What do you think?
Rate this book
Secrets: You Tell Me Yours and I'll Tell You Mine Maybe
Following on the heels of the best-selling book The Truth, SECRETS is the continuing diary of a girl moving into her teen-age years. The Girl has plenty to fill her journal. The pages reveal a new school, a new baby in the family, new friends, a new guy and a new set of issues to face. Share the secret world of an almost-teen as she learns which secrets to share and which to keep to herself. Mid West Book Some things are meant to be shared with the world, others are meant to be kept to oneself. You Tell Me Yours and I'll Tell You Mine... Maybe is a novel of understanding the importance of secrets told from the perspective of a teenage girl. Facing a new school, a new sibling, new love, and new everything, "Secrets" is a fun read that will charm many a young reader as they face a pile of secrets of their own.
128 pages, Paperback
First published April 2, 2010
16 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 24, 2010
What little girl doesn’t love opening a diary, one of those puffy books with a little metal lock on it with a tiny key on a ribbon? Many of us had them. I did. I still have mine somewhere, I’m sure, filled with nonsense about what I ate that day, how much I hated the new dress Mama made me wear to school, and with long, deep, philosophical conversations between me and my cat carefully transcribed, complete with the feline’s responses. It’s a girl thing, I think, and psychologist Barbara Becker Holstein has done a fun job of quite accurately capturing that girlishness.
The slim book, written for girls age 9 to 12, with questions for discussion at back, is written with a font that resembles handwriting to add to the effect of reading a diary. Dear Diary, begins each entry, and the writer of the diary is a 13-year old girl who remains nameless as she narrates her life, filled with delicious secrets. None of these secrets are the sort to give parents shivers. They are the typical fare of many tweens, about first crushes on boys, shopping for training bras (I agree with the girl: I never understood this odd concept of “training” either), moving to a new house, making new friends and outgrowing old ones, coping with a new baby in the household, encountering a family death for the first time, and other such.
I wondered as I read, however … is this really the mind of a current-day average 13-year old girl? Oh, I hope it is, but it little resembles me at 13, nor my daughter at 13, nor my nieces at that age. It reminded me more of the 9- or 10-year old, because each year at that stage can be quite dramatic in its changes, physically and emotionally. One likes to think of such innocence at 13, but with today’s fast forward adolescence, I wonder if this book isn’t off by a couple years or so. Statistics show that the average age today of losing one’s virginity is 14 and falling. Puberty, perhaps sped up by various pollutants (I’ve read about toxic components in plastics, in lotions, in water, and so on, that wreak havoc on hormonal imbalances), is starting earlier than it used to. Scientists don’t seem to yet know exactly why, but articles abound on the topic. The average age of exposure to pornography online, according to some studies, is age 9 (parents: take note). Indeed, in Secrets, there is no mention of modern technology in this girl’s life, even while we look around us to see 13-year-olds with cell phones glued to their ears and iPods drumming the beat through earphones.
Realism aside, a possible miss of age group left up for debate, the book is fun. The girl’s mind travels in ways surely many of us recognize from our childhoods. Her moments of anxiety, quickly countered by her moments of sheer joy for seemingly trivial reasons, her attachments to sentimental objects such as her locket, which keeps getting lost and refound again, putting her through spasms of worry—all the stuff of American girlhood. We recognize the pleasure of connecting with an adult who will take the time to talk to you, really talk to you, and listen, as her aunt does. We recognize the warmth and comfort of young gal pals, sharing silly secrets, and the importance of those first bonds. We recognize, those of us who are so lucky, those connecting moments with our mothers, too, when we find ourselves on the same frequency perhaps for the first time as maturity begins to take hold.
