A Smart Girl's Guide: Liking Herself: Even on the Bad Days

A Smart Girl's Guide...

by Laurie Zelinger, Angela Martini (Illustrator)

From the back cover: Has a bad day got you down? Is your self-esteem making you feel blue? In A Smart Girl's Guide to Liking Herself--Even on the Bad Days, you'll learn how having high self-esteem can turn a good day into a great day, while having low self-esteem can turn a bad day into a nightmare. You'll learn tips for trusting yourself, ideas for boosting your self-esteem (or for keeping it up), and how to feel your best in all kinds of situations. You are perfect just as you are, and this book will help you believe that to be true!

Genres: Nonfiction, Childrens, Self Help, Psychology, Middle Grade

96 pages, Paperback

First published February 28, 2012

Reviews

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tessa and I read this book together, and I highly recommend it. She's still a little young for parts of it (she was equally baffled by the ideas that she would talk with her friends about boys and that she might ever be embarrassed by me!), but it prompted such wonderful conversations. We talked about self-esteem, friendships, feelings... we just need to keep this communication going!

[RogueHireling · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is pretty much exactly what I expected. It is quite positive but still manages to compartmentalize girls. The book is a great reinforcement to be kind to yourself and to not take crap from other people. Worth a read for every pre teen.

[Cadee · Rating 5 out of 5]

"This book tells the stages of life from when a baby until you are a teenager. It was just like the title and made me like myself more. Good ideas for arguing with friends to make it better." -Cadee, age 9

[Pink STREAM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Are you embarrassed to attend the school band? Are you scared to show your incredible soccer talent? If your answer is yes, this book will provide the courage you need and make you the coolest musician, soccer player, anchor, and much more.
Background designs of the pages matching very well with the theme. There are short quizzes after each section, so you can test your knowledge and go back if you missed something. Some activities in the book will entertain you, so you will not be bored. Also, there are comments of girls from all over America and you will see you are not alone. There are girls who are also sharing your feelings, ideas, and comments.
If you want to be a knowledgeable girl you can read the other books in this series. They will give you different perspectives; you will protect yourself better from the world’s dangers and educate yourself to become a strong woman in the future
Good luck with your sports team, band, art class, and life, Powerful Girl!

[Panda Incognito · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has lots of great, relevant advice for girls, but the title is misleading. This book is more about building confidence and enhancing personal skills than it is about liking yourself and dealing with emotional challenges. I dislike the emphasis on building self-esteem by joining clubs, overcoming the fear of public speaking, and achieving a whole bunch of other goals that the book suggests.

These are all worthwhile goals, but most of the ideas are oriented for extroverted personalities, and the book's brief address on shyness being okay in some situations, as long as it's not holding you back from things you want to do, isn't enough to offset the overall emphasis. If this book was about developing grit, putting yourself out there, and accomplishing lots of new things, the content would be more appropriate, but the emphasis on self-esteem makes it seem like you have to do all of these things just to like yourself.

[Lina Gholami · Rating 5 out of 5]

کتاب با عنوان «راهنمای دختر امروزی: چطور خودمان را دوست داشته باشیم؟» توسط نشر ایران بان به چاپ رسیده است.
مهم است به خاطر داشته باشید که بعضی وقت ها تفاوت میان روزهای بد و روزهای بدتر فقط به این بستگی داره که شما درباره خودتان چطور فکر می کنید. این همان اعتماد به نفس است.
در این کتاب خواهید آموخت که اگر اعتماد به نفستان پایین است چطور آن را تقویت کنید و اگر بالاست چطور آن را همان طور حفظ کنید با توصیه های این کتاب در راهی قرار می گیرید که بهترین باشید و همیشه خود را دوست بدارید حتی در روزهای بد.

طوری زندگی کنید که گویی این زندگی فقط از آن شماست و فقط برای شما به وجود آمده است شما همتایی ندارید و منحصر به فرد هستید.

[Glynnis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great read for middle school-aged girls with helpful tips on raising your self-esteem, making friends, repairing friendships, and talking to parents about tough topics. I loved that it validated young girl's feelings of alienation from adults, while also reminding them that parents were young people at one time, too. Corny enough that parents will like it, but not so corny that kids will roll their eyes.

[Tyler · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is descriptive and explains clearly, "Low self-esteem vs high self-esteem vs shyness". It addresses benefits of high self-esteem and so on, but then when it actually gets to "How to improve self-esteem" it's mostly a miss. The book is basically, "Well, that's your parents fault".

[LynnDaSilva09 · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book you read is about helping girls being too and never give up on a test,dream,or what you want in life.

[Faith · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Don't be afraid to fail. Everyone gets a turn at it. Maybe today's not your best day, but tomorrow might be your day to shine."

[Sophia Clayville · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book really made me feel good about myself. It gave me a good ideas and even got me thinking about the good and bad friend relationships. I would really recommend this book to girls.

[Back · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written for 10+ year olds. I plan to go through this with my 8yr old soon. Another great book that leaves room for expansion from parents or a trusted adult.

[Jennifer Oberth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second book I have read in this particular series geared toward little girls. I think it's great for kids learning to process their day, their emotions, when and where to turn for assistance and the fact it's okay to turn to trusted ones for assistance. I think this book is healthy and promotes a holistic view of one's emotions and self, independence, trust (of self and others and the beginnings of discernment in that area), exploring emotions and personality and acceptance of self and others. I wish I had a book like this to read when I was a little girl!

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good overall. It did have one sentence encouraging girls to follow their heart which is an attitude I dislike. Other than that it had some good ideas.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

We first discovered this series when we found Yikes! A Smart Girl's Guide to Surviving Tricky, Sticky, Icky Situations. Our oldest really liked that book.

This book was fairly similar, but was more focused on self-esteem and knowing yourself. I thought it offered good advice regarding finding your own strengths, holding on to good friends, and doing good things for others.

It also has some practical tips for boosting self-confidence and talking with parents and I love that one of the last pages emphasizes being thankful.

Our oldest felt like there were several situations that she really couldn't relate to, but others really struck a chord. In some ways, I'm conflicted about this book. I think she considers the format to be a bit too young for her, but the content is certainly age-appropriate.

Overall, it's a fast read and has a good message. Perhaps the lessons will sink in, helping her to become an independent young woman who has good, supportive friends and a solid self-esteem.

interesting quotes:

"The messages you play in your brain affect how you feel. If you fill up on positive thoughts, you'll more likely feel positive about yourself." (p. 26)

"Your parents will most likely figure out that you're trying to bring up a tricky topic and will help you get the words out. They always want to know what's going on in your life and what you've been up to, but they don't want to pry. So even if your cheeks turn bright red and your heart races, your parents will be glad you came to them to talk." (p. 47)

"A friend feels like part of your family and knows you very well. You know she's on your side even when she isn't around. She wants the best for you, remembers what you like, and always cheers you on. She pumps up your confidence and helps you try for the things you want. Someone like that wants to be your friend as much as you want to be hers." (p. 49)

"You can't control the world, but you can control how you deal with it." (p. 75)

[Marya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Participation trophies might be lame, and I know there's a general sense that working on self-esteem to the exclusion of all else back in the 80s was a mistake. But don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Self-esteem (and self-reflection) are very much part of the life of any tween or teen, and this little book aims to take some of the edges off of it. It's a lightweight book meant to start that conversation rather than deep dive in it, but everyone has to start somewhere.

[Maureen McKane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book isn't one that my daughter refers to regularly (it's a good thing she doesn't often need to) but when she's feeling low, it's a great source to help her know she's not the only one who has the feelings that she does. Highly recommend.

[Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Much better than I thought it would be. It's great advice even for adults.

[Meena]

I didn't actually read this one, but I did take the quizzes. (I like taking quizzes)

[Yasmin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I accidentally came across this while searching for a book for my psych class and I liked it.I guess this wasn't intended for my age group but I still enjoyed it and took some advice from it.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good for ideas

[Isabel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This really helped me with my creativity and develop higher self-esteem. I recommend it for any girl with a low self-esteem.

[Emery · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of gems. Wish I’d read this as a kid! It’s important!

[Candide · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was forced into reading this...

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this for the library and can already think of two girls to recommend it to.