Be Yourself and Other Bad Advice: A Teen Girl's Guide to Unlearning the Rules

Being a teen girl can be confusing and frustrating—luckily Meredith Walker created this guide to show how to dig deep, find what's important to you, and use that authenticity to make the world a better place. Featuring a foreword from Amy Poehler!

Teen girls learn rules all the time, even if many of them go unsaid. Be yourself! But don’t be weird! Hustle hard—your future depends on it! You’re only young once—enjoy it! But no one talks about the life skill they need to navigate all those rules: how to think for themselves.  

As the co-founder of Smart Girls, Meredith Walker has spent years making ideas feel real, relevant, and approachable to young people. Now she’s written a whole guide devoted to helping teen girls discover who they are, feel their feelings, develop their confidence—and figure out what to do next. Compact, insightful, and full of warm wisdom, Be Yourself and Other Bad Advice is the perfect book for any reader letting go of the old rules to create a life that’s truly their own.
 

Meredith Walker began her career in journalism at the groundbreaking Nickelodeon series Nick News. She worked her way up from production assistant to segment producer, traveling the country to interview kids, experts, politicians, and artists for news stories. She later moved to Saturday Night Live, where she ran the talent department, before she and Amy Poehler cofounded Smart Girls, an online community that encourages young women to celebrate who they are and who they are becoming. 

Through programs, workshops, and day camps, Meredith has helped girls try new things and discover more about themselves. That work has taken her from classrooms and regional programs to the White House, the United Nations, and communities around the world. She now lives in Austin, Texas, with her longtime love, Tom, and their dogs Banjo and Farris. 

Nina Cosford has illustrated more than twenty books. She lives in the United Kingdom.