A Smart Girl's Guide to Friendship Troubles [Paperback]

Patti Kelley Criswell (Author), Angela Martini (Illustrator)

Book Description

Release date: July 1, 2003 | Age Range: 9 and up | Lexile Measure: 660L (What's this?)

From backstabbing to bullying to just being left out, here's advice for girls about a whole host of friendship problems. How do you speak up for yourself when you're worried about hurting your friend's feelings? What if your best friend leaves you for the more popular crowd? What do you do when your friend the "rule setter" decides you're not cool anymore? When- and how- do you get your parents involved without making things worse? Tips, quizzes, and real life stories about girls who've solved their friendship problems round out this timely advice book.

Product Details

• Age Range: 9 and up
  
• Paperback: 87 pages
• Publisher: American Girl; First Edition edition (July 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584857110
• ISBN-13: 978-1584857112
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 5.6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,363 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Product Details

• Age Range: 9 and up
  
• Paperback: 87 pages
• Publisher: American Girl; First Edition edition (July 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584857110
• ISBN-13: 978-1584857112
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 5.6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,363 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 63 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Friendship Advice May 16, 2007

By Arali

Format:Paperback

I bought this for my 8 year-old when she was having friendship issues with a girl she had been close to since kindergarten. She would come home crying every day because she was feeling left out of the group. We read this book together and found it helpful in dealing with her problem. It gave her so much good advice that I could see her confidence building and her fear quickly diminishing. She found the courage to talk to her friend and they are "hanging out" again. Thank you to American Girl for truly understanding a girl's heart.

42 of 45 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Perfect for my daughter's age January 9, 2007

By M. Torrez

Format:Paperback

I bought this for my daughter who is in 3rd grade. She had not previously experienced "girl drama" or friendship issues before this year. Her teacher said that these things start to appear in third grade and recommended this book. It was perfect for the things she was going through. I wouldn't recommend it for teenage girls, though. This is definately a "tween" book.

48 of 54 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars The Guide to All Your Friendship Troubles October 16, 2004

A Kid's Review

Format:Paperback

When I found this book, I wasn't having any friendship troubles inparticular, I just thought the book looked interesting. I picked it up, started reading, and couldn't put it down! I ended up buying it, and if I remember correctly, I finished reading it in one day. This book had advice on friendships, quizzes, and stories about real girls' friendship feuds. I'd already heard most of the advice from my mom, but some girls may not have, and it's stuff every girl needs to hear. This book covers everything from keeping a good friendship to solving disagreements, standing up for yourself to breaking of a bad friendship, making up after fighting to being a good friend. Some advice, I will say, I don't agree with. But most of it I did. The quizzes were fun, but I'm not completely sure that girls should take their results TOO seriously. You don't want to break off what might have been a good friendship because of a book! In all, I'd say that this is the best friendship advice you can get from a book.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is amazing! May 12, 2007

By Jill F

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

My almost 8 year old daughter wanted to read books about becoming a "older girl" way too soon. The books I found, including the book from american girl "the care and keeping of you" was too advanced for her. Was I ever glad I found this book! We bought this book, the smart girls guide to manners, and beauty 101. These book DO NOT cover periods, bras boys etc but are written for the 7-10 year old girl. Perfect for my daughters age. THANK YOU AMERICAN GIRL!! You've included the girls in the "younger" set without giving them too much information for them to handle. This book deserves 10 stars!!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Recommended by a Child Psychologist December 2, 2009

By 'Net Shopper

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

My eight year-old daughter was being verbally bullied daily by a girl at school. We went to a child psychologist as one part of working on this problem and she recommended this book. It is simple to read, and you can focus on just one area that applies to your problem if you like. In our case, it was how to handle people who can just be mean to you for no apparant reason. Simple come-back lines and the like. I role-played with my daughter to get her comfortable with responding to nasty people, and I really think it helped overall. The school has the two girls separated, and when they are together for some reason they are not to interact. With that, she hasn't had to use those skills with this girl (and I hope she never does have to), but I think this book really let her know that she is not alone and that there are just some people out there who can be mean to you through no fault of your own. That's a tough lesson to learn, and it stinks that my eight year-old had to learn it, but overall I have seen her mature through this process and she doesn't take everything so personally and that is huge for a sensitive girl. I look at this book as a vital piece of that puzzle. By the way, the psychologist also recommended the other American Girl books of this type (not the storybook ones) for helping girls get through life's inevitable challenges.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Ohhhh! The high drama of middle school power plays! February 10, 2008

By J. Arena TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Your seventh grader might be bestest pals with a classmate on Monday, absolutely hate her on Wednesday and be back to undying friendship in time for the week-end! In between, there are snarky girls who spread lies, exclude her from conversations, and leave nasty notes on her desk. And, that's just one week!

In the high-action world of kid politics, your child needs an advantage, and American Girl has provided it with A Smart Girls Guide to Frendship Troubles. Kids, tweens and younger teens will adore this wonderful book!

Highly recommended!

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Helpful Book April 28, 2005

By Prism Light

Format:Paperback

Okay, so most of us girls have seen "Ask Fill-in-the-Blank" and "Advice Column". And most of us have heard "Fill-in-Name-of-Celebrity is going to be on Fill-in-Name-of-TV-Show tonight to give friendship advice". But most of it, though not all of it, isn't helpful. I found this book interesting and fun to read, while also very helpful. There were a lot of feelings and troubles that I could relate to, and a lot of good advice and stories that girls, having friendship troubles or not, need to read. The quizzes were fun to take, but I wouldn't take the results TOO, TOO seriously. They are about the most accurate quizzes there are friendship-wise, but if you listen too carefully to the ranking, rating, etc. you come out as, you could end up breaking off a friendship that could've been rescued. Overall, I think this book is both entertaining and useful at the same time. Though I don't agree with some of the things that they say, I think most of the advice was really good. I would recommend this book to all girls.