There is, too, that teenage angst for American girls who wonder if they look right. Bombarded with false and heavily manipulated images in magazines, television and movies as we are in this society, one wonders how a young and growing girl cannot sink into despair at what is, actually, her normal self. The author does here a good service, surely, in giving a young reader comfort in knowing this angst is quite normal today:
“Why do I hate to look at myself in the mirror sometimes? I used to love to look at myself. I even played dress-up in front of it. Now I feel so rotten when I look at myself. I see everything. I see too many freckles on my face. I see my teeth looking back at me, not pearly white but slightly yellow with a space between the front teeth that looks larger every time I examine it. I see big ears even though my mother said I don’t have big ears. And I see fat on my body. Baby fat is not cute at 13.” (Page 60)
A first crush unfolds, and we read the girl gush about love, big and dramatic, one moment for one boy, the next for another, then back again. All part of growing up. The girl goes on and on to her mother about the boy named Rob as the two share regular dinners at a favorite restaurant. Each time she does so, the older male waiter stands by and waits and listens (eavesdrops?), which did leave me puzzled. What waiter does that? A lurking waiter will get nabbed in the tip, I would think, but I won’t go on to spoil the twist in the story with this waiter, only say that the twist left me even more puzzled. One hopes the author will make this seemingly pointless interlude become meaningful in the next book in this series (Secrets is the second book in what is called “A Truth Series Book”), because in this one it merely frustrates.
Secrets can be a valuable book for young girls, more 9 than 12, quickly read, quickly absorbed, sending its message of positivity. In a rough and tumble world, where it is not easy at all to be young, this “diary” can offer comfort and reassurance that change is normal, that discomfort can quickly enough turn into comfort, and that family bonds are always valuable for growing up with good grounding.
Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein, internationally known Positive Psychologist, is the creator of The Enchanted Self, a systematic way of helping to bring more joy, meaning and purpose into our lives. Dr. Holstein has been a school psychologist for more than twenty five years. She has taught elementary school children and was an assistant professor of education at Boston University. She has been in private practice as a psychologist with her husband, Dr. Russell M. Holstein, in Long Branch, New Jersey, for over twenty five years.
The slim book, written for girls age 9 to 12, with questions for discussion at back, is written with a font that resembles handwriting to add to the effect of reading a diary. Dear Diary, begins each entry, and the writer of the diary is a 13-year old girl who remains nameless as she narrates her life, filled with delicious secrets. None of these secrets are the sort to give parents shivers. They are the typical fare of many tweens, about first crushes on boys, shopping for training bras (I agree with the girl: I never understood this odd concept of “training” either), moving to a new house, making new friends and outgrowing old ones, coping with a new baby in the household, encountering a family death for the first time, and other such.
I wondered as I read, however … is this really the mind of a current-day average 13-year old girl? Oh, I hope it is, but it little resembles me at 13, nor my daughter at 13, nor my nieces at that age. It reminded me more of the 9- or 10-year old, because each year at that stage can be quite dramatic in its changes, physically and emotionally. One likes to think of such innocence at 13, but with today’s fast forward adolescence, I wonder if this book isn’t off by a couple years or so. Statistics show that the average age today of losing one’s virginity is 14 and falling. Puberty, perhaps sped up by various pollutants (I’ve read about toxic components in plastics, in lotions, in water, and so on, that wreak havoc on hormonal imbalances), is starting earlier than it used to. Scientists don’t seem to yet know exactly why, but articles abound on the topic. The average age of exposure to pornography online, according to some studies, is age 9 (parents: take note). Indeed, in Secrets, there is no mention of modern technology in this girl’s life, even while we look around us to see 13-year-olds with cell phones glued to their ears and iPods drumming the beat through earphones.
Realism aside, a possible miss of age group left up for debate, the book is fun. The girl’s mind travels in ways surely many of us recognize from our childhoods. Her moments of anxiety, quickly countered by her moments of sheer joy for seemingly trivial reasons, her attachments to sentimental objects such as her locket, which keeps getting lost and refound again, putting her through spasms of worry—all the stuff of American girlhood. We recognize the pleasure of connecting with an adult who will take the time to talk to you, really talk to you, and listen, as her aunt does. We recognize the warmth and comfort of young gal pals, sharing silly secrets, and the importance of those first bonds. We recognize, those of us who are so lucky, those connecting moments with our mothers, too, when we find ourselves on the same frequency perhaps for the first time as maturity begins to take hold.
