My Girl: Adventures with a Teen in Training - Hardcover

Stabiner, Karen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0316608521 ISBN 13: 9780316608527

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company, 2005

Synopsis

Here's a radical concept: Most girls are happy, and so are their mothers. Most girls are not destined for depression, eating disorders, low self-esteem, and raging fights with their parents-that's just a very noisy minority. In My Girl, Karen Stabiner tells the story of one girl's journey into adolescence, and of her own efforts to find a way to guide her daughter through life's real thickets-not the scary but rare ones we hear so much about. When Sarah reached sixth grade, horror stories about the coming teenage years began drifting her parents' way. The media reinforced the idea of mothers and daughters as adversaries, and the fashion industry promoted styles that fairly guaranteed a battle. But as Stabiner approached that supposedly stormy time, she found something quite different. The world was full of daughters who were sick of being told how wretched they were and mothers who found that the passage to adolescence was both exciting and enjoyable-despite the inevitable conflicts. Even the happiest adolescence is full of challenges, though, and Karen Stabiner has gathered a lifesaving breadth of expert instruction ("Even when it's difficult, the onus is on the mother to be an adult"), enlightenment ("Ninety-seven percent of girls do not have a diagnosable eating disorder"), and support (conflict is "an incredible compliment to a mother," the safe person in her daughter's life). Sarah grows from a child who still likes to be carried to bed occasionally into a teen mastering a demanding sport and navigating friendships, and Karen Stabiner tells the story of that transition in scenes that will be both familiar and instructive to all mothers. Along the way, she learns to let go a little and to adjust the balance of her own life. With warmth, humor, and sharp insight, My Girl charts those first years of adolescence-and engagingly debunks the prevailing assumption that they are inevitably miserable.

About this title

About the Author

Karen Stabiner, the author of seven books, is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post, the Los Angeles Times Opinion section and many other major publications. Her response to the hype about troubled teenage girls, My Girl: Adventures with a Teen in Training, was a finalist for the 2005 Books for a Better Life award. She lives in Santa Monica, California, with her husband; their daughter, Sarah, left for college in the fall of 2007.

From Booklist

Stabiner, whose acclaimed titles include All Girls: Single-Sex Education and Why It Matters (2002), tells her own story in this vivid, intimate memoir about watching her daughter enter adolescence. In a moving introduction, Stabiner discusses the "embattled caricature" of teenage girls as victims of eating disorders, low self-esteem, bullying, and more, pointing out that a recent spate of related titles have focused on a small percentage of teens, many of whom are in treatment for problems. As Stabiner says, "happy girls need not apply." In fluid, highly quotable prose, she relates her changing relationship with her daughter, alternating personal scenes with research and expert opinion. Readers may not find every sea-change moment compelling; Stabiner's debates, for example, about buying her daughter a horse may not connect with those parents facing more serious concerns. But her perspective on healthy girls is refreshing and important, and many readers will be grateful for Stabiner's humor, candor, and insight into parenting and the small moments that create the deepest bonds between parents and children. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0316608521
• ISBN 13: 9780316608527
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288