Andrea J. Buchanan is a New York Times bestselling author whose latest book is THE BEGINNING OF EVERYTHING, which was a finalist for the 2019 PEN/E.O. Wilson Award for Literary Science Writing. Her other work includes the multimedia young adult novel GIFT, the internationally bestselling THE DARING BOOK FOR GIRLS, her essay collection on early motherhood MOTHER SHOCK: LOVING EVERY (OTHER) MINUTE OF IT, and seven other books. Before becoming a writer, Andi trained as a pianist, earning a bachelor of music degree in piano performance from the Boston Conservatory of Music and a master's in piano performance from the San Francisco Conservatory. Her last recital was at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall. She lives with her family in Philadelphia.
First Edition, hardcover, Publ. 2008. Perfect size, portable little book, to bring along and read short stories while out and about. Interesting facts and useful knowledge. That said, is this really what girls wants to read? There's always this fear to underestimate girls but also a danger of going too far with what expected of them. To expect they are interested in what this book had to offer. Might this all be about telling them they are good enough and at least as good as boys? Women in history. Yes, but girls live in the todays world. What interest them is what their reality is. What they see, hear, feel and experience. All the facts can be useful in school and while doing homework but isn't that what schoolbooks are for? And what was that about the three pages about boys? "Good to know about boys"? Good intensions but so confusing it had been better to leave it out altogether.
I grabbed this from a Little Free Library and was immediately enthralled with the facts laid out throughout the book. I learned that Julia Childs was a spy during WWII, before going to cooking school, and many other facts about girls in history, science facts, and even everyday need-to-facts, like what to do about boys! (*giggle*) I plan to pass this one on to my daughter. I would have given more stars but there were multiple spelling and grammar errors in this edition.
2020 Popsugar Reading Challenge Prompt: Read the first book you choose with your eyes closed
Some of the stuff was kind of boring to my taste. There wasn't really anything I didn't already know, such as how to play basketball, etc. I liked reading about the woman pirates. Those stories were interesting, though I wish there were more of them to read. I also liked reading about the Bill of Rights and the amendments (though I just recently studied them this year) Overall I thought was okay, meaning this book gets 2 stars.
This is the best book I've ever read!!! It has everything and anything us girls would want to know. Science, math, sports, even different languages. Anything you could imagine. If you like exploring and like a book that has everything in it, then you would definitely love this one.