Have You Started Yet?: You and Your Period: Getting the Facts Straight

by Ruth Thomson

Revised and with new interviews and illustrations, a guide for girls to periods and puberty Starting to have periods is something every girl faces and is one sign of growing up, but the subject is often clouded by rumors and embarrassment. This book explains exactly what periods are, why they happen and how they will affect you. It asks the questions and gives the answers simply and openly, with plenty of practical advice.

115 pages, Paperback

First published February 10, 1995

About the author

Ruth Thomson is an author and editor of many children's books. She has an MA in museum and gallery education and lives in London.

Reviews

[Capn]

An excerpt from Books for Keeps (4 Sept. 1980):

Claire O'Connor was one of the
winners in the 21st W. H. Smith
Children's Literary Competition. Her
entry That's Life is included in
Children as Writers (Heinemann,
0 435 13410 8, £2.50). She writes:
'Should this experience get you down?
Is there something wrong with me? Am
1 so different that growing up for me is
a painful experience? Someone, please,
please answer me. I wonder why
menstruation is kept so quiet. I wonder
and ask why?'
The rawness of the emotion in this sad
experience hits hard at teachers and
parents. Claire was fourteen when she
wrote down her feelings. She's fifteen
now. Have you Started Yet? by Ruth
Thomson (Heinemann, 0 434 96600 2,
£3.50) may save others from the pain
caused by ignorance. It's a blessedly
honest book which deals with feelings
as well as facts. Happily it's published
simultaneously in Piccolo
(0330261347, 80p).

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

My mother gave me the German Version of this Book in 1982, a revolutionary approach to be informed about menstruation in print! I was extremely proud.

[Sean Benson · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's a short book and VERY dated. First released in 1980, updated in 1987 and updated again in 1995 so there is still some language left from the 80s.
I wouldn't know what age to recommend this book to because it switches between scientific language and childish language. The pictures made it easy to understand and relate to though.

[Angela Randall]

Recommended in this article.

[J.C. Hart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this with my girls this past week. Informative, detailed - possibly more so than some parents will like! lol but I think it was helpful.

[Shania Nobles]

it sounds like fun