There is, too, that teenage angst for American girls who wonder if they look right. Bombarded with false and heavily manipulated images in magazines, television and movies as we are in this society, one wonders how a young and growing girl cannot sink into despair at what is, actually, her normal self. The author does here a good service, surely, in giving a young reader comfort in knowing this angst is quite normal today:
“Why do I hate to look at myself in the mirror sometimes? I used to love to look at myself. I even played dress-up in front of it. Now I feel so rotten when I look at myself. I see everything. I see too many freckles on my face. I see my teeth looking back at me, not pearly white but slightly yellow with a space between the front teeth that looks larger every time I examine it. I see big ears even though my mother said I don’t have big ears. And I see fat on my body. Baby fat is not cute at 13.” (Page 60)
A first crush unfolds, and we read the girl gush about love, big and dramatic, one moment for one boy, the next for another, then back again. All part of growing up. The girl goes on and on to her mother about the boy named Rob as the two share regular dinners at a favorite restaurant. Each time she does so, the older male waiter stands by and waits and listens (eavesdrops?), which did leave me puzzled. What waiter does that? A lurking waiter will get nabbed in the tip, I would think, but I won’t go on to spoil the twist in the story with this waiter, only say that the twist left me even more puzzled. One hopes the author will make this seemingly pointless interlude become meaningful in the next book in this series (Secrets is the second book in what is called “A Truth Series Book”), because in this one it merely frustrates.
Secrets can be a valuable book for young girls, more 9 than 12, quickly read, quickly absorbed, sending its message of positivity. In a rough and tumble world, where it is not easy at all to be young, this “diary” can offer comfort and reassurance that change is normal, that discomfort can quickly enough turn into comfort, and that family bonds are always valuable for growing up with good grounding.
Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein, internationally known Positive Psychologist, is the creator of The Enchanted Self, a systematic way of helping to bring more joy, meaning and purpose into our lives. Dr. Holstein has been a school psychologist for more than twenty five years. She has taught elementary school children and was an assistant professor of education at Boston University. She has been in private practice as a psychologist with her husband, Dr. Russell M. Holstein, in Long Branch, New Jersey, for over twenty five years.
June 21, 2010
The book is written in diary form and is very easy to read and get threw. As I read thew Secrets I couldn't help but to relate to some of the things she was go threw. I use to keep a journal and write all my thoughts down in it as I was going from elementary school threw Junior High. My journal became my best friend and helped me threw the toughest times in my life. Now my 12 year old is caring around a journal of her own.
I was happy to receive this for review because I thought it would be something my 12 year old would love to read and relate to. I was right, she really did relate to the things in this book. I just didn't realize that I would relate to this book also from my child hood.
One of my favorite spots in the book is where she writes about the 1st time she shaved her legs. I got such a kick out of that because I had done the same thing when I was younger in my diary and my 12 year old did the same in her journal last year when she shaved for the first time. You would of thought we won the Nobel peace prize or something we were so proud to shave our legs and now I just wished I didn't have to do it all the time.
This sure was a really nice book for my 12 year old to read because she was able to relate to several parts in the book. She would tell me "hey mom she wrote about the same thing I wrote about" and then we would start discussing what was written.
If you have a little girl I would recommend getting this book for them. It's a story about a young girl going threw her teen years. She writes down things that bother her, things that make her happy, her secrets and so much more. This was such a wonderful book enjoyed by me and my daughter.
* I have been provided a complimentary copy of Secrets by the Author threw an opportunity from Pump Up Your book for review. By receiving a complimentary copy of this book it in no way obligates me to write a good or bad review. I am an honest reviewer and my reviews are based on my own opinion and only written by me.*
June 21, 2010
Secrets: You Tell Me Yours and I'll Tell You Mine Maybe picks up just a few months after Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein's first book, The Truth left off. Again written in diary form Dr. Holstein does a wonderful job of taking us into the mind of a barely teenage girl.
In Secrets, our heroine is facing many new challenges, a new house, a new baby sister and new school. Along with a new boy to crush and new friends to make it's going to be an emotional roller coaster of a year. The teenage years are such a crazy time of life and yet everyone deals with many of the exact same issues finding a way to connect and not feel alone in those emotional times is important.
I love the way Dr. Holstein creates a character in Truth and Secrets that is so full of teen troubles bubbling with emotion but at the same time familiar and approachable. Not a thing is lost in the transition from book one to book two of The Truth For Girls Series, Secrets is a perfect continuation. As an adult reading this book my favorite part comes near the end when Rob's Father turns out to be the waiter from the restaurant...you'll just have to read it to see what I mean but it's a great little example of how life comes full circle.
