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Please Read (if at all possible): The Girl Project
Female adolescence through the eyes of teenage girls for a teenage-girl audience. This empowering volume introduces the reader to an insider’s view of teenage girlhood. Through their participation in The Girl Project—created in 2007 by Kate Engelbrecht to explore the personal realities of modern female adolescence—teenage girls contributed intimate, heartwarming, diarylike text entries and photographs that capture their personal and private moments. To date, over 5,000 girls between the ages of 13 and 18 have sent in photographs, along with anonymously completed questionnaires that communicate their view of themselves and the world around them.
This collection of images and text details the private and personal lives of adolescents, which together reveal an amazing narrative communicated as only teenage girls know and understand. The girls touch upon universal issues, such as their struggles with self-confidence and body image, relationships with peers and family, and their dissatisfaction with how they are presented by the media and in popular culture.
Teen readers will be rewarded with a wonderful set of sincere, deep messages and the reassurance that they are not alone.
This collection of images and text details the private and personal lives of adolescents, which together reveal an amazing narrative communicated as only teenage girls know and understand. The girls touch upon universal issues, such as their struggles with self-confidence and body image, relationships with peers and family, and their dissatisfaction with how they are presented by the media and in popular culture.
Teen readers will be rewarded with a wonderful set of sincere, deep messages and the reassurance that they are not alone.
224 pages, Paperback
First published August 30, 2011
3 people are currently reading
314 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
April 26, 2020
I'm not a teen anymore, but sometimes life blows you a hit and you feel like a 16-years-old-girl again. It was very insightful, beautiful, painful and fun to read this book. It's filled with different ideas from different girls, their photos, words, dreams, fears and hopes.
November 20, 2014
Oh this book reminds me so achingly of high school. It's pretty hilarious to see that so many teenage girls want to be photographers when they grow up (even highly specific photographer, such as those who work for the Denver Broncos) because from about age 14-17, that's exactly what I wanted to be too!
September 20, 2011
Precis: One hundred and sixty-four teenaged girls are credited as contributing to this book. They took pictures of their lives with disposable cameras and filled out a thirteen-question survey about what it's like to be them. The pictures and surveys are reproduced here in this anthology, literally illustrating what it's like to be a teenaged girl in 2011. (The surveys were due January 31st) You'll find pictures of girls, of flowers, of stuffed animals, and of boys. You'll find copies of their answers to those thirteen questions, a poem, and entire surveys reproduced so that you can see the girls. You never see a name with a picture or a name with a survey.
Verdict: As someone who spends at least ten hours a week mentoring teenage girls, I found this empowering. This was important work. Not only does it prove that teens know more than society gives them credit for, but it proves that they do not enter adulthood jaded with broken spirits. We do that to them.
It highlights their strengths, their insecurities, their fears and the things they're proud of. It made me cry. There is one particular set of photos in the book, one on the left where a girl is pinching her stomach, showing her extra skin. On the right, there is a girl, the same size as the girl on the left, who is showing the same amount of stomach, who has written "I Love My Body," on it. It was the most powerful part of the whole experience for me.
This book is important for teens and adults alike. Adults, so you can see where teens stand, and teens, so that you can know that you are not alone. No matter what you're experiencing, as a parent, as a teenager, you are not alone. There is someone else out there that sees the world similarly to you and you will find strength in knowing that there are dreams, fears, and goals the same as yours. No matter your age. This is a book to be turned and flipped. It's changing orientations done on purpose to illustrate a shift in point of view and paradigm. This is poignant. This is powerful. This is girl power at its apex. Put it on your to-acquire list. I promise you won't be sorry.
Verdict: As someone who spends at least ten hours a week mentoring teenage girls, I found this empowering. This was important work. Not only does it prove that teens know more than society gives them credit for, but it proves that they do not enter adulthood jaded with broken spirits. We do that to them.
It highlights their strengths, their insecurities, their fears and the things they're proud of. It made me cry. There is one particular set of photos in the book, one on the left where a girl is pinching her stomach, showing her extra skin. On the right, there is a girl, the same size as the girl on the left, who is showing the same amount of stomach, who has written "I Love My Body," on it. It was the most powerful part of the whole experience for me.
