Sweet Secrets: Stories of Menstruation [Paperback]

Kathleen O'Grady (Author), Paula Wansbrough (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1997

'What's going on with my body?'; 'What does menstruation feel like?'; and, 'How will my friends react?'. Unlike the standard 'just-the-facts' approach, this book of short stories and factual information provides the reader with her very own confidantes, others who share a common experience. "Sweet Secrets" dispels myths with current, up-to-date health information about menstruation. A unique and reassuring collection, it empowers young women to celebrate this rite of passage with informed confidence.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"More than a compilation of cultureal and anatomical information, this work contains twenty anecdotal stories about menstruation The combination of anecdotes and factual information is unique and informative ." (VOYA 19980601)

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Sumach Press (October 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0929005333
• ISBN-13: 978-0929005331
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #401,022 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I wish this book was around when I was 13, November 29, 2000

By 

"kathrynlively" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sweet Secrets: Stories of Menstruation (Paperback)

Sex education teachers O'Grady and Wansbrough have produced an ideal gift for young girls preparing to bloom into womanhood, a book that is as entertaining as it is informative.

Sweet Secrets is about menstruation. Your cycle, your period, your curse, your monthly visitor, your Aunt Flo...whatever phrase you use, you know what it is and unless with few medical exceptions, every girl is going to get it whether she likes it or not. Sweet Secrets could be considered a technical manual for a girl growing up: basic terminology is introduced, and behaviors such as PMS are explained.

What endeared me to this title, however, was the positive approach O'Grady and Wansbrough take to the monthly event that annoys me when it arrives and worries me when it doesn't. First menstruation is a "sweet secret" because it is a girl's own private advancement into adulthood, a rite of passage celebrated in many cultures. An accompanying mini-anthology of essays by women and teenagers emphasizes the poignancy of growing into womanhood while offering sympathy and encouragement.

If you have daughter fast approaching her teens and feel apphrensive about explaining to her the facts of life, let this book be a guide for the both of you, a "sweet secret" to share.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excerpted from The Curse: Confronting the Last Taboo, May 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Sweet Secrets: Stories of Menstruation (Paperback)

Sweet Secrets: Stories of Menstruation is the brainchild of Canadians Kathleen O'Grady and Paula Wansbrough. Sweet Secrets laces facts with short stories by various authors about girls having their first periods. The facts are straightforward...Best of all, though, the short stories that form the bulk of Sweet Secrets give girls multiple perspectives on the event - from that of a girl who is flat on her back in a body cast when she gets her first period to that of a girl who has ten minutes between the national anthem and homeroom announcements to cope with her first period alone - so that *whatever* happens when the young reader gets hers, it falls within the spectrum of normal.

-excerpt, by Karen Houppert, reporter for the Village Voice and author of _The Curse: Confronting the Last Unmentionable Taboo: Menstruation.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reviewed in Woman Newsmagazine, Winter 1999:, December 31, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Sweet Secrets: Stories of Menstruation (Paperback)

Addressed to adolescent readers, Sweet Secrets is a charming anthology of personal and fictional stories of menarche (first menstruation) told by women aged 16 to 93, from diverse cultural backgrounds.

The authors present factual information on the physical and emotional changes of puberty in a candid, anecdotal style. This handsome, readable book also features observations on menstruation's cultural and religious significance in ancient and aboriginal societies....

These uplifting tales of women's celebrations, unusual in a puberty education piece, set a new standard for progressive and enlightened learning.

The unique and sensitive approach to menstruation offered in Sweet Secrets guarantees its place as a valuable resource for those seeking help in discussing menstruation with preteen girls.

--Besty Harvie