Secrets Girls Keep: What Girls Hide (& Why) and How to Break the Stress of Silence [Paperback]

Carrie Silver-Stock (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 2, 2009

Do You Know Someone with a Secret?

 

This book is for every girl with a secret, which pretty much means every one. Our secrets help us, hurt us, and sometimes even haunt us beyond high school. Secrets like:

I hate the way I look.
My boyfriend yells at me.
I'm cheating my way through chemistry.
I lost my virginity and regret it.
I sent a text message about my friend that wasn't true.
I went to a party and didn't tell my parents.
My mom drinks too much.

By revealing the personal stories, struggles, and secrets of other teen girls, Carrie Silver-Stock shows how to deal with everyday stresses by being self-reliant, not silent, and how to get real about what matters. With tips and advice for teens and by teens, you'll learn how to:

• Navigate the ups and downs of dating • Make and keep good friends • Deal with school (the social scene and grades) • Handle family drama • Survive the cyber scene • And more . . .

Thousands of girls are joining the movement to share their secrets, ideas, and stories. What are you waiting for? Visit www.girlswithdreams.com.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"As media and commercial culture is putting increasing pressure on girls to conform to standards that can be very harmful to themselves and their relationships with others, Secrets Girls Keep gives teen-age girls down-to-earth, practical, heartfelt advice that will empower them to resist the pressure and take care of themselves and others in these hard to grow up times.  Parents will thank Carrie Silver-Stock for giving them this book to give to and discuss with their daughters."

—Diane Levin, Ph.D., Professor of Education, Wheelock College, Author of So Sexy So Soon

(Diane Levin, Ph.D. )

About the Author

Carrie Silver-Stock, MSW, LCSW received her masters in social work from Washington University in 1999 and a BA in sociology and World Perspectives from Principia College. She is the founder and CEO of girlswithdreams.com. The mission of girlswithdreams.com is to create a place founded on friends, dreams, and action where girls empower each other to build their best lives. Silver-Stock teaches girls how to be leaders and take action in their own lives and in the world. She has collaborated with organizations like Girls Inc. and the Girl Scouts. She has presented at University Missouri St. Louis, Lewis and Clark Community College, St. Luke's Hospital, and appeared on Guidelines for Mental Health (cable TV). She is the former radio talk show host of "Make it Happen" and a contributor to GLOW magazine. She has also appeared on today in St. Louis, (KDSK/NBC), ABC Radio, Women's Media, CKOM radio, the Working Women's Show, numerous St. Louis venues, and has had articles published in a variety of media outlets.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: HCI Teens (October 2, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0757313698
• ISBN-13: 978-0757313691
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.7 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #931,795 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Carrie founded www.girlswithdreams.com because she wanted to create a global movement where girls discover their power, passion, and big dreams. The mission is simple: girls will empower one another to build their best lives while learning how to make a positive profound impact in their own lives and the world. She is passionate about hearing and inspiring teen girls to help them find their own way.

Carrie has collaborated with and presented workshops for the Girl Scouts, St. Luke's hospital, and many schools and colleges. As a former radio talk show host, social worker, and life coach, Carrie has also appeared on Today in St. Louis (KSDK/NBC), Fox, ABC Radio, On the Road with IV, Guidelines for Mental Health (Cable TV), Women's Media, CKOM Radio and the Working Women's Show. Carrie is a contributor to The Glow Project magazine and has had articles published in a variety of media outlets. Carrie is a founding member of the Billionaire Girls Club, a group dedicated to igniting women to create billions in impact for global good and she is the Speaker Coordinator of eWomen Network St. Louis and has served as an advisory board member for the Go the Distance Project. Her first book, The Powder Box Secrets, won several awards, including the prestigious Benjamin Franklin award.

Carrie's favorite activities include spending time with her husband, two boys, and two dogs and staying active. She especially loves walking, pilates, water-skiing, and hanging out anywhere near a beach, even though her current home is in St. Louis, Missouri.

Carrie Silver-Stock, M.S.W., L.C.S.W., is author of Secrets Girls Keep: What Girls Hide (& Why) and How to Break the Stress of Silence (Health Communications Inc.) and founder of Girls with Dreams (www.girlswithdreams.com).

