Growing Up: It's a Girl Thing: Straight Talk about First Bras, First Periods, and Your Changing Body

by Mavis Jukes

A guide for pre-adolescent girls to the changes that puberty brings to their bodies, including information about menstruation.

Genres: Health, Nonfiction, Parenting

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Mavis Jukes (born May 3, 1947 in Nyack, New York), is an American author of novels for children. She has also published nonfiction books for children and pre-teens about puberty. Her books are usually health-based.

Before becoming an author, Jukes was a lawyer and a teacher. Her first book, No One is Going to Nashville, was published in 1983. She lives with her husband, the sculptor and painter Robert H. Hudson, and their daughters in Sonoma County, California. She is the daughter of Thomas Hughes Jukes, a famous molecular biologist and nutritionist, who pioneered the use of methotrexate as a new cancer therapy and was one of the first to formulate the neutral theory of molecular evolution.

She received the Newbery Honor distinction in 1985 for her book Like Jake and Me.

Reviews

[Tsuyu Ko]

This book is more in between science and social science than just pure social science. It explains both the physical and emotional changes girls undergo as they reach puberty. Although this book is designed for the little girls to learn about themselves, I think boys can read this book to learn about girls and help them socialize with girls. Being a girl is not very easy. Girl Power!

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great, straight fowarded, no-nonsense guide to what happens to your body as you grow up. Terrific introduction to puberty for a curious 8 year old, starting to see changes.

[寿理 宮本 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mean, it's MOSTLY a great overview of "girl"* puberty, as far as I know—I had been unaware of a few things like the opening of the cervix is called the "os"—though I find it weird

1. the author had "The Ladies' Business Club"—a time when very specifically she was given permission to observe her mother in the bathroom, to allow her to become familiar with "lady times" including menstruation

2. she goes into detail about how her mother put on a pad, but not that the elastic belt and so on became obsolete and replaced with the much more convenient adhesive pad (so much so that Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret got *reissued* to replace the belt get-up with adhesive pads)

I mean, I guess Point 2 is obvious to experienced menstruators, but at least say SOMETHING about how modern pads replaced the elastic belt thing! I know my niece (who is smack dab in the target audience for this book) would be curious enough to ask questions and get an answer about why the belt thing, but others in her age range are significantly less likely to understand why the author's mom put on the belt.

Otherwise, covers pretty much all the bases I can think of, including things like how if other people might target your private areas, that's called "harassment" and you should tell a trusted adult. The bit on tampons is a bit scary, but I've found them to be a bit scary myself, haha. Definitely has a lot of important information that ABSOLUTELY every young person should know *in advance*! (not going to get into the parents who PREFER to keep their kids in the dark, I don't need to make myself mad about stuff like that until it's something I can directly do anything about)

*or, to be more inclusive, puberty involving uteruses

[Roxanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aside from the dated (now slightly inaccurate) information about HIV/AIDS and options for both birth control as well as options for dealing with periods (there are so many more products available than there were 25 years ago) this book is a great one for 8-12 year olds.

[Sydney · Rating 5 out of 5]

good

[Nansereko Agne]

Good subjects in this book!

[Readersaurus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kids reading this on their own can skip the whole first chapter, which is a weirdly out-of-place reverie about the author's mom and her stockings and garters and white plastic belt holder for sanitary pads. Eight-year olds who read this are likely to run screaming and never again pick up the book. The rest of it is pretty good.

Positives for this book:
-- It's written directly to the kid who's reading it.
-- Jukes tells her reader: Even though you are entering puberty, you're still a kid. No one expects you to act like a grown-up woman.
-- Great on shopping for a first bra
-- Jukes presents information on molestation and harrassment in a no-nonsense, kid-empowering way:
Sexual teasing, bra-snapping, etc, are "against the law. It is a kind of harrassment. Tell a parent if this happens."
"Grown-ups who are in love with each other often express their loving feelings sexually . . .[this] is for grown-ups only, and should never involve a child."
She emphasizes a child's power to tell. Jukes also ends with reassurances about touches between children and adults that are definitely okay, and moves on to another topic.

[Brenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

When my daughter started coming of age, I wanted to provide her with a good that would answer all her questions in privacy. I did a LOT of research and, unfortunately, I couldn't find just one that included all the information I felt she should have at her disposal. This is one of three books I selected. This book gives a nice overview of puberty as a whole. It covers breast development and bras, pubic hair, hormones and new odors, menstruation and all that goes with it, etc. It has a certain soft, feminine way of looking at things. Its a great "introduction" to the subject. I recommend it for girls age 7-10. (Note: I also recommend getting "Boys, Girls, & Body Science" by Meg Hickling if you want to provide a more straight forward, just the facts, explanation of reproduction. I also bought "Everything a girl needs to know about her periods" by Jane Feinmann because I felt it was a topic that also needed more in depth information. However, the latter book is more suited for slightly older girls.)

[Sapphyria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn't a bad little book for girls about growing up. My step-daughter's mother borrowed it from the library to read, then she let my 10 y/o step-daughter read it. It came to our house and both my husband (father of the child) and myself read the book, as well. So we are now all on the same page and my step-daughter is very comfortable talking to me about anything that was in the book. She even had parts of it memorized and when I got within a few pages of a part she remembered, she would tell me to be on the look-out for the paragraph on "such and such."

This book did it's job, as far as I'm concerned.

[FaithToshi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this to my daughter now that she is 8.I was never taught about periods,bras etc. so I enjoyed reading a book where someone could help me educate my child. but the only thing I didn't like is there are no pictures or colorful ones. some pages have sketches but that's it. it's a good read and informative.

[Ginaj · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been using this to help teach my daughter about puberty. I like the voice in which it is written and the emphasis on being n charge of your own body.

[RogueHireling · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmmm, I dont like the whole club thing. Also it seems like more topics should have been covered.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read it yet but I think it would be very good for my daughter

[Rampion or Moon (either name is fine) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

A great book explaining puberty to young girls.

Read for LIS 5564 Info Needs of Children - Spring 2017 FSU