This book is important for teens and adults alike. Adults, so you can see where teens stand, and teens, so that you can know that you are not alone. No matter what you're experiencing, as a parent, as a teenager, you are not alone. There is someone else out there that sees the world similarly to you and you will find strength in knowing that there are dreams, fears, and goals the same as yours. No matter your age. This is a book to be turned and flipped. It's changing orientations done on purpose to illustrate a shift in point of view and paradigm. This is poignant. This is powerful. This is girl power at its apex. Put it on your to-acquire list. I promise you won't be sorry.
October 18, 2021
A very unique book. I loved the use of photography.
September 22, 2011
I gave this 3 stars instead of 2 because it's possible that teenage girls might get something positive out of it. Personally, I wasn't impressed. The bulk of Please Read is Facebook-esque self portraits coupled with not-very-enlightening survey answers, and the theme of the book seems to be that not all teenage girls are the same. Well, no freakin' duh. There were a few powerful parts, but overall this was a shallow treatment of what should have been a fascinating subject.
December 2, 2011
In text and images, teenage girls reflect on their anxieties, hopes and fears, interests, likes and dislikes, self-worth, values and more. The book touches upon such subjects as body image, dating, friendships, media stereotypes, the need for belonging, and school. Celebratory, poignant, sad, funny, shocking, painfully honest, insightful, and revealing. I can't imagine any teenage girl not wanting to look at this book.
November 4, 2012
Tenía grandes esperanzas en este libro, es entretenido pero hasta ahí llega. Un grupo de adolescentes contesta a ciertas preguntas sobre lo que representa ser adolescente, la idea me parece genial. El libro es como un documental en fotos y las respuestas de las jóvenes, pero es muy difícil de leer en cuanto su formato, pues no tiene una estructura definida.
December 5, 2011
Kate Engelbrecht sent disposable cameras to teenage volunteers across the country with the request that they shoot what was important to them – their friends, their environments and representations of their aspirations.
Loved the idea.
Loved the book.
Loved the idea.
Loved the book.
May 17, 2017
As someone whose photo and questionnaire was published in this book, I am so happy to finally have my very own copy of it! Looking at my photo and answers reminded me of a simpler time, but also of a time of great change in my life. Being a part of this project helped me to show a little bit of myself to everyone who has read this book. Because this the book was originally started in 2007, I forgot all about it. I remember getting an email saying my photo and questionnaire were chosen to be in the book, but after that I heard nothing! In 2014 I decided to look the project up again to see what became of it and was surprised to find the book was published!! I took a look and I love it. It's a beautiful representation of what teenage life was like during that time for girls. Amazingly awesome. Thank you Kate Engelbrecht for the opportunity to be a part of this amazing project!
February 6, 2023
This is a hard book to review. It's not a very *readable* book, like from front to back. It's more a zine, I think, where you pick up and casually flip through it to get a glimpse into a girl's experience and perspective. There are photos, some of which have been organized to max reaction (well-done!) and some to accompany related writing from girls. All the girls' responses are offered in their original handwriting, mistakes and all, so the parts that include lots of writing from lots of girls look kind of like a scrapbook.
That being said, the photos and responses are both so much a snapshot of the times (5+ years ago for my reading) and also so universal that a fair amount of these photos and responses could have been from girls in the 80s or 90s or the 2030s, probably.
That being said, the photos and responses are both so much a snapshot of the times (5+ years ago for my reading) and also so universal that a fair amount of these photos and responses could have been from girls in the 80s or 90s or the 2030s, probably.
August 9, 2019
A poignant, timeless book that will make every teenage girl feel as if they are not quite so alone. Despite it being written during 2007-2011, I found myself able to relate to 100% of the raw, brave, and honest questionnaire responses shared by the hundreds of girls who participated in The Girl Project. Almost made me cry.
