Customer Reviews

My Little Red Book

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I started reading MLRB last night and could not put it down! Actually, I did have to put it down after a couple of hours to go to a friend's birthday gathering. I met my friend and several other girlfriends at a coffee shop. Soon after we sat down, I began to tell them about the book -- they were so intrigued and it began a beautiful discussion on first-period stories that lead into puberty and eventually how we feel about our bodies today. I then went home and showed my husband and a male friend of ours and that led to an open discussion about what it is like for young girls growing up and eventually led into how we will talk with our daughter in years to come. I have to say, I found both my husband and our friend reading the book throughout the night, they would even read sections of the book aloud. I never thought I would sit in a room with two men while we laughed with an eleven year old girl as she kept her "secret" and then were deeply touched by her courage surrounding her fist period. This book is another door opening on issues of sexuality, womanhood, shame, and value of girls and women that not only speaks to girls and women but to men as well.

Books by Robie Harris and others are, thankfully, available on shelves to ably help parents explain and children understand the the birds and the bees; they are necessary, medically accurate, and attentive to the feelings of children as their bodies grow and change. But... if you were a twelve year old girl and full of questions you were too embarrassed to ask anyone, would you be all that eager to read those books, even if they were immediately accessible, and had very conscientiously been given to you by an adult you love and trust? Maybe. It would be a good thing if you did. But I think that stories are what we crave. And that twelve year old girls would much rather read ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT'S ME MARGARET. Or, MY LITTLE RED BOOK - a collection of stories from girls and women of all ages from all over the world, about their first periods.

Of course twelve year old girls are not necessarily the only audience for this book, but I came away feeling that they are the ones who would relish it the most. It's the real scoop, as though told to you by your best girlfriends, your mom, your grandmother. Because the honest stories are both all the same and all different, they are reassuring. And all are stitched together and edited by Rachel Kauder Nalebuff, eighteen at the time the book was written, whose friendly and sincere teenage voice enhances the open tone of the book. And while the stories themselves are compelling, I think it is that openness that is the book's greatest strength. Because it invites and encourages women and girls to share their stories with each other, and most especially celebrates talk between mothers and daughters. It has the potential to open up a dialogue that might have seemed a bit uncomfortable or even daunting, and to ease the way into even more difficult conversations that will need to come later.

MY LITTLE RED BOOK is clearly intended to be that opening. Readers are encouraged to share their stories with each other, and for the cyberly inclined, they are also encouraged to visit www.mylittleredbook.net and contribute even more perspectives. "Learn More" and "Do More" sections are included at the end of the book, and proceeds are being donated by the author and contributors to charities that promote women's health and education.

I laughed, I cried and then I ordered the book for all my friends so we could talk about the beginning, the end, and the real beauty and wonder of being a woman.

Some of these essays about first periods are hilarious. Others are informative, written by women who "came of age" in a much earlier time or in different countries.

I would not pass this book on to a young prepubescent girl to read on her own. Some of the essays are too mature for someone that young.

However, I have enjoyed sharing SOME of them with my 10-year-old daughter. One of my favorites is "Hot Dog on a String" by Ellen Devine. Yes, it's fairly explicit, but it was also funny, and I think it properly addressed the mysteries of the tampon that a young girl might have.

My daughter doesn't like to have conversations about "it," but she did enjoy hearing the essays I read (even though she didn't want to look at me or I at her while I was reading). She's curious, and this satisfied some of her curiosity, and instead of saying, "Mom, I don't want to talk about it!" actually requested that I read her another one.

This is great bedside (or yes -- bathroom) reading, because the essays are short (some as short as a paragraph and others are a few pages long) and to-the-point.

As a man, I was a little taken a back when I first received this book. Why would I read a book about a woman's first period? But now that I have gotten over my fears I am so glad I read it. As a future father of a beautiful daughter, I now have a firmer understanding of this woman's issue and won't simply shuttle my baby girl to her mother when this comes about.

All of the stories offer a unique point of view on the subject but it is author Ellen Devine's story that stands above the rest. Her writing is smart and full of wit that makes the story flow (no pun intend). I hope there are more things to come from her in the near future.

I strongly recommend this book to every man out there.

I wish I had a book like this when I was a teenager! It's such a brilliant idea, I can't believe nobody has put together stories like these before. For most girls, getting your period is something you talk about in private, if at all. It's embarrassing. It's scary. It's funny. You wonder if you're "normal." Did you get it too early? Too late? In the wrong place at the wrong time?

But now, with these hilarious and moving true stories, women of all ages can relate to the mix of gross-out, pride, and confusion of that very first period, something almost every woman remembers in vivid detail but doesn't often discuss.

