Secrets: You Tell Me Yours and I'll Tell You Mine Maybe [Paperback]

Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2, 2010

Following on the heels of the best-selling book The Truth, SECRETS is the continuing diary of a girl moving into her teen-age years. The Girl has plenty to fill her journal. The pages reveal a new school, a new baby in the family, new friends, a new guy and a new set of issues to face. Share the secret world of an almost-teen as she learns which secrets to share and which to keep to herself. Mid West Book Review: Some things are meant to be shared with the world, others are meant to be kept to oneself. Secrets: You Tell Me Yours and I'll Tell You Mine... Maybe is a novel of understanding the importance of secrets told from the perspective of a teenage girl. Facing a new school, a new sibling, new love, and new everything, "Secrets" is a fun read that will charm many a young reader as they face a pile of secrets of their own.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein, internationally known Positive Psychologist, is the creator of The Enchanted Self,(r) a systematic way of helping to bring more joy, meaning and purpose into our lives. Dr. Holstein has been a school psychologist for more than twenty five years. She has taught elementary school children and was an assistant professor of education at Boston University. She has been in private practice as a psychologist with her husband, Dr. Russell M. Holstein, in Long Branch, New Jersey, for over twenty five years.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Enchanted Self Press (April 2, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0979895219
• ISBN-13: 978-0979895210
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,877,556 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I have been a positive psychologist in private practice for the past twenty five years. In the course of working with my clients, I originated the idea of the Enchanted Self, a positive psychology therapy where I teach people how to recognize and utilize their strengths, talents, skills and even lost potential. I have developed a number of methods, including using our memories to rediscover what is right about ourselves and our lives, rather than what went wrong, helping people to overcome adversity, experience positive emotions and live the good life!

Since developing this concept, I've been able to use many tools to bring the Enchanted Self to everyone, particularly women and girls, who could benefit. I've written five books on the topic, starting with THE ENCHANTED SELF, A Positive Therapy, and now, my first fiction, The Truth, (I'm a girl, I'm ten and I know everything). I host internet radio shows, including Happiness For Women Only on www.internetvoicesradio.com and have written articles for hundreds of websites.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "I want to get older but I don't want all this extra stuff", July 11, 2010

By 

Linda Bulger (United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Secrets: You Tell Me Yours and I'll Tell You Mine Maybe (Paperback)

What can a girl do when she's brand new in town, missing her friends, facing long lonely days and the prospect of a new school in the fall? The unnamed thirteen-year-old in this charming book is lucky that she has her diary for company, because her diary is always ready to absorb and guard her secrets.

Our girl has secrets that any girl or woman will understand. She's worried about making friends, about the shape of her body, about not wanting to grow up. She's ecstatic one day and maudlin the next (what thirteen-year-old isn't?). She likes a boy and hopes he likes her back. There are family secrets too: her little brother is a pest, she's NOT looking forward to the new baby her mother is expecting, and she wishes her parents would join a church so she could get to know more about God. The diary covers 16 months during which she learns a great deal about herself--and likes what she discovers.

Secrets: You Tell Me Yours and I'll Tell You Mine Maybe is the second book in the young adult Truth Series from Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein. The author is a licensed psychologist who specializes in helping her clients affirm their talents and focus on the positive elements in their lives. Her first book in the series, The Truth: I'm a Girl, I'm Smart and I Know Everything, extended this message to young people, and "Secrets" contains the same affirmations. Our young diarist expresses her creativity with poems and values special time with her mother. Her worries, while very real to her, are all surmountable with friends and family to help. There are a list of discussion questions included, but even without them, any girl will find something positive to relate to in the book.

I was going to send my copy to my grand-daughter, but I'll have to buy another one for her because mine's going in the mail to my best friend from childhood, with a few pages bookmarked. Yes, some of our old secrets are right there in the pages of the diary. Will you find traces of your own fears and joys here? You'll have to read it to find out for yourself.

Linda Bulger, 2010

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Let me whisper in your ear, July 17, 2010

By 

Amanda Richards (Georgetown, Guyana) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Secrets: You Tell Me Yours and I'll Tell You Mine Maybe (Paperback)

Listen,
Do you want to know a secret?
Do you promise not to tell?
(The Beatles)

This small book of diary entries made by a pre-teen girl packs a much bigger punch than it appears. In an easy-to-absorb one-sitting read, the author covers a myriad of issues that affect girls of that age, including the physical changes of growing up, the uncertainties of a changing environment, the birth of a sibling and of course, bffs and boys.

Moving to a new home and having to make new friends is stressful enough, but with the arrival of a new baby, the illness of a family member, plus the trials of choosing a training bra, life can become a bit much to deal with.

Covering everything from relationships to religion, cookies and cellulite, this book is recommended for girls between ten and thirteen.



Amanda Richards, July 17, 2010

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Easy to read book that speaks to common concerns and experiences, July 11, 2010

By 

dnk "dnkboston" (Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Secrets: You Tell Me Yours and I'll Tell You Mine Maybe (Paperback)

This book is a diary of a girl- The Girl- in her thirteenth years, right before, during and after the eighth grade. She has moved to a new town, her mother is expecting a baby, and she knows she's on the verge of adolescence. She goes through missing old friends, making new friends and falling in love with an older boy. A family tragedy hits in the middle of the year, and she explores how that affects her family and activities. She also learns some surprising family secrets, some of which give a clue about the time period this takes place in.

This book is accessible for younger readers because it's easy to read. Tweens and young adolescents are going to nod along with what The Girl experiences. Their parents will feel wistful when they read this. I sighed when she wrote about her song- really, I thought I was the only one who had one when I was younger. Her reactions to new additions, tragedies and secrets will also ring true, even more than the pressures she feels from magazines about her body and her crushes.

Easy read with important insights.