This was quite helpful and informative for a book aimed at preteens, yet highly accessible and understandful. It offers great tips and advice, especially on dealing with feelings and seeing them in a healthy, real perspective. I even used this for an essay I had to write!

J'adore! ^_^

(p.s. everyone should real Twilight.)

Don't get misled by the cover. This book is for girls at any age. . . Really.. As we grow older, people assume we know things that we are not supposed to know. For instance, how to keep and take good care of our emotions and feelings.. This is the book that will get you started..

I got this book along with the "What would you do??" book for my 12 years old step daughter and she loved it...I noticed its hard for her to communicate with us and being that our marriage is new to her and the possibility of having a little brother and sister someday is making her worried that she will no longer be the only child, a book about expressing feelings seemed perfect...She sat down with us to read through the books...THANKS AMERICAN GIRL this book is great!!!

Gave this book to my Tween daughter. I think this book will help with a lot of the problems they will come in contact with.

My eight year old and I are working on reading this book together. It has helped her learn how to calm herself down. We will be reading this book several times over the next few years.

Along with physicl changes, a young girl will be thrown into emotional changes which will be better understood if she reads this little book. Mothers love the printed work to go along with the 'little talks' that need to happen as a young lady enters her preteen years. Well written and definately speaks to young girls.

I bought this book for my 9 year old niece for Christmas. I love these books, it's perfect for validating girls feelings that might not know how to talk about them or express them. American Girl books are wonderful and I will continue buying them for others and my daughter when she's old enough. It's hard to grow up, but having books that validate your feelings or help you through it, helps! My niece loved it!!

Our family went through some real tragedy this year and we bought this book for our 9yo daughter on the advice of her counselor. It was an excellent book - it really helped my daughter understand and deal with her emotions. She worked through the book and it really seemed to give her insight into herself and how to cope with all the [very normal but quite overwhelming] emotions she was having.

This is an excellent book and I think it would be helpful for ANY girl as she approaches puberty and starts to mature into a young lady.

I am the parent of an 8 1/2 year old daughter (3rd Grade) and thought this was a perfect companion to The Care and Keeping of You. It is an easy read and was thoroughly enjoyed (gobbled up!) by my reluctant reader. I am not a big American Girl fan (the dolls) but I went ahead and purchased this book on the advise of our doctor. I am pleasently surprised. I will definitley be purchasing additional selections from this line of books.

Definately a great book for girls 8-11 years old. My daughter started having moods swings all over the place at the age of 9. Examples: crying over the smallest things, getting upset because she thinks we are...etc... We got her this book to read hopeing it would help her understand them. I think it helped more becuase she read eevrything and saw that she isnt the only one who has emotional rollercoasters. It helped her see she wasn't abnormal. Whenever she feels upset she grabs this book and reads it. So if anything it gives her something to do to calm herself down.....

My daughter started having moods swings all over the place at the age of 9. Examples: crying over the smallest things, getting upset over nothing, getting upset because she thinks we are...etc... We got her this book to read hopeing it would help her control them. Whenever she has her issues she grabs this book and reads it. So if anything it gives her something to do to calm herself down.....

According to several doctors my parents dragged me to, I am "clinically depresssed." When I was younger, and even now, I frequently cried myself to sleep.

When I was about ten, my mother bought me this book, hoping that it would "help me." It didn't help at all.

It made me feel that being weird is not okay. I know now that it is nonsense, no matter what this horrible company called "American Girl" tries to force young adolecent girls to think.

The American Girl company is a disgrace and, if the company were a living creature, it should be bound, gagged, and thrown in a pit of fire.

My daughter is 10 and can relate to the "mood swings" already....

I also bought the "the care and keeping of you", which is great...but, she said this is her favorite since she gets to answer questions. She has also pointed out several "moods" that she has had with me and thought it was nice that it was normal. And you know what, so did I!!!

Great book....my 7 yr old and I read it together. It allowed me to see & experience some of her true feelings about some things without her realizing it. It has a number of activities and exercises that we did throughout the book that really helped her open up about things she would normally feel a bit embarassed about sharing with me. A great book to read together during that precious parent/child time.

This book has enabled my granddaughter to identify her feelings and has enabled her to share those feelings with her mother. I think this is highly important.

I got this book for my stepdaughter for her 10th birthday. I highly recommend this book.

I'm a therapist and this book is a great asset to use w/ the teens/pre-teens I see in my practice. The whole series is good in my opinion.

This one of my favourite books so far. Both dad and mom found this a great tool to open a conversation about feelings and their effects and how to understand and handle them.

