Book Review: The Care and Keeping of You
Now that my 9 year old daughter is in 4th grade I have noticed that she is so much more concerned about her hair, taking showers, how her breath smells, and such. And even though she is not showing any outward signs of puberty and body changes, some of her friends are and she has a new question for me every single day!!
For Christmas I bought her the The Care & Keeping of You: The Body Book for Girls (American Girl Library). Before I wrapped it up, I gave the book a quick read myself. The book takes a very commonsense approach to general hygiene and issues such as breast development, eating disorders, periods and sleep. All of the information is presented in an age appropriate manner using terms preteens understand. It addresses the basic topics of health and hygiene without getting into sexuality at all.
The book is a great reference for girls 8-13. It answers many of the questions that they are sometimes afraid to ask and it reinforces a lot of the same advice we are giving our girls. For example, I have been telling my daughter for years that you always comb out wet hair otherwise you’ll damage it. After sitting down with her new book, one of the first chapters she read was about hair care. She came to me full of new information and proclaimed to me that you should never brush wet hair because it will break it. All I could say was, “really?” and then told her that I knew she would love the book!
If you have a tween daughter, I highly recommend this book. It is a perfect reference for her and can also act as a conversation started for the two of you. I have even found myself checking the book when faced with a question I don’t really know how to best answer for her. The tween years are so unnerving for the kids as their body starts doing things they would have never expected. Having this book to go to when she wants to has definitely put my daughter a bit more at ease.
There is also a companion to this book called The Care & Keeping of Me: The Body Book Journal. The journal encourages girls to write and draw as a means of getting to know themselves. Quizzes, checklists, and tips help girls understand their changing bodies and express themselves. The book itself does not contain a lot of specific information - it is a journal that works very well with The Care & Keeping of You.
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POSTED IN: Puberty
9 opinions for Book Review: The Care and Keeping of You
Angela
Jan 9, 2008 at 10:21 am
I bought this book for my now 11 yo DD when she was 8. You’re absolutely right, and I have highly recommended it many times. The American Girl library has tons of books that help tween girls with all sorts of things: feelings, friends, REAL beauty, manners and staying home alone. There is also a body book. I got all the books at the same time, and I still see her reaching for them now and again. My DD had her first period a couple of months ago, and she went straight for “The Care and Keeping of You”. I’m glad you recommended it to others.
Kelly
Jan 9, 2008 at 11:45 am
That is a great book. I bought it for my 11 year old when she started her period last month. She’s been avidly reading it, and today I noticed she had set it by her backpack. I’m glad she wants to take it to school and look at it in her free time, and maybe share it with her friends.
I didn’t know about the journal. I’ll have to think about getting her that.
BadHairDad
Jan 9, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Yes, we’ve given it to my Nine-Year-Old also. It’s somewhere in her room, but the topics inside haven’t quite made it out into open discussion just yet. So I haven’t officially mentioned in on the BadHairDad blog.
As a dad, I had to read it surreptitiously before we gave it to her. I think it’s value is in starting conversations on various topics … but I *REALLY* wish it was a little more friendly to dads. I don’t think there there’s a single “he” or “him” pronoun in reference to parents and adult role models. Mostly, I wish this on behalf of families without a significantly-present female parent, but I also wish American culture were a little more accepting of fathers’ abilities in this area …
In our family, I’m the one with the official educational background in human biology, but I’ll have to find another way to overtly inspire cross-gender communication on these topics.
joe bruzzese
Jan 10, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Thanks Char, my daughter is also 9, loves to read and would probably latch on to his book. I’m heading to amazon now. Oh, my readers will want to know about this too so I will add a quick post to connect them. Thanks.
Joe Bruzzese
Mimi
Jan 16, 2008 at 1:00 pm
I so agree about this book it is the best purchase I ever made….I bought it for my 13 yo daughter when she was 8 and she passed it on to my now 9 yo when she was 8. It really helped them understand more about menstruating since girls are starting younger and younger. It made them feel as if they were not alone and it put it into words they understand and not adult terminology. Great book!!!!!
Kathy
May 15, 2008 at 4:44 pm
We love to see Moms willing to prepare their daughters for their first period. It was something that my mother did not do for me, so when my daughter was approaching puberty, I put together an emergency kit in case she started her period away from home. Then I realized that I could do this for other moms and daughters too. We’d love for you to visit our site and give us an opinion on The Dot Girl’s First Period Kit, it dovetails nicely with all the books mentioned here.
AMU
Jul 17, 2008 at 5:32 pm
My mom bought me this book for my 8th or 9th birthday. I thought I would need the book within a year. I just turned 11 and still haven’t needed it! The only thing in there i have to look at is hair and face! i grew five inches in less than a year…. but no signs of chest or pubic growth…. normal or not?!
LAF
Sep 5, 2008 at 10:23 am
One of my employees told me about getting this book for her daughter so I Googled it. I have
read all the posts about how beneficial this book is for girls. My only girl is older but I do have a 9 yr old boy. Is there anything out there, along the same lines, for boys?
I hope my son grows up to be sensitive to girl issues and not some jerk. Do y’all think it would benefit boys to read this book? I know when I went to school, boys were just dumb and didn’t understand any of the things that us girls had to deal with. My son hears lots of things at school and on TV. He has already asked me what a “period” is and what a “tampon” is. I did my best to explain it but I’m not sure he really got it. I was just wondering if those of you that have read it think that it would be a good way to introduce that sort of stuff to boys, also.
Kathy
Sep 8, 2008 at 5:49 am
Here are a couple of boys books found at Amazon.com:
What’s Going on Down There?: Answers to Questions Boys Find Hard to Ask (Paperback)
The Boy’s Body Guide: A Health and Hygiene Book for Boys 8 and Older (Paperback)
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