Book Review - The Truth (I'm a girl, I'm smart and I know everything) by Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein

Sunday, December 13, 2009

I have been keeping a journal since I was twelve years old, it is a great release for me. So it's no surprise that I love books written in the style of a diary or journal. When I received The Truth: I'm a Girl, I'm Smart and I Know Everything by Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein as part of her virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book Promotion I was delighted to find the book is actually a diary of a ten year old girl. It is a fictional diary but it is written with such honesty I felt like at times I was reading my own journal from years ago.

Dr. Holstein is a psychologist who has spent 25 plus years working with children and it shows. She captures perfectly the high emotions, joys, worries and fears of a girl on the brink of becoming a young woman. When I was younger, experiencing that in-between stage of life there were books that helped be through, such as Are You There God? It's Me Margaret by Judy Blume, books that let me know I wasn't alone. The Truth by Dr. Holstein has that same magic. The magic to not preach or belittle, it doesn't tell you what to do or even how to do it but simply lets you know you are not alone.

When you are hitting puberty and the emotions are flying, you don't know what to do and with the need to distance yourself from your parents you don't know whose on your side and all you keep wondering is if your friends and the other kids in your class feel the same way but of course you can't ask them, a book like this is exactly what you need.

Back in the day when parents didn't really talk to their kids about that stuff a book like this would be given as a gift to a girl then never mentioned again. Today, now that talking is encouraged and much more commonplace this book could be used as a conversation starter for so many issues that arise in a young woman's life. Boys, bras, friends and even moving could be explored between a Mother and Daughter if they took the time to read this book together.

The Truth: I'm a girl, I'm smart and I know everything read alone will show any girl that the things she is feeling are normal and that she isn't the only one in the world going through them and together with a loving parent as support this book will be the beginning of a great bonding experience and open the doors for many helpful discussions.