Bottom line is both Truth and Secrets are great books for girls whether they are preteens, teens or Mothers looking to relate to their daughters.
In Secrets, our heroine is facing many new challenges, a new house, a new baby sister and new school. Along with a new boy to crush and new friends to make it's going to be an emotional roller coaster of a year. The teenage years are such a crazy time of life and yet everyone deals with many of the exact same issues finding a way to connect and not feel alone in those emotional times is important.
I love the way Dr. Holstein creates a character in Truth and Secrets that is so full of teen troubles bubbling with emotion but at the same time familiar and approachable. Not a thing is lost in the transition from book one to book two of The Truth For Girls Series, Secrets is a perfect continuation. As an adult reading this book my favorite part comes near the end when Rob's Father turns out to be the waiter from the restaurant...you'll just have to read it to see what I mean but it's a great little example of how life comes full circle.
Bottom line is both Truth and Secrets are great books for girls whether they are preteens, teens or Mothers looking to relate to their daughters.
August 30, 2010
Review written by Frances Pawley, UK for Pinnacle Editing
Review of 'Secrets' by Dr Barbara Becker Holstein.
This is a lovely book, set out in diary form, of a young girl entering womanhood. Full of funny references, her hopes and wishes are laid bare for all to see. The insecurity she feels when the family move away and the dislike she has for the new baby that appears on the scene, together with the boys she loves, all shared with her best friend throughout the diary. The reader can laugh out loud to her attempts to reduce the size of her bottom and her boyfriend problems in this well written book, and empathise with her as she tries to find true love in her life. The boys like her and even the waiter at the local restaurant has an unusual interest in her!
A good read. Highly recommended. 5 stars!
Review of 'Secrets' by Dr Barbara Becker Holstein.
This is a lovely book, set out in diary form, of a young girl entering womanhood. Full of funny references, her hopes and wishes are laid bare for all to see. The insecurity she feels when the family move away and the dislike she has for the new baby that appears on the scene, together with the boys she loves, all shared with her best friend throughout the diary. The reader can laugh out loud to her attempts to reduce the size of her bottom and her boyfriend problems in this well written book, and empathise with her as she tries to find true love in her life. The boys like her and even the waiter at the local restaurant has an unusual interest in her!
A good read. Highly recommended. 5 stars!
June 27, 2013
The second book in the Truth series, still told in journal form, has the girl in a confusing emotional quandary. She's excited they just moved to a new house (she has three bathrooms now!), but she's really not happy about the new baby coming or the fact that she has to go to a new school where she knows no one.
She's learning new things about her body; deodorant, shaving, and the dreaded period. She makes new friends relatively easily and falls in love with a new boy, Rob. Even when her old friends invite her over, she isn't sure she wants to go - she has new BFF's now.
Very easy to follow, the girl confronts and deals with issues most teenage girls go through. Delightful and charming, this set of books should be on every school library shelf. I wish these had been around when I was younger!
She's learning new things about her body; deodorant, shaving, and the dreaded period. She makes new friends relatively easily and falls in love with a new boy, Rob. Even when her old friends invite her over, she isn't sure she wants to go - she has new BFF's now.
Very easy to follow, the girl confronts and deals with issues most teenage girls go through. Delightful and charming, this set of books should be on every school library shelf. I wish these had been around when I was younger!
November 26, 2010
This second book in The Girls series picks up where the first book left off. The tradition continues in this book, where you feel this teen girl blossom in so many ways.
I still believe these books are great tools for girls ages 10-13, as it answers some questions girls that age ask, like friendships and boys.
I think it is a great way for mothers to get their daughters to understand what is happening with them at that age, and I do recommend the set to them.
I still believe these books are great tools for girls ages 10-13, as it answers some questions girls that age ask, like friendships and boys.
I think it is a great way for mothers to get their daughters to understand what is happening with them at that age, and I do recommend the set to them.
June 16, 2010
You can read my review here: http://amomentwithmystee.blogspot.com...
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews