Nobody's Perfect. Seriously.

So you're trying to survive your day at school, grabbing a sandwich in the lunchroom or dashing down the hall to English class, and then you spot her: that perfect girl. She's probably dressed in an expertly coordinated outfit, surrounded by a group of fawning friends, and much involved in everything at school, though she never shows a flicker of stress in her eyes. She's the kind of girl that makes you wonder what's wrong with you.

Been there? I wonder if all girls have. There's always a girl who seems like she has it all -- but, as Natasha Friend's novel Perfect demonstrates, maybe she isn't who everyone thinks she is. The book's main character Isabelle is caught throwing up her lunch, and is sent to group therapy, where she's shocked to see that Perfect Girl, Ashley, from school sitting right next to her. The two of them become friends, and Isabelle quickly sees that Ashley's life is far from ideal. And Isabelle realizes that her own life maybe isn't as terrible as she thought.

Though this is a story about bulimia, it is also a story about the pain of losing a family member, the tricky game of navigating friendships and learning how to look inside and speak your heart. It plays on themes that any girl can relate to. Because, the big secret is that no one has their life together all the time. Even the girls that look like they do -- well, they could have problems at home, or a boyfriend who doesn't call, or problems with their weight.

A lot of us girls put on masks at school to make others think we're doing fine, and use certain behaviors to cope with what's going on -- and some coping strategies are way healthier than others. In the book, both Isabelle and Ashley use bingeing and purging as a way to make themselves feel better, and though the book doesn't address this, purging is incredibly dangerous to a person's health. The girls in group therapy had different problems and backgrounds, but all used food as a way to feel comfort. It just goes to show that appearances can be deceiving, and that it can be easy to dismiss someone before getting to know what really makes them tick.

My questions for you, my Mainely Girls out there, are:

• Do you know any "perfect" girls like Ashley? Did this book change your thoughts on the word "perfect?"
• Could you relate to the feelings any of the girls expressed in the book? 
• What ways, do you think, girls use to cope with the stresses of school and life? What do you think works the best? 
• What do you think will happen to Isabelle, Ashley and the other characters in the book?

Any other thoughts? I'm always interested to hear 'em! And remember: there's no right answer here. And definitely no perfect answer.

13 Little Blue Envelopes... oh, the places you'll go!

Hi girls out there,
13 Little Blue Envelopes is a story about a whirlwind, mysterious adventure one girl takes through Europe. No wonder it's one of our most-requested books!

In the book, seventeen-year-old Ginny receives letters from her aunt Peg, instructing her to travel to foreign lands and complete a series of tasks there. The rules Ginny must follow are:

• Rule #1:

You may bring only what fits in your backpack. Don't try to fake it with a purse or a carry-on.

• Rule #2:

You may not bring guidebooks, phrase books, or any kind of foreign language aid. And no journals.

• Rule #3:

You cannot bring extra money or credit/debit cards, traveler's checks, etc. I'll take care of all that.

• Rule #4:

No electronic crutches. This means no laptop, no cell phone, no music, and no camera. You can't call home or communicate with people in the U.S. by Internet or telephone. Postcards and letters are acceptable and encouraged.

Ginny must maneuver her way across the globe to find out what surprise is awaiting her in the 13th envelope. Though the rules above seem pretty daunting (no cell phone? How does a person get anywhere without a cell phone?), I think Ginny's journey seems like a blast. I've done a little traveling, and it's always an adventure that forces you to think fast, solve problems and be flexible.

 Have any of you had any crazy experiences while out on a trip? For those of you that have read the book, have you ever encountered any of the strange predicaments Ginny has?

Oh, and for those of you that are planning on making a trip sometime in the near future, Maureen Johnson, the author of the book, has a fun set of travel tips . Check them out, and bon voyage!

A Scary Future: How I Live Now

Imagine it's sometime in the near future. You're sent to stay with distant cousins and you spend idyllic days soaking up the sun on the farm, most of the time without annoying adult supervision.

But one day, your aunt doesn't come home. She's stranded and terrorists have invaded your country. Soldiers take over your home and it's up to you to fight for your survival.

Scary picture, right? This is the predicament in which that 15-year-old Daisy finds herself in Meg Rosoff's novel How I Live Now. Everything she has ever known is shattered, and she is left to fend for herself in a world vibrating with the painful effects of war.

I found an interesting video online that offers a movie trailer sort of introduction to the book. Check it out here.

If you've read the book, what do you think about the world that's presented? Could it ever happen to us? How did you feