'"These are big changes, and it's sad, but things aren't supposed to remain the same. Getting your period, expanding your friend circle—that's all part of life."
"Well, this part of life sucks," I grump.'
I had a giant pimple on my chin as I read this book. When I was 12, I believed you never got pimples after puberty, and that they'd be a thing of the past for my mid-30s self. Turns out that that's not true. In my mid-30s, I still feel insecure about being liked, and I sometimes still find it difficult to have embarrassing conversations where I have to be vulnerable and honest. I also struggle with the way life is ever-changing and the pain of having friendships fade.
All that is to say, this is a book for any age. But it's especially powerful for pre-teens, where everything is being experienced for the first time. Things that seem a bit more mundane to adults feel like the end of the world when you're 12. This book perfectly captures that feeling.
Tahlia is delightfully dramatic, with a sharp sense of humor. The whole book had me laughing. She is prone to outrageous schemes because she will make every effort imaginable to avoid being embarrassed. This backfires spectacularly most of the time. And yet as the whirlwind of her first day on her period settles down, Tahlia figures out that conversations which she avoided at all costs weren't so bad after all.
There's a lot in her about periods, of course, and growing up. At one point a character observes that everyone who menstruates has at least one or two horror stories (even now, decades later, I still remember the mortification of a particular stained pair of ballet tights). As an adult reading it, his book also filled me with nostalgia for all of the pain of growing up (I'm pretty sure I had identical conversations about cardboard applicator tampons), and made me wish I'd had a book like this at that age to help me navigate similar challenges with my family and friends.
"Nothing about your body is embarrassing, Tahlia," her dad says. I hope this book finds its way to every kid who needs it.