Girl Power at the Library!

by

Amy Skolnik, Young Adult Librarian, West Warwick Public Library

Girl Power - it’s not just the motto of the Spice Girls. Girl Power is everywhere these days. Women are creating a strong presence in professional sports. They are combining their musical talents in concerts performed exclusively by women. Strong female characters are emerging in television shows, video games and cartoons. Magazines and web sites devoted exclusively to young women are appearing daily. Girl Power is also the name of a national education campaign run by the U.S. Department of Heath and Human Services. The goal of the campaign is “to help encourage and empower 9-14 year old girls to make the most of their lives” (http://www.health.org/gpower). Focusing on the strengths and well-being of young women has also become important at the public library.

The Young Adult Department at the West Warwick Public Library has a growing collection of titles written specifically for teenage girls. The purpose of these books is to provide information, guidance and confidence to girls who are dealing with a great deal of change in their lives. Bodies are changing as girls reach adolescence. Relationships with parents are changing as teens find themselves given more freedom and responsibility. New friendships are created and old friendships are changing as more social activities become available and teens begin to develop new interests. Wearing the right clothes and makeup has become an essential part of their existence. They are also realizing something else that becomes high on their list of priorities - the boys are changing too - they are suddenly much less irritating and much more interesting.

The main focus of these Young Adult self-esteem books is to teach girls the importance of making good choices in their lives. As they get older and more independent, teens find they must start taking responsibility for their actions. They also find that they must start taking responsibility for keeping their bodies safe and healthy, which requires making good choices about nutrition, drugs, alcohol and sex.

Why would a girl turn to a book in the library to learn the same information she is taught in Health Class? A book offers the privacy that is very important in a teen girl’s life. These books offer answers to health questions that girls would never dare ask in front of a room full of classmates. Girls may feel uncomfortable approaching parents about certain issues--drinking and sex, for example. A book is not going to act suspicious and ask the girl why she needs to know these things; a book is going to answer the question. Girls may be embarrassed to ask their friends questions, especially when most of their friends act as if they know everything already. These books satisfy curiosity about things. A girl can find out if the information she got from listening to her best friend’s older sister is really true. The books do not preach and tell a girl what is right or wrong. They give reliable accurate information about a subject and tell the girl that she has the option to chose what is best for her. The books also give advice on how to make the best decision.

The physical appearance of these books is very appealing to teens, unlike the dry texts they read in school. Most of the books read like magazines, with information presented in short, interesting blocks of text and valuable information inserted in sidebars. The cover of Dee’s The Girls’ Guide to Life looks like a magazine cover offering previews of the chapters inside: “Learn the Secrets of Self-Esteem,” “Discover Your Political Power” and “Add up the Myths About Math.” Supermodel Tyra Banks’s book Tyra’s Beauty Inside & Out offers full color photographs and a splashy, eye-catching layout.

Adolescent girls are arriving at an important time in their lives. They are beginning to examine their values, establish their priorities and form their own opinions about the world. They are deciding how they are going to lead their lives. The book Any Girl Can Rule the World by Brooks, lets girls know that they have the opportunity to strive for any goal they create for themselves. Brooks suggests a variety of non-traditional activities for girls such as running a small business, publishing a magazine, or hosting a cable television show and offers step-by-step instruction about how to do them. Cooke’s book Real Gorgeous: The Truth about Body & Beauty offers beauty and fashion advice in chapters titled “Shapes and Sizes,” “Weight for Me” and “You are Not Your Buttocks.” Cooke takes the typical stereotypes about the importance of appearance, tears them apart and knocks them down. She emphasizes that every girl and woman is different. No one should try to look like anyone else or what anyone else thinks they should look like. She encourages girls to appreciate their own bodies and create their own unique appearances.

Self-esteem books are written for girls by doctors, psychologists, social workers, and moms: women who wish that these types of books had existed when they were growing up. They use examples from real life, discussing situations that the authors had found themselves in when they were growing up. Some books use a question and answer format. The Seventeen Guide to Sex and Your Body is a compilation of letters to the popular Seventeen magazine. The letters are answered by a panel of experts. In Roehm’s Girls Know Best: Advice for girls from girls on just about everything, a panel of teen girls talks about everything from getting along with siblings to becoming an author.

The authors of these books know their audiences well. They are all written in a personal, conversational tone. They speak directly to the reader as if the author was writing just for them, using their language and catch phrases. The books are written to be understood. Health information is put into simple terms and more difficult terminology is defined in glossaries and sidebars. An important feature of all of these books is that they contain a section of addresses, telephone numbers and web addresses for organizations that girls can turn to for help or more information on a subject. The authors of these books really want girls to know that there are resources out there to answer their specific concerns. They also stress telling a parent or trusted adult when a problem becomes too heavy for a girl to handle alone.

Self-esteem books let girls know that they are not alone. Other girls are dealing with the same problems and asking the same questions all over the world. These books for girls are an important part of the Young Adult collection at the library. They are available for teens to read in the library and share with their friends or to look up a quick piece of information. Girls can take them home to read in private. Parents may also find them a useful tool when wondering how to approach sensitive subjects with their daughters.

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The following titles are some of the books especially for teen girls in the Young Adult Department at the West Warwick Public Library:

Arrieda. Sex, Boys and You: Be Your Own Best Girlfriend, 1998.

Banks. Tyra’s Beauty, Inside & Out, 1998.

Bell. Your Body, Yourself: A Guide to Your Changing Body, 1993.

Bolden. 33 Things Every Girl Should Know, 1998.

Brooks. Any Girl Can Rule the World, 1998.

Cooke. Real Gorgeous: The Truth About Body & Beauty, 1996.

Dee. The Girl’s Guide to Life: How to take charge of the issues that affect you, 1997.

Jukes. It’s a Girl Thing: How to Stay Healthy, Safe and In Charge, 1996.

Koffinke. Mom, You Just Don’t Understand: A Daughter and Mother Share Their Views, 1993.

O’Grady. Sweet Secrets: Stories of Menustration, 1997

Roehn. Girls Know Best: Advice for Girls from Girls on Just About Everything, 1997.

Solin. The Seventeen Guide to Sex and Your Body, 1996.

Villarosa. Finding Our Way: The Teen Girls’ Survival Guide, 1995.

Weston. Girltalk About Guys: Real Questions, Real Answers, 1988.

Wilber. Totally Private and Personal: Journaling Ideas for Girls and Young Women, 1996.