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Secrets December 8, 2009

By Erin Nass

Format:Paperback

Modern American girls grow up in a world that is so fundamentally different than that of their male counterparts that most girls end up with a feeling of isolation within a greater society. Trying to "fit in," struggling with self worth, and discovering her own identity leads many a young woman to hide her real thoughts and to keep secrets (even dangerous ones) from those who can help, and even from herself. Whether the secret involves sexual harassment, an eating disorder, family tragedies, or depression, American girls almost seem to be "trapped by the cult of secrecy" that is the norm of the female society.

Secrets Girls Keep: What Girls Hide (& Why) and How to Break the Stress of Silence addresses this tendency to keep quiet about what is most important in a growing girl's life and tries to help solve the underlying issues that cause the secrecy. The book is full of actual accounts from real girls from many walks of life. Their problems range across the realms of self esteem, boys and dating, friends, bullying, school, alcoholic family members, money, internet socialization, depression, drugs, eating disorders, cutting, and teen pregnancy (to name a few). Within each category, Carrie Silver-Stock takes the reader through a list of seven tips that can be used to deal with the problem underlying the secret at hand. These tips are: use your gut (intuition); discover and use your strengths; choose and respect the right friends; be courageous and confident; be and stay fit; dream big; and get outside yourself (help others who have the same problem). Silver-Stock illustrates how these seven tips can be adapted to all situations and how breaking the secrecy cycle will help girls develop into fully functioning young women.

Carrie Silver-Stock is a licensed social worker who has spent many years working with young girls struggling with the varying issues that affect their development and futures. She has founded a social networking site called girlswithdreams.com that advice and support for teenage girls and she references this site often throughout the book. Secrets Girls Keep shares the personal stories of many girls and provides insight and solutions for many of life's struggles. It is a "must read" for any growing young lady or any parent/guardian of a teenage girl.

4.0 out of 5 stars Helpful & Realistic! March 8, 2010

By The Book Scout

Format:Paperback

Some people might right away step away from this book, labeling it a self help book and automatically walking away. Secrets Girls Keep is much more than a self help book, it's kind of a lifeline for teenage girls. Silver-Stock's writing was realistic and girls could relate to the topics she discussed, and learn from it. The author tackles a variety of topics- sex, friendship, school, boys, drugs, eating disorders, beauty, and much, much more. There were quotes from girls who had dealt with the certain problems and it made the reader feel like they weren't alone- there are other girls out there dealing with stress in school, friendship problems, etc. Many self help books out today just annoy me- you can tell the author knows nothing about what it's like being a teenager today and I'm wary to pick them up. But you can tell the author of this book is nothing like that, she can see right into the head of teenagers. Secrets Girls Keep is a book I will recommend to my friends and it's even good for parents.

There were little quizzes in the book, tips, suggestions, all kinds of things put together in a likable format. There's a table of contents in the beginning so you can turn to the specific page that deals with the answer your looking for, which I found really helpful. Since reading this, I've skimmed it several more times and know I will look at it more in the future.

The author never put the reader down, but rather guided them and gave suggestions on where to change things for the better. By the end of the book you'll be feeling a lot better about yourself. There are even other sources for help in the pages of Secrets Girls Keep, self help lines, websites, etc. Secrets Girls Keep will help you open up to your friends and family and is an overall great and informative read.

Realistic, honest, and truly helpful, I recommend picking up Secrets Girls Keep if you are a parent of a teenager or a teenager yourself.

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Nonfiction Read! January 17, 2010

By Lauren's Crammed Bookshelf

Format:Paperback

Self help books ( which is what Secrets That Girls Keep is) can go in a lot of ways. Some are way too preachy, some are just so annoying you want to throw them at a wall and never look back, and some are just the kind of book that you feel like everyone should read because of the greatness contained inside. Secrets Girls Keep was the last of the three, thankfully.

In Secrets Girls Keep there were a list called " Seven Tips Every Girl Needs to Deal with Any Problems" which I personally found to be really easy for any teen girl to apply to their own problems from Beauty to Boys to Funky Family Stuff. Plus, it even gave you a step by step look at they can be applied to every issue in the book which was helpful. Further more, I loved how Carrie included wide range of topics in the book that covered almost all the basses for every category.

Though, the one thing I wasn't too found of was how sometimes Carrie's tone could become a bit "preachy" ( which is a big no no for me as the reader which you can tell from above), but these little chunks were far and few, leaving it to be no that big of a nuisance.

In all, this book is a great read for teens, because I seriously doubt you won't be able to find at least one situation in the book that your dealing with currently or have in the past.