The Girl Guide

June 1, 2013

Gr 6-9-Sporting a sassy, appealing cover, The Girl Guide elbows its way into the already-crowded market of self-help and self-esteem-building books. Seventeen chapters are grouped into five distinct sections beginning with "The Journey Begins" and ending with "Putting It All into Practice." Boxes of information that rarely exceed a page are the norm and they are often broken up with quotes from real teens and worksheet pages, or, "What Would You Do?" write-in sections, activity pages, and listings of tools for maintaining an emotionally healthy outlook. Fonseca's text rolls the fun of scrapbooking and taking fashion magazine self-assessments together with common sense advice and nearly tough love dispensed by a life coach. She repeatedly suggests that readers journal or draw or clip images from magazines and paste them on a "dream poster" that can serve as a physical reminder. There's a bit of genius at play here as the author gives the gift of time to her readers-time for reflection and for de-stressing through the act of creating. Teens should not rush through this book. No quick fixes are offered, just reasonable suggestions for maintaining true north through the turbulent teen years.-Brenda Kahn, Tenakill Middle School, Closter, NJ

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