April 24, 2020
Es muy bonito este libro, me alegro mucho de haberlo encontrado de adolescente (en un urban outfitters) y de haberme acordado hoy de él, que estaba muy arriba en la estantería.
March 20, 2021
Eye-opener that should be read by parents. Any teen who reads it will be reminded that they are not alone: others share their happiness, pain, fears. Wow, wow, wow. Totally empowering!
September 1, 2023
This book made me feel less alone. Thanks for the comfort.
September 19, 2011
The most amazing thing about this amazing book is that it got published at all. Kate Engelbrecht, who majored in sociology but didn't actually want to be a sociologist, then worked in advertising but did not actually want to do that either, reinvented herself as a photographer. After some years spent mulling it all over, she created The Girl Project out of her two passions: photography and girlhood. Girls, teens, chicks (call us what you want) are fortunate that Kate turned her project into a book.
Kate's quest was to understand female adolescents by going to the source. In 2007, she began sending a disposable camera and a questionnaire to teen girls all over the United States with requests to fill the camera with pictures representing the girl's life, fill out the questionnaire, and send both back to Kate. Anonymity was promised.
Eventually 5000 young adult females 13 to 18, of varied backgrounds, faiths, and races, sent in their photos and answers. Kate had developed her questionnaire by adapting the Proust Questionnaire, a nineteenth century personality profile made famous by Marcel Proust who used the list several times over his life to record his tastes, views and aspirations. Kate's version asks such questions as "What adjectives best describe you? What is the hardest part about being a teenager? Tell me one thing about you that nobody seems to get?"
Any female reader of The Girl Project will find herself in this book. Any young adult female reader will feel less alone and more herself. If I were a teenage girl, I would get all my friends to answer the questions and take pictures of themselves so we could make our own book. I will be giving copies to all the female teens I know (and maybe some male teens) as well as moms and grandmothers of teens.
Reading what these young women have to say about what life is like for them socially and privately is a sobering experience, because of how much most of them keep inside. Almost universally they are unhappy with how the media portrays teen girls at the same time that they struggle to live up to the body and fashion images they are presented with at every turn. The most wonderful answers are to the question, "What are your favorite qualities in a person?" Those qualities are a recipe for a better world.
The layout is perfect. Some pages show the entire questionnaire filled out in the girl's own handwriting. Many are whole page photos of girls with their friends, in their rooms, or showing us what they love and how they feel. Since not every questionnaire could be included, there are pages full of the answers from just one question, again in each individual's handwriting. All of it is beautiful and so expressive. You must see the book to fully comprehend and appreciate what a treasure it is.
Kate's quest was to understand female adolescents by going to the source. In 2007, she began sending a disposable camera and a questionnaire to teen girls all over the United States with requests to fill the camera with pictures representing the girl's life, fill out the questionnaire, and send both back to Kate. Anonymity was promised.
Eventually 5000 young adult females 13 to 18, of varied backgrounds, faiths, and races, sent in their photos and answers. Kate had developed her questionnaire by adapting the Proust Questionnaire, a nineteenth century personality profile made famous by Marcel Proust who used the list several times over his life to record his tastes, views and aspirations. Kate's version asks such questions as "What adjectives best describe you? What is the hardest part about being a teenager? Tell me one thing about you that nobody seems to get?"
Any female reader of The Girl Project will find herself in this book. Any young adult female reader will feel less alone and more herself. If I were a teenage girl, I would get all my friends to answer the questions and take pictures of themselves so we could make our own book. I will be giving copies to all the female teens I know (and maybe some male teens) as well as moms and grandmothers of teens.
Reading what these young women have to say about what life is like for them socially and privately is a sobering experience, because of how much most of them keep inside. Almost universally they are unhappy with how the media portrays teen girls at the same time that they struggle to live up to the body and fashion images they are presented with at every turn. The most wonderful answers are to the question, "What are your favorite qualities in a person?" Those qualities are a recipe for a better world.
The layout is perfect. Some pages show the entire questionnaire filled out in the girl's own handwriting. Many are whole page photos of girls with their friends, in their rooms, or showing us what they love and how they feel. Since not every questionnaire could be included, there are pages full of the answers from just one question, again in each individual's handwriting. All of it is beautiful and so expressive. You must see the book to fully comprehend and appreciate what a treasure it is.
January 12, 2012
It makes me feel old to say, but lately I have started to have the mindset of "what is this world coming to" and "what the hell is wrong with kids today?" This book was reassuring in that it seems that there are way more normal kids out there than there are bad ones. I felt like I was back in high school reading their thoughts, and these girls' words rolled around in my brain for a while after I was finished with the book. The idea of this book is interesting. I can't help but to feel like the girls who responded were not the "stereotypical popular girl" type. I just don't imagine one of them sitting down and filling out these surveys. A question asked of these girls was how do you feel about the way teenage girls are portrayed in the media, and almost every girl was not happy with it, most feeling that the media's perception of them was completely wrong. Here is where I wish that this book had dug deeper, let these girls explain to us what their idea of a typical teenage girl is. One thing that struck me as somewhat odd was the question of what the ideal profession of these girls was. Of the 73 responses I counted, 37 were "photographer." 51% of the girls asked want to grow up to be photographers. I guess every generation has their "it" profession, and it seems like we will soon have an abundance of shutter bugs. I wish this book had pushed further, but I have the feeling that the "author" stumbled onto an idea that got too big, too fast and she wasn't fully able to wrap everything together. This book gives me hope though, that future generations aren't doomed to fail due to their obsessions with vanity, and will make me look at teenage girls a little bit differently.
November 8, 2011
I was SO excited to read this book when I first heard about it. That level of excitement usually brings disappointment, and perhaps an unfair rating as well. Please keep that in mind if you're reading my review. :) I like the idea of the book, and reading the words of today's teenage girls was somewhat reassuring, but I think the survey style prohibited the girls from talking about whatever was really on their minds. At the end of the book, I was left feeling like the surveys only scratched the surface of what's really going on.
With that said though, there were things I liked very much about the book. Similar to the author, I often have "what is the world coming to" thoughts when I see teenage girls portrayed in the media. This book reassured me that things are not so different from when I was a teen, and that perhaps my son does have a chance at what I would consider a "normal" journey into adulthood that doesn't involve crazy promiscuity, drug use, binge drinking, etc. I could relate to these girls... and not just in a nostalgic way. No matter how old you get, how much you mature, some of those fears you have as a teenage girl never leave you. Perhaps that is why the passing of time and aging are so surreal.
With that said though, there were things I liked very much about the book. Similar to the author, I often have "what is the world coming to" thoughts when I see teenage girls portrayed in the media. This book reassured me that things are not so different from when I was a teen, and that perhaps my son does have a chance at what I would consider a "normal" journey into adulthood that doesn't involve crazy promiscuity, drug use, binge drinking, etc. I could relate to these girls... and not just in a nostalgic way. No matter how old you get, how much you mature, some of those fears you have as a teenage girl never leave you. Perhaps that is why the passing of time and aging are so surreal.
October 26, 2011
The 411:
Wow! Amazing book featuring personal photos and comments from girls 13-18 years old. The Girl Project was started by Kate Engelbrecht who sent 5,000 Kodak, single use cameras and questionnaire to girls who responded to her shout out!
Reading through the book was like taking a page out of my own diary. These girls were honest, sincere, smart, witty, scared, angry, pissed, compelling, brave and more. There were so many I wanted to high five but just as many that I wanted to hug! Above all, their voices were the same; regardless of their upbringing, color, location, age, foundation, they all want the same things; growth, challenge, love, friendship, opportunity, etc resonated from their words. Very empowering!
I believe this to be a book that all girls, parents, teachers, counselors, doctors, should read and learn from. This is an intimate glance into what our daughters are thinking and feeling.
Amazing resource and a wonderful compilation of our future woman!
Beautiful Book!!!!
August 6, 2019
I haven't even finished the book and I am absolutely loving it! This book is a compilation of images and words from 13 to 18 year old girls from around the country (USA). They are of different races, backgrounds, sexuality, religions, etc. Each girl was sent a camera and a survey to fill out and return to Kate Engelbrecht. It gives the reader a behind-the-scenes view of teenage girls--who they really are, their fears, hopes, dreams, and more.