The editor is a teenager herself, and what makes this even more unique is that she's collected stories from celebrities to your average girl, and from people who are now grandmothers to those who just purchased their first tampon.

I highly recommend these wonderful stories for everything from book clubs to school discussion groups to, of course, slumber parties. A must-read for mothers and daughters alike.

The engaging and humorous anecdotes effortlessly connect the reader and authors on a very personal level; more importantly, the theme of the book creates a strong message that transcends age, culture, ethnicity, religion, or any background. While the stories would be inevitably more powerful for women, I would highly recommend it to men who have an open-mind in learning about "the other half of the world." The stories in My Little Red Book should also resonate well with the many fathers, husbands, and brothers who may have tangentially been involved in such an experience, whether they knew it or not.

I couldn't put this book down! As a woman, a feminist, and a historian, I loved reading all of the diverse accounts of menarche, across ages, generations, and cultures. Though many of the stories are from American women (many of them from NYC and Connecticut, as another reviewer pointed out), there are also some stories from India, Turkey, China, Ghana, Kenya, Australia, and New Zealand. Going from 1916 and extending to the Aughts of this century, the stories depict a range of emotions and reactions. I definitely related most to the stories of the girls who didn't know what was going on and the ones who sought to dispose of the evidence in secret because they either didn't know what was happening or because they didn't want their parents to find out. I probably did know I had gotten my period deep down, when I was eleven years old, but I was probably in too much shock or denial, after having dreaded and expected it for at least a year prior, and had also misread or misinterpreted what I'd read in Judy Blume. Like some of the girls, I didn't realise that a period lasts for several days, instead of just seeing some blood and it lasting five minutes! (My shame, secrecy, and embarrassment over my period really only ended when I was eighteen and discovered the beautiful Jewish laws of taharat hamishpacha, family purity, and ever since then I've embraced the monthly bleeding, now a withdrawal bleed instead of a real period due to being on the Pill, as a beautiful, feminist, empowering rite.) Even though their experiences were the cardinal opposite of mine, I did appreciate the perspective of the girls who were excited and told their mothers. One girl, the author's mother, even got her period in the presence of her grandmother, who was extremely happy and excited for her. Another story I related to was "The Invisible Period," where the author got her period while in Kenya and had the evidence discovered by her mother when she got home. Unable to believe she could have gotten her period and never known it, she claimed those were fecal stains!

Contrary to what a few other reviewers thought, I didn't think any of this book to be "inappropriate" for young girls. If a girl is old enough to menstruate (and thus be capable of reproduction, much as one hopes she won't be engaging in such activities till she's much older), or is approaching the time when she will, she's not some little kid who needs to be shielded from anything that's not G-rated. Young girls deserve to be empowered by this knowledge about their bodies instead of kept in the dark or, as I did, badly misinterpret or misunderstand what they might have read on the subject. (I was one of those kids who read too much and understood too little.) I also loved the vintage stories involving belts, and was actually disappointed when I asked my mother, who also read the book, if she still had hers around somewhere and she said no. This is a part of menstrual history, and young women today should know what their mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers went through during that time of the month, both as part of an appreciation of history and to not take for granted how lucky they are today to have modern menstrual products instead of needing a belt. These stories also helped me to understand why my mother is so off-put by how I've chosen to switch to rewashable cloth pads, because for someone of her generation, that must seem like an inconvenience and a step backward.

The book ends with a list of alternate expressions for menstruation (missing my favorite vintage one, "being a lady"!) and information on how to submit one's own story and how to help young women in Africa who literally can't go to school because they lack feminine hygiene products. It also contains an index with the stories categorized by theme (such as disposing of the evidence, believing one was dying, celebrating it, and having menarche while on vacation), decade, and culture. I would highly recommend this book to women and girls of all ages.

My Little Red Book
Edited by Rachel Kauder Nalebuff
Twelve
2009

My Little Red Book is an anthology of first Period stories. Some of the entries are humorous (Hot Dog on a String, 1993; pg. 51), some are touching (The Simple Vase: Part I, 1997; pg. 71), and some are heart breaking (Blood Month, 1979; pg. 179), yet all are the true stories of girls and young women menstruating for the first time.

The editor includes a variety of experiences from the 20th and 21st centuries and different cultures, and proceeds from the sale of My Little Red Book goes to various women's Health charities around the world.

I really enjoyed reading My Little Red Book and I recommend it to all women. Read it, share it with your mothers, sisters, daughters, and friends. Share it with the men in your life, too. After all, maybe this book can take the "Taboo" out of menstruation so that young women around the world will know what to expect when their "Friend" first comes knocking on their door.

4 stars.

With my granddaughter coming of age I thought this would be a wonderful book to help in the transition...and it is!