first reading, nearly every page has markings, passages I relate to, echoes of my life or thoughts, or points I find myself surprised or ashamed to have missed, overlooked or ignored. There are notes in the margins of every essay, authors or other figures I don't want to forget, awakenings that came at the end of a paragraph sentence, or even mid-sentence.Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Feminism    3. Feminists    4. Sociology    5. United States    6. Essays, journals, letters & other prose works   

Editorial Review

The roster of female role models in Read more

Reviews (6)

For the teachers...
This book contains both fictional and non-fiction women through out history.It would be a great starting point for the development of biographical feature articles or biographical reports.The text is set on different colors and chunked for easy reading (helpful for lower level readers).The women featured in this book are extremely diverse so that any girl can find someone who looks like her to relate to within the text.Each entry also has information for girls to find out more about the cool woman they are reading about.

for those uneducated in the excelence of women's successes
I picked up this book, interested in some of the photographs on the front cover.Immediatley, when I opened it, I was drawn into the book.It had fabulous graphics and layout.I paged through first, reading little bits of information that interested me.That was really the extent of my experience with the book, until I recently sat down with it and decided the read through it all.I found it absoulutely intriguing.I read every "mini-biography" and after I was done, I went to find out more information about the amazing women I had just been introduced to.My curiousity lead me to fantatic discoveries, but what displeased me was the short extent of people that this book covered.Only briefly did it cover the suffragist movement, and other important events in AMERICAN WOMEN'S HISTORY.Although I know that Americans are not everything, we were pioneers in freeing women from cultural and social restrictions. Excellent material for growing strong women.
I purchased this book as a Christmas gift for the youngest daughter of a friend of the family.I was looking for something I knew her mother would never buy her, something that would make her learn about women as unique and wonderful human creatures. Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography & Autobiography - Historical    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Children's Books/Young Adult Biography    6. Women   

Editorial Review

"I wonder if everyone feels the way I do. I wonder if every girl at the age of 17 feels dumb and alone." Sam, a zine writer and Riot Grrrl from San Diego, voices a lament echoed by many of the young women who speak their minds and souls in Read more

Reviews (24)

STILL RELEVANT AND POWERFUL
OK, I read this book when it first came out in 1995 and I was 15 years old.Now I'm 23 and I just found it on my shelf when I was moving and decided to read it again.I was blown away by how relevant it still is!The author did an incredible job of collecting writings from all different kinds of teenage girls and weaving in her observations. Every time I feel like I'm judging another girl or feeling intolerent, all I have to do is pick up Girl Power and read it again.It still rocks!

What a Steal!
As a middle school teacher, I have had 2 copies of this book, and both have been stolen from me.I guess it was that good!Students borrow it and cannot put it down.One of my students stated that she finally felt a connection to someone else.She thought her experiences were unique and nobody would understand.Pursue the theives?Nah!At least they're finally reading!

Good Book For Girls To Read
This book would be really good for all teenage girls to read. Some sections are more interesting than others, but the whole book adresses things that need to be said and people that need to be understood. The book features un-edited versions of what the girls wrote, so there are many spelling and grammer mistakes; as well as language that some parents may object to. However, I think teenage girls should be required to read this book. Some of the attitudes in this book are a little out of date; but the messages remain the same. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Adolescence - General    2. Attitudes    3. Feminism & Feminist Theory    4. Girls    5. Life Stages - Adolescence    6. Social Science    7. Sociology    8. Teenage girls    9. Teenagers    10. United States    11. Women's Studies - General    12. Social Science / Feminism & Feminist Theory   

Editorial Review

Movie stars, rock stars, pond nymphs, intergalactic superheroes . . . who are the real goddesses in Francesca Lia Block's world? Real young women--the kind who ache, bleed, dance, and talk to blue ghosts in closets. Famous for her lyric Weetzie Bat books, Block blossoms in this collection of short stories about love: straight, gay, familial, and otherworldly. Very few young adult authors talk as frankly as Block about sex and some of the other yearnings we feel in this world, yet she guides her readers toward the self-respect and courage necessary to make smart choices about those yearnings. ... Read more

Reviews (72)

another great one by francesca lia block
Francesca Lia Block never ceases to amaze me and with this book she proves just how awesome of a writer she is. With her poetic style and writing of topics that a lot of people deal with every day from homosexuality and the loss of a parent to drug use and schizophrenia and being without friends (almost all 9 stories center around the lead girl character with the exception of a few) With this book F. L. Block proves that in every girl lives a goddess and we should embrace that and be proud that we are a goddess and no one can take that away from us.
Amazing Book
Girl Goddess #9 is an amazing book.
Goddesses
Books by Francesca Lia Block are always gorgeous. In Girl Goddess #9, there were stories about girls making zines, in love with rock stars, about best friends racing through life. There was a girl with a little blue friend in her closet, and a girl who had two beautiful mothers. Jacaranda, Rave, Desiree, Alabaster Duchess and Lady Ivory, Pixie and Pony, Tuck, Izzy and Anastasia, Winnie, & Tweetie Sweet Pea are all goddesses.
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Subjects:  1. Children's 12-Up - Fiction - General    2. Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9)    3. Girls & Women    4. Short Stories    5. Short stories, American    6. Social Situations - Adolescence   

Editorial Review

Editor Tonya Bolden makes no bones about it: "It's no secret. This book is about girl build-up." Accordingly, the pieces collected in Read more

Reviews (7)

Excellent
My daughter loves this book.She reads me poems and stories from this book all the time.I think all teenagers should purchase this book.
Almost perfect
Funny, witty, moving inspiring. Lots of role models of different types dealing with emotional, physical, intellectual, social challenges of growing up. Wish I'd had such a book when growing up. GREAT!
This book was a really good book showing girls how to pull through struggles, not let yourself get down, being strong and many other vital things girls need to know and aren't taught. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Children: Grades 4-6    2. Conduct of life    3. Girls    4. Girls & Women    5. Juvenile Nonfiction    6. Literary collections    7. Self-realization    8. Juvenile Nonfiction / Girls & Women   

Editorial Review

An excellent accompaniment to any compendium of women's issues, academic or personal, Phyllis Chesler's Read more

Reviews (6)

Extremely patronizing book
Chesler's tone is so patronizing here. Third wave feminists did not just step out of a cave, the older amongst us (those now in our later 30's to early 40's like myself)saw these events unfold as children and it's throughly seared in our minds. Ms. Chesler ignores the fact that in the 1987 March for Reproductive Rights on Washington DC, in which 500,000 women marched, 2/3 were then under 30 years old (the third wave feminists, this was our first major- in numbers present, activist appearence) This book tempted me to write a letter FROM a young feminist. But I decided not to, because if Ms. Chesler was determined to ignore third wave feminists, despite much activism by us, a letter refuting her claims of our ignorance wasn't going to open her eyes. Readers are better to choose books by second wave feminists that are better written and informed, like Gloria Steinem's. I'd also recommend books by older third wavers like Naomi Wolf and Susan Faludi.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...
I had to read this for my Women's Studies class and I was deeply bored by this trite and unengaging collection of essays of past mistakes by feminists of the past. It is filled with typical man-hating that feminists are stereotyped for. Trust me, if I didn't have to read this for class, I would have never read it at all.

Patronizing and inept
In this offering, Chesler, the author of 1972's ground breaking "Women and Madness" attempts to connect with my generation and inspire us to become better activists from her mistakes. Read more

Subjects:  1. Feminism    2. Feminism & Feminist Theory    3. Politics/International Relations    4. Sex role    5. Social Science    6. Sociology    7. Women's rights