From Publishers Weekly
A baker's dozen short stories, Period Pieces: Stories for Girls, ed. by Erzsi Deak and Kristin Embry Litchman, focuses on-you guessed it-the facts, the fears and, sometimes, the sheer embarrassment of menstruation. Contributors include Newbery Medalist Linda Sue Park ("White Pants"); Dian Curtis Regan ("Living on Chocolate"); and Rita Williams-Garcia ("Making Do").
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 4-8-Aptly titled, these 13 stories describe girls' first experiences with either getting their periods or learning about them. Though there are myriad books about menstruation, few, if any, fiction collections mark this rite of passage. Among the contributors are Johanna Hurwitz, Rita Williams-Garcia, and Jane Kurtz. Though the selections share a common theme, they reflect a multitude of settings, cultures, families, and circumstances. In "I Don't Wanna Hear It," Litchman describes one girl's initial disgust and denial upon learning about menstruation. In Linda Sue Park's "White Pants," a seventh grader describes the humiliating tell-tale stain on her pants that announces her first menses to the entire student body. The next day she shares her surprise, relief, and, finally, disappointment at how quickly the incident is forgotten. Three generations of Indian girls become dooram (with period) in Uma Krishnaswami's "The Gift," which begins in a partitioned India in 1947 and ends 52 years later in Baltimore. By far the funniest piece is Bobbi Katz's "Betrayal," in which an evasive mother tells her curious daughter that her sanitary napkins are for "when you are unwell." The youngster later surprises an unsuspecting insurance agent when she answers the door with a pad around her neck, nursing a sore throat. An honest, touching, sometimes hilarious collection.
Barbara Auerbach, New York City Public SchoolsCopyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
