It's a Girl Thing: How to Stay Healthy, Safe and in Charge

by Mavis Jukes

The highly acclaimed girls' guide to adolescence by a Newbery Honor-winning author is now available in a rack-sized paperback edition. Reviewers were unanimous in their praise for this useful and important book.

Genres: Young Adult, Childrens, Parenting

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Mavis Jukes (born May 3, 1947 in Nyack, New York), is an American author of novels for children. She has also published nonfiction books for children and pre-teens about puberty. Her books are usually health-based.

Before becoming an author, Jukes was a lawyer and a teacher. Her first book, No One is Going to Nashville, was published in 1983. She lives with her husband, the sculptor and painter Robert H. Hudson, and their daughters in Sonoma County, California. She is the daughter of Thomas Hughes Jukes, a famous molecular biologist and nutritionist, who pioneered the use of methotrexate as a new cancer therapy and was one of the first to formulate the neutral theory of molecular evolution.

She received the Newbery Honor distinction in 1985 for her book Like Jake and Me.

Reviews

[Kellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some great things about this book. It provides accurate and detailed information about things that older kids (10-14 or so) definitely talk and wonder about. The tone was spot on - fun and laid back, easy to read, but still took the issues seriously. She covered everything from how to select the right size of bra, to drugs, STDs, and keeping yourself safe from harassment and sexual assault. I think it is an excellent companion to the more in depth capital "T" Talk that parents should be having with older girls. She also discusses subjects like oral sex, boys' puberty, and masturbation that parents may want to make sure kids aren't misinformed about (since again, they are probably talking about it on the bus and in the locker room), but may not want to chat about in detail directly either. It would be a nice book to have around as a reference of sorts for kids to go to in private, since it talks about a lot of things they may be too embarrassed to ask parents or even friends, or could clear up some of the misinformation I know goes around among this age group.

That leads to the big drawback of this book. It is fifteen years old and some of the information, particularly the information about HIV, is very out of date and frankly wrong. If there was an edition available that wasn't fifteen years old, it would be on my bookshelf.

[Roxanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative and well written for the intended audience. That being said, some of the information is a little outdated (particularly about HIV/AIDS and contraceptives) since the book's information is from 1996.

[Elizabeth Meadows · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nicely done. Frank and very appropriate for adolescent girls.

[Trisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good

[Radiolab]

Radiolab asked listeners for their sex ed recommendations.

Sam, a Radiolab listener, says, "I remember being ABSOLUTELY mortified when my mom took me to Barnes & Noble to pick out a book about 'becoming a woman,' which is what she told the lady behind the counter."

[Liv · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is notoriously as "The Book" which is equivalent to "The Talk".

Only this book is much better, and more comprehensive, and certainly more approachable. If I had a daughter, I'd give it to her, after re-reading it. I find the gURL book good as well in different ways.

[Erika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reread it before I donated it.

It's a cute book, with the personal anecdotes, but it definitely wouldn't be the only book I'd give any children I have. I have to hope that they'd follow her advice and "ask if you don't understand something."

[Aida]

This book was so good; it taught me many things, among them that oral sex is NOT talking dirty on the phone. :)

[Gentlereader]

Good puberty book - mostly the girl stuff, narrator uses stories from her life, some are out-dated, but get the point across. Humorous and non-threatening

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for growing girls that have questions about puberty and sex.