Customer Reviews

Lines of Velocity:Words That Move From WriteGirl

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4 star:		(1)
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I may be a tad biased for these books by WriteGirl publications, having been featured in a number of them myself, but I find the works of the women and girls inspiring on so many levels. They unify the twisted threads of feminine identity; they various writers featured have nothing in common but their sex and pens, and they are fierce, they are bold, they are brilliant.

I keep browsing this book now and then to find inspiration. It's beautifully made and the written pieces by teenage girls and their mentors are so inspiriting and interesting. A must have for anyone that is interested in writing!

School Library Journal

Reviews: Books for Adult/High School
Chaired by Francisca Goldsmith, Halifax Public Libraries, Nova Scotia -- School Library Journal, 3/1/2008

Adult/High School-This is the fifth title to come out of WriteGirl, a creative writing and mentoring organization for teen girls in the Los Angeles area. Unlike many such anthologies, this collection includes the work of experienced mentors who volunteered their time to the project, as well as the teen participants. The result is a dynamic exchange of shared prompts, ideas, and projects as well as an obvious display of the inspired, caring, multigenerational relationships that were formed in the process. This appealing volume is broken into 10 sections: self, writing, Los Angeles, friendship, love, rants, family, place, origins, and writing experiments. The poetry and prose found in each one are sincere and personal, and one gets the feeling of having discovered a dog-eared, doodle-laden journal among the refuse of a high school parking lot. The writing is at times hilarious, as in Zoe Lateju's instructions from "Eight Ways to Get Over Your Long-term Crush": "#2 Take a different route than the usual you use to stalk him....#7 Start playing your PS3-most electronic games deal with violence and it helps to release pent up anger." At other times, it is heartbreaking as it describes the struggles of young urban women from diverse backgrounds: the drug problems of loved ones, the complexities of culture and immigration, or abuse and poverty. This anthology is sure to be picked up by aspiring young writers as well as educators looking for inspired samples and interactive exercises.-Shannon Peterson, Kitsap Regional Library, WA

Velocity" = Powerful

Let's hear it for these teen girls and their awesome mentors! What a great collection of pieces. WriteGirl is a mentoring nonprofit in Los Angeles that pairs up professional women writers with high school girls who are usually from under-served communities. They publish an anthology at the end of every season, and the result is always heartfelt and inspiring. It makes me want to pick up a pen and write.

I bought this book for my daughter who is 14 and she loved it. She feels very identified with the different pieces written by the girls and their mentors... I like to see how my daughter tries to understand their experiences, is aware and positively impacted by being different from other girls her age and sometimes has wanted to share and discuss that with me!

This is a great compilation of poems, short stories and prose from teen girs and their female writer mentors. The nice little bonus too is that there are writing exercises in the back, so if you're a teacher or an instructor, these are great prompts to get you going. This is their 5th book I think, and each one gets better, more attractive and more thoughtful!