While reading this book, I found myself constantly saying, 'I felt like that when I was a teenager' and sometimes I still feel like some of the girls in the book do. I laughed, I cried and I really contemplated their words and images. It will no doubt be a book that will stay with me, and one that I believe every teenage girl should read so they can realize that they are not alone, and other girls do feel like they do. If there were any teenage girls in my family right now, I'd be buying them a copy ASAP.
This review is also posted on the LibraryThing website.
While reading this book, I found myself constantly saying, 'I felt like that when I was a teenager' and sometimes I still feel like some of the girls in the book do. I laughed, I cried and I really contemplated their words and images. It will no doubt be a book that will stay with me, and one that I believe every teenage girl should read so they can realize that they are not alone, and other girls do feel like they do. If there were any teenage girls in my family right now, I'd be buying them a copy ASAP.
This review is also posted on the LibraryThing website.
March 26, 2012
This one's hard to classify. Engelbrecht had a good selection of teenage girls from very young to young adults write answers to searching questions. The comments and answers are published as is--handwriting and misspellings and all--in sections in the book. They give a really good picture of what teen girls think and believe about themselves. (As a teacher, I found no surprises, really.) The book shows the vulnerabilities, the dreams, the strengths, the fantasies, the terrible weaknesses and wonderful strengths of these girls. However, the comments, etc, repeat (same ones in different places in the same section sometimes) and include some material that may jolt the innocent with their language and details. Readers also need to be aware as they read that these comments are the girls' perceptions of themselves. Those of us who deal with teenage girls realize that sometimes the assessments do not necessarily reflect reality, but may be skewered either negatively or positively.
March 15, 2012
Who are the teenage girls in our lives? Our daughters, our sisters, our friends, our foes; defined mostly by others, not often by themselves. In 2007, Kate Engelbrecht started The Girl Project by sending cameras and questionnaires out to teenage girls throughout the U.S. She asked the girls to communicate their view of themselves and the world around them. Please Read (if at all possible) is the book that resulted from this intense, insightful project. The pictures and text inside this book provide amazing images that will stay with you for days. “I’m a dreamer, I’m a thinker, I want to go places, and see the world” is the caption written beneath a picture of a lone girl lying on a residential street. Haunting.
The Girl Project is ongoing - teenage girls can still get cameras to document their lives. Go to thegirlproject.org for more information.
The Girl Project is ongoing - teenage girls can still get cameras to document their lives. Go to thegirlproject.org for more information.
February 21, 2012
Been reading this in bits and pieces for the past couple months. This isn't so much a book as a combination art project and sociology project. Give a bunch of teenage girls surveys about themselves, their beliefs, etc., and a disposable camera. Find out what teenage girls in the US look like, sound like, and believe.
I kinda kept tearing up a little while I was checking out this book, because it's abundantly clear that while I may sometimes feel confused by and disconnected from some of the young women I meet, they are actually still going through the exact same stuff I did. Everything here was so familiar, and these girls reminded me just how terrifying and awesome and heartbreaking it is to be an adolescent girl.
This is a really cool book.
I kinda kept tearing up a little while I was checking out this book, because it's abundantly clear that while I may sometimes feel confused by and disconnected from some of the young women I meet, they are actually still going through the exact same stuff I did. Everything here was so familiar, and these girls reminded me just how terrifying and awesome and heartbreaking it is to be an adolescent girl.
This is a really cool book.
March 25, 2012
I wanted to love this book. I definitely loved the concept. Yes, girls are each different and need to be looked at as individuals. Many of the same anxieties that my friends and I had shared in high school and junior high school are not that different though. And I wanted to be even more impressed with this generation, so maybe it is shallow of me, but I had a hard time getting past the spelling errors so that the content could reach me on a deeper level. One thing I really, really liked was that the author maintained the original handwriting of the girls, so for anyone who studies handwriting analysis, this is fascinating as a component in addition to the information the girls willingly share.
