Review & Giveaway: The Care and Keeping of YOU 2 – The Body Book for Older Girls

As my girls started to get older, I knew that the inevitable would happen in our house – puberty! The word alone conjures a nightmarish “talk” with my mother that still makes me shudder when I think about it.That being said, I’m beyond thankful for the American Girl line of books that have  helped the pre-teen-path move along a lot smoother than when I was a tween.

The Care and Keeping of YOU 2 – The Body Book for Older Girls, was written by Dr. Cara Natterson, a board-certified pediatrician and Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. If that isn’t enough – she’s a graduate of Harvard College (undergrad) and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, so she’s definitely an authority in my book.

The Care and Keeping of YOU 2 is broken down into four distinct sections: Back to Body Basics, Girl Stuff, It’s All in Your Head and Your Body, Your World, plus there is a Q&A at the end of each section and a glossary.

The Back to Body Basics section is about how a girl’s body changes including sections about growing pains, needing sleep, hygiene basics and dreaded pimples. There are cute illustrations, tips, and great information for girls who strive for independence at this point in their lives.

Girl Stuff is the section where both of my girls let out screeches loud enough to be heard by our entire neighborhood – bras, hair and periods. Neither one of them ever wants to talk about major changes that their bodies are encountering, and at this point, I’ve become an “I’m here if you need me” type of mom. Fortunately, this book is pretty graphic, so I had them both read through it, ready to answer any questions they had. My twelve year old would sooner die than talk to me, but my ten year old was ready with a handful of questions. The book was a great spring-board for talking about a few things she’d heard from her friends, which I was able to confirm, expand upon, or explain what it was all really about. The illustrations are a bit graphic, but absolutely needed, as so many girls are too shy to ask questions, and too many moms (I’m guilty…) are happy to wait this topic out for as long as possible.

It’s All in Your Head helps girls understand why they’re happy one minute then crying the next…ahhh, the joys of having two girls! This chapter really hit home, especially with body image being such a major issue for so many tweens.

Your Body, Your World incorporates situations that all girls face – with their families, their social circles, peer pressure and ways to speak to parents and friends about what they are feeling.

This book is an incredible resource for anyone who has a 10+ girl in their life – it’s very down to Earth, has language that’s appropriate and engaging, illustrations that make sense to kids and can help to make a traditionally awkward time in a girl’s life a little easier to get through, with a little help from their friends at American Girl.

The  Care and Keeping of YOU 2 retails for $12.99 and you can find it at Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, and numerous other booksellers.
– That’s IT Mom Erin

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WE DID NOT RECEIVE MONETARY COMPENSATION FOR THIS REVIEW. ERIN DID RECEIVE THE CARE AND KEEPING OF YOU 2, BY AMERICAN GIRL FREE OF CHARGE TO FACILITATE THIS REVIEW. THIS WILL IN NO WAY SWAY OUR OPINION OF THE PRODUCT OR SERVICE.
 THE REVIEW IS IN OUR OWN WORDS AND IS OUR OPINION.YOUR RESULTS AND OPINIONS MAY DIFFER.