Books about Girl Issues

Stressed-Out Girls: Helping Them Thrive in the Age of Pressure by Roni Cohen-Sandler, Ph.D. Penguin Group: New York, 2005.

Today’s society puts much pressure on girls to be successful academically and socially. Often times these teenagers do not approach teachers and parents, whom they desperately want to please, about feelings of being overwhelmed. Their stress and anxiety then turns inward. This can have devastating effects such as eating disorders, depression, and substance abuse. This book will help pinpoint early signs of stress and provides strategies for boosting girl’s confidence and resiliency.

Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls by Mary Pipher, Ph. D. Ballantine Books: New York, 1994.

According to Dr. Mary Pipher we currently live in a “girl poisoning” culture. Our daughters are pressured to be look-obsessed and loose sight of their creative impulses. This stress causes girls to have eating disorders, addictions, and attempt suicide. Through personal stories from adolescent girls and advice, this book offers parents strategies of compassion and strength to help revive their daughter’s loss of self.

I'm Not Mad, I Just Hate You!: A New Understanding of the Mother-Daughter Conflict by Roni Cohen-Sandler and Michelle Silver. Penguin Group: New York, 2000.

This book teaches that conflict does not need to be the focus of the mother-daughter relationship. Through case studies, exercises, and detailed scenarios the author explains how to communicate about loaded topics such as drugs, alcohol, and sex without getting overwhelmed by eye-rolling and sarcasm. A must read for mothers and daughters as it details how to not only survive the teen years, but enjoy them together.

Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls by Rachel Simmons. Hartcourt: Orlando, 2003.

Dirty looks and taunting notes are just a few examples of girl bullying that girls and women have long suffered through silently and painfully. With this book Rachel Simmons elevated the nation's consciousness and has shown millions of girls, parents, counselors, and teachers how to deal with this devastating problem. Poised to reach a wider audience in paperback, including the teenagers who are its subject, "Odd Girl Out" puts the spotlight on this issue, using real-life examples from both the perspective of the victim and of the bully.