My daughter is 9 and has some anxiety with her busy young life. This book has helped me and her talking about her feelings and how to deal with them

My daughter is 9 and has some anxiety with her busy young life. This book has helped me and her talking about her feelings and how to deal with them

my daughter is 8 1/2 loved the book. Wouldn't put it down. Need I say more? This goes for all the american girl books

my daughter is 8 1/2 loved the book. Wouldn't put it down. Need I say more? This goes for all the american girl books

She told me that this was a great book. It must have been because she read it in 2 days. After reading the book it helped her feel more comfortable talking with me about issues that she was experiencing. I hope your children will enjoy it as much as mine has.

She told me that this was a great book. It must have been because she read it in 2 days. After reading the book it helped her feel more comfortable talking with me about issues that she was experiencing. I hope your children will enjoy it as much as mine has.

Good book bought it for my daughter she really enjoyed reading it. A+++++++++

Good book bought it for my daughter she really enjoyed reading it. A+++++++++

This book was given to my two 10 year old grandaughters and they have loved it. They look up issues and chat about them with each other. I also noticed that one daughter in law was getting quite a kick out of reading it too.

This book is easy to read and understand. It is a very good book for young girls as they grow and start and to feel different emotions and don't know how to express themselves or understand what they are feeling. This book was very reassuring to my daughter. It let her realize that she wasn't alone and that the feelings she had were normal.

I bought this for my 8 year old daughter. It is easy to read, but not childish. It does not provide an in depth study by any means. But it sparked a few conversations, so that was good!

My daughter is 13 and has ocd with anxiety. This book has brought her comfort. There are some many emotions at 13 and then add ocd on top it.. this book gave her ways to cope when she was feeling nervous. It also helps with all the moods of being 13.

This book is not just for pre-teens. I'm 13 and I read it everyday. So any one can read not just kids 12 and under. So none should thinks its for pre-teens only.Don't listen to people who says its a bad book becaues it can be used for all ages . So I HIGHLY RECCOMEND THIS BOOK!!!
Kristen

My daughter wasn't really interested in this book up front, but she quitely took the book and began reading. She seemed to like it.

This book is a wonderful quide for the social problems faced by young girls.....and boys!! How fantastic to find a book that not only makes the reader aware that the situations they face are not unique to them, but offers positive actions. It would be great if the book could be rewritten as a boy's edition.

This book is fantastic. It addresses most of the social problems girls have at this age and outlines positive ACTION that they can take to overcome it. The illustrations and questions make it very approachable, they aren't intimidating and don't give off a condescending feel that books such as the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens gives off. (Although 7 Habits is a good book if you can convince the teen to read it).

I wouldn't give it to a girl above 13, but I'd leave it on the coffee table or on my reading table. Even though it'd be a bit young for her, she could get some good information that isn't taught or mentioned in school.

Sometimes advice coming from a parent is even better when it's reinforced by an outside source. This book does just that. It's practical and yet compassionate toward the sometimes awkward feelings young girls deal with.

I can't wait to read this book, but I have a son as well as a daughter and I want to be able to find books like these for him. The American Girl series of books is great, but does anyone know of a series like this for boys?
Thanks to all of the other parents raising boys out there!
A&J's mom

I can't recommend this book highly enough. I agree with an earlier reviewer that it's really not a book for a 12-13 year old; it's perfect for those pre-pubescent 8-11 kids. My daughter, age 9, and I worked through this book together and she learned a lot and is really putting her new knowledge to good use. With rates of depression, suicide, eating disorders, etc., growing so frighteningly among teenagers and young women, it's incumbent on us as parents to give our kids a good grounding before they hit the really hard years of the early teens. This book is an excellent tool to help us do just that.

As the older sister of a girl almost 13, I thought this book would be a good gift. While the advice is pretty good and sound, the book itself and the illustrations are too young for her. At 12, she is already on to older books. This book is pretty good for 11 and under. But by 12, probably need something more sophisticated.

This book has everything you need to be able to deal with your emotions. It has techniques for you to use when you have a certain feeling that you really can't control. The advice this book gives you is very helpful, and there's even a part in the book of how to deal with your feelings when your parents are getting divorced. If you're embarrassed, scared, happy, sad, mad, or WHATEVER, this book tells you how to handle good feelings, and BAD. It'll really take you through the process, and YOU have to pick the choices you think are right. If you're confused about your feelings in this period of your life, you should read this book.

I can't recommend this book enough for girls ages 8 - 12.
My daughter has it & loves it. It is a great reference for young girls who are embarassed to talk about their feelings.