Between: A Girl's Guide to Life

Vicki Courtney
B&H Publishing Group (2006)
ISBN 080544193X
Reviewed by Susan Pettrone for Reader Views (11/06)

As any mother, aunt, grandmother or friend can attest, growing up is hard…especially for young girls in today’s society. Not only do the rules seem to change daily in regards to clothing, music and books, but the simple art of making friends changes as well. Being cool is a day to day struggle, and boys….well, it’s safe to say that boys are always a mystery! Thus comes into play the book, “Between: A Girls Guide to Life.” This book addresses not only the subjects of dressing cool, being popular and fitting in but it also addresses how God fits into a girls life and how He can make all the difference in the world when it comes to feeling more secure and being happy with the “you” God created. Through its well thought out sections, a young girl finds guidance, understanding and advice in easy to understand language and real life examples.

Separated into three chapters entitled: “You,” “Others” and “God,” this book is not only easy to navigate but easy to comprehend as well, for both growing girls finding their way in life and their mothers/loved ones as well.  I was especially impressed with the down to earth, common sense approach in the section about “mean girls.” As mean girls are a “given” part of any child’s life, this section offered some every day examples and easy to apply advice, something that is absent from many “teen help” books on the market today.

Though this book was written for mothers and daughters as a stepping off place for discussion, I can see how it could easily work equally as well as a gift from a loving aunt, grandmother or even family friend. The truth of the matter is, anytime you can get teenage girls engaged in a discussion concerning the subjects in this book, then their lives will be smoother because of it…and it only matters that the discussion is with someone who cares for the girl; not that loved one’s title. As an aunt of a preteen niece, this book is top on my “must buy” list for her and her mother to share this holiday season. And as an educator of Talented and Gifted students, it will also hold a prominent place on my bookshelf to help future teens through rough times in their lives.

I would highly recommend “Between: A Girls Guide to Life” for anyone who has a pre-teen or teen age young woman in their life. It is filled with simple, easy to relate to chapters and solutions and, in fact, even has several “quizzes” for young women to take to see how they in fact would react in certain situations. And it is the simply written text and friendly illustrations that make this one book that will see use time and time again. Simply said, this is one book that will be a welcome addition to any young woman's library. 

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