A Smart Girl's Guide: Knowing What to Say: Finding the Words to Fit Any Situation (American Girl(r) Wellbeing)

I’m not sure what’s in it as haven’t read the whole book. But seen my daughter practicing suggestions and was enthusiastic when sharing about the book to her friends.Think helps with their confidence as was there but helped her connect to it more.

I bought this book for my 9 year old daughter who is quite sensitive and needs some help being a bit more assertive. I also bought 'Stand up for yourself and your friends', another Smart Girls Guide. Although very American, both books are extremely helpful in giving ideas of how to respond in tricky situations without being aggressive or a pushover, or clamming up, not knowing what to say. I have recommended the book to several friends and would recommend to anyone with a pre-teen daughter. The 'Stand up for yourself' book has quizzes to help you understand whether a situation they encounter is bullying or not. This is really useful as at this age it can be hard for them to understand when they need to involve a parent or teacher and when they just need to be more assertive. 'Knowing what to say' has a wide variety of situations, such as what to say when someone is ill, when a friend's pet dies and when girls in your class are excluding another child. Really simple ideas and easy to read. Highly recommended.

Was planning to give it to my little sister to get her to be a bit more confident about speaking but I have mixed feelings about the contents so I am reconsidering it. Overall it is a pretty good book but there are moments in there that seemed questionable.For example some responses to bullying/mean comments were quite immature and could potentially only cause more grief (not all, but some were along the lines of 'if you say this mean thing about me, I can say something hurtful to you in return').Meanwhile the compliments section seemed almost too mature. I did like the idea that kids would already start learning how to give constructive feedback but some examples were a bit too much in my opinion. (for example, there was something along the lines of: ' you did a great job on the presentation, I liked your use of that color-scheme' - which is fine and dandy but might make a really young child sound too 'posh' and confuse the person they're trying to talk to).

This is the sort of book that I wish I’d had when I was younger. In some situations it helps to have a script to fall back on. It is written with an American readership in mind but my daughter seemed to like it.

I handed this to my kids. Useful information for them about general everyday and coping methods

I've bought a few of these 'Smart Girl' books for my middle daughter aged 9. My eldest (11years) has read them too and whilst a few of them are a but young for her, this one probably has a wider appeal (8-13). Although these books are American don't let that put you off; they are not saccharine but gently straight talking with solid advice to help young girls think about and deal with everyday concerns. They are great for a girl to read alone, do the quizzes or to share together and open up discussion.

American language

Good but very Americanised