My Little Red Book by Rachel Kauder Nalebuff

From the Publisher

MY LITTLE RED BOOK is an anthology of stories about first periods, collected from women of all ages from around the world. The accounts range from light-hearted (the editor got hers while water skiing in a yellow bathing suit) to heart-stopping (a first period discovered just as one girl was about to be strip-searched by the Nazis). The contributors include well-known women writers (Meg Cabot, Erica Jong, Gloria Steinem, Cecily von Ziegesar), alongside today's teens. And while the authors differ in race, faith, or cultural background, their stories share a common bond: they are all accessible, deeply honest, and highly informative. Whatever a girl experiences or expects, she'll find stories that speak to her thoughts and feelings.

Ultimately, MY LITTLE READ BOOK is more than a collection of stories. It is a call for a change in attitude, for a new way of seeing periods. In a time when the taboo around menstruation seems to be one of the few left standing, it makes a difficult subject easier to talk about, and helps girls feel proud instead of embarrassed or ashamed. By revealing what it feels like to undergo this experience first hand, and giving women the chance to explain their feelings in their own words, it aims to provide support, entertainment, and a starting point for discussion for mothers and daughters everywhere. It is a book every girl should have. Period.

Publishers Weekly

These brief, engaging and oh-so-revealing anecdotes (90 in all) about first-time periods are written by a vast array of authors, professionals and youth. Edited by a freshman at Yale with a global mission (the "Do More" section at the back lists women's health and reproductive-rights charities), and modeled wittily on Chairman Mao's Little Red Book, these short essays tenderly cover the gamut of grief and embarrassment, joy and disappointment that accompanies the onslaught of menses, written by women from ages 15 to 101. Mostly, these authors concur that Mom didn't tell us much; we didn't expect the big moment even if we had been prompted by reading Judy Blume's Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret; and suddenly "becoming a woman" proved rather more irritating than momentous. These accounts are touching and brave-"The Curse, 1939," in which Lola Gerhard writes of starting to bleed cluelessly in the orphanage where she lived and being simply handed a "big bandage" and a belt ("That was it for sex education"); enduring the Old World ritual of being slapped by one's mother or ostracized, as one Indian author writes in "Locked in a Room with Dosai, 1962"; a more enthusiastic reaction by feminist mothers. Gloria Steinem's reprinted "If Men Could Menstruate" (1978) acts as a fulcrum, while others determined to break the silence rage, reminisce and resolve to banish the shame for their own daughters. (Feb.)

School Library Journal

Adult/High School—After finishing these recollections by women of their first menstrual period, readers cannot help but be struck by three things: what a defining moment it was, how far society has come, and how often Judy Blume's Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret (Yearling, 1970) is mentioned as a source of information and comfort. The 18-year-old editor recounts her story of her 12-year-old self caught unaware while waterskiing and dropped off, by her embarrassed grandfather, at a pharmacy where she found herself searching for sanitary products in an aisle featuring incontinence supplies. The women queried are as well known as Erika Jong and as little known as Nalebuff's younger sister. The earliest recollection is Henrietta Wittenberg's, remembering in her 100th year, of her worry in 1916 about sitting on a man's lap. The most recent story, from 2008, is Jacquelyn Mitchard's memory of getting the "curse" and her contrastingly comforting words to her sixth-grade daughter. Some memories are magical (snorkeling with a dolphin in the Caribbean Sea); some are heart wrenching (a Holocaust survivor's escape from a Nazi strip search); others embarrassing at the time but humorous in retrospect. For most female readers, the stories will be poignantly familiar. The subject index is particularly informative and includes YA authors and "Unusual Customs." A glossary of euphemisms is fun and enlightening, and the bibliography contains health resources, fiction and nonfiction, and informative Web sites.—Jackie Gropman, formerly at Fairfax County Public Library System, Fairfax, VA

The New York Times - Abigail Zuger, M.D.

It is hard to imagine any woman, from the most straitlaced and body-denying to the most uninhibited and body-embracing, who will not read right through [this book] with pure enjoyment, small flashes of recognition and the urge to buy it for every female preteen in sight.

Product Details