October 12, 2011
This book is the result of "The Girl Project," a questionnaire sent to teen girls along with a disposable camera. The questionnaire asked the girls a few open-ended questions about what it is like to be a teenager today, and how they feel about how teenagers are portrayed in our culture. A lot of the answers were similar to what I remember feeling some 15 years ago (!). Their answers are mixed up and displayed - in their original handwriting - alongside the photos they took. A list of their names appears at the end of the book. This is pretty cool for girls that feel the pressure of being a teen (especially those who feel like they don't fit in).
November 12, 2012
I really like this concept as a form soliciting authentic feedback directly from teenaged girls. I am a little confused as to how the girls were selected because it seems that many of the answers were similar in questions relating to dream jobs, who they are, how they describe themselves and something that people don't know about them. I wonder if the feedback was from the same geographic region because of the responses about traveling and getting out of their small towns because of their sexuality. This would be a great book study for at-risk teens. I think that people will read this, but the cover limits the audience to girls. A YES vote for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 5, 2013
This book had an ambitious goal and broad potential. Engelbrecht invited teen girls to document their lives in photographs and to complete a questionaire about themselves.
Fascinating images emerged that carve a window into their worlds. The narrative consisted solely of photocopies of the girls' actual written responses. I believe the book missed its mark because of the absence of any synthesis or overview. What a lost opportunity to cull a deeper understaning about trends, common thought lines and ideas about how to inerpret the data so it could become a resource and not simply a catalogue.
Fascinating images emerged that carve a window into their worlds. The narrative consisted solely of photocopies of the girls' actual written responses. I believe the book missed its mark because of the absence of any synthesis or overview. What a lost opportunity to cull a deeper understaning about trends, common thought lines and ideas about how to inerpret the data so it could become a resource and not simply a catalogue.
December 9, 2011
This was a fun and funky read. I loved the combination of the photos and the words. They spoke volumes about the teens who wrote them. One thing I didn't like is that some of the questionnaire answers were repeated a couple of times in the book. They would be on the original sheet, and then in some of the groups of answers. Other than that though, I really think every girl should own a copy of this book, or at least be able to look at it from their library. It's a real girl power mood-lifter, even if some of the girls aren't quite as confident.
April 22, 2012
What a fascinating read! This book is kind of like a documentary in a book. The author sent out questionnaires to thousands of teenage girls across the U.S. to get their thoughts and opinions on a wide variety of subjects. This book has those as well as pictures of the girls.
I found it a fascinating read as a look into these girls' lives, experiences and what they struggle with. It brought back my own high school experience and made me realize I struggle with similar things to these girls, even though I'm an adult. I would highly recommend this book.
I found it a fascinating read as a look into these girls' lives, experiences and what they struggle with. It brought back my own high school experience and made me realize I struggle with similar things to these girls, even though I'm an adult. I would highly recommend this book.
May 8, 2012
This book made me think about high school and my teenage years, and I'm not sure I appreciated them while they were going on. Maybe I just don't remember, but I don't know if I was ever as carefree and self-aware as the girls seemed to be in this book. Maybe I was just an Old Soul even then, Im not sure. But it was really heartening to read this book and see that teenage girls are still fighting against the stereotypes out there and there is a whole girl culture thriving besides the whole MTV-teen-mom thing.
December 5, 2013
Meh
Round up to 2 stars
Not a novel (which is fine). It's a collection of 'my life' photos done by teenage girls plus a compilation of their answers to survey questions. Interesting idea, and I liked the layout and that they seemed to keep the original handwriting, but wished the attention to detail in compilation had been stronger; there were several instances where the same snippet from the same survey was listed multiple times in the book.
Round up to 2 stars
Not a novel (which is fine). It's a collection of 'my life' photos done by teenage girls plus a compilation of their answers to survey questions. Interesting idea, and I liked the layout and that they seemed to keep the original handwriting, but wished the attention to detail in compilation had been stronger; there were several instances where the same snippet from the same survey was listed multiple times in the book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews