Literary Resources for Parents

 

GirlVentures recommends the following literary resources for parents. You may browse the entire list or click below to browse by subject area:

• Girls/Teenagers
• Body Image/Sexuality
• Bullying/Harassment/Anger
• Education
• Girls' Psychology
• Girls in their own words
• Parent Guides
• Cutting
• Note to Parents on our Literary Resource List

Girls/Teenagers

Baumgardner, Jennifer and Amy Richards. Manifest A: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000. 416pp.

Hersch, Patricia. A Tribe Apart: A Journey into the Heart of American Adolescence. Ballantine Books, 1999.

*Leadbeater, Bonnie J. Ross and Niobe Way, Eds., Urban Girls: Resisting stereotypes, Creating Identities. New York: New York University Press, 1996.

Orenstein, Peggy. Schoolgirls: Young Women, Self-Esteem and the Confidence Gap. New York: Random House, 1997.

*Ponton, Lynn. The Romance of Risk: Why Teenagers Do the Things They Do. New York: Basic Books, 1998. 320 pp.

* Tatum, Beverly Daniel.  “Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?": A Psychologist Explains the Development of Racial Identity.  New York: Basic Books, 2003.

 

Body Image/Sexuality

Bell, Ruth with members of the Teen Book Project. Changing Bodies, Changing Lives. New York: Vintage Books, 1987. 254 pp.

Boston Women’s Health Book Collective. Our Bodies, Ourselves for the New  Century. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1998.

Boston Women’s Health Book Collective. Nuestros Cuerpos, Nuestras Vidas. New York: Seven Stories Press, 2000.

Brumberg, Joan Jacobs. The Body Project. New York: Random House, 1997. 267 pp.

Fausto-Sterling, Anne. Myths of Gender: Biological Theories about Women and Men.
New York: Basic Books, 1985. 310 pp.

Lamb, Sharon. Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Out Daughter’s from Marketers’ Schemes. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2007.

Thompson, Becky. A Hunger So Wide and Deep: A Multiracial View of Women’s Eating Problems. U Minnesota P, 1996.

Wolf, Naomi. Promiscuitities: The Secret Struggle for Womanhood. Fawcett Books, 1998. 320 pp.

 

Bullying/Harassment/Anger

American Association of University Women. Hostile Hallways: The AAUW Survey on Sexual Harassment in American Schools. Washington D.C.: AAUW, 1993.

Brown, Lyn Mikel. Raising their Voices: The Politics of Girls’ Anger. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998. 259 pp.

Brown, L.M. (2005). Girl Fighting: Betrayal and rejection among girls. New York: New York University Press.

Simmons, Rachel. Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls. New York: Harcourt, Inc., 2002. 296 pp.

Underwood, Marion. Social Aggression Among Girls. Guilford Press, 2003.

 

Education

American Association of University Women. The AAUW Report: How Schools Shortchange Girls. Washington D.C.: AAUW, 1992.

American Association of University Women. Girls in the Middle: Working to Succeed in School. Washington D.C.: AAUW, 1996.

American Association of University Women. What’s Working for Girls in School. Washington D.C.: AAUW, 1995.

Sadker, Myra and David Sadker. Failing at Fairness: How America’s Schools Cheat Girls. New York: Scribner’s, 1994.

www.library.wisc.edu/libraries/WomensStudies/womened.htm
Note: Links for curriculum, pedagogy, research, periodicals, funding, issues, discussion lists, and more.

 

Girls’ Psychology

Belenky, Mary Field, Blythe McVicker Clinchy, Nancy Rule Goldberger, and Jill Mattuck Tarule. Women’s Ways of Knowing: The Development of Self, Voice and Mind. New York: Basic Books, 1997. 256 pp.

* Brown, Lyn Mikel and Carol Gilligan. Meeting at the Crossroads: The Landmark Book about the Turning Points in Girls’ and Womens’ Lives. New York: Ballantine Books, 1992. 258 pp.

 

* Gilligan, Carol, Annie G. Rogers and Deborah C. Tolman, editors. Women, Girls and Psychotherapy: Reframing Resistance. New York: Harrington Park Press, 1991. 272 pp.

Owens, Timothy J., Sheldon Stryker, Norman Goodman. Extending Self-Esteem Theory and Research. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 2001. 458pp.

* Pipher, Mary. Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls. New York: Ballantine Books, 1994. 304 pp.

Sax, Leonard.  Why Gender Matters: What Parents and Teachers Need to Know about the Emerging Science of Sex Differences. New York: Random House, 2005.

Taylor, Jill McLean, Carol Gilligan and Annie Sullivan. Between Voice and Silence: Women and Girls, Race and Relationship. Cambrige, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995. 253 pp.

 

Girls in their Own Words

Carlip, Hillary. Girl Power: Young Women Speak Out! New York: Warner Books, 1995. 353 pp.

Findlen, Barbara. Ed. Listen Up! Voices from the Next Feminist Generation. Seattle: Seal Press, 1995.

Heywood, Leslie. Pretty Good for a Girl: An Athlete’s Story. U Minnesota P, 1999.

* Johnston, Andrea.  Girls Speak Out: Finding Your True Self . Berkeley: Celestial Arts, 2005.

Nam, Vickie, editor. Yell-Oh Girls! Emerging Voices Explore Culture, Identity, and Growing Up Asian American. New York: Quill. 298 pp.

Shandler, Sara. Ophelia Speaks. New York: HarperCollins, 1999. 285 pp.

Way, Niobe. Everyday Courage: The Lives and Stories of Urban Teenagers. New York:New York University Press, 1998. 310pp.

 

Parent Guides

Carroll, Rebecca. Sugar in the Raw: Voices of Young Black Girls in America. New York: Three Rivers Press, 1997.

Fine, Carla and Jane Fonda. Strong, Smart, and Bold: Empowering Young Girls for Life. New York: HarperResource, 2001. 224 pp.

Gurian, M. The Wonder of Girls: Understanding the hidden nature of our daughters. New York, NY: Atria Books, 2002.

Mackoff, Barbara. Growing a Girl: Seven Strategies for Raising a Strong, Spirited Daughter. New York: Dell, 1996.

Snyderman, Nancy L. and Peg Streep. Girl in the Mirror: Mothers and Daughters in the Years of Adolescence. Hyperion Press, 2002.

Wiseman, Rosalind. Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and Other Realities of Adolescence.Three Rivers Press, 2003. 352 pp.

 

Cutting
Conterio, Karen and Wendy Lader.  Bodily Harm.  Hyperion Press, 1998.
Miller, Dusty.  Women Who Hurt Themselves: A Book of Hope and Understanding.  New York:
Basic Books, 1994.

Strong, Marilee.  A Bright Red Scream.  Penguin Books, 1998.

Websites: links from www.gurl.com
http://crystal.palace.net/~llama/psych/injury.html

 

Note to parents on resources for girls:
We recommend a website: www.gurl.com, and a book: Deal with it! A Whole New Approach to Your Body, Brain and Life as a Gurl by Esther Drill, which are aimed at girls age 13 and up.  They contain material on sexuality, and we suggest that you check them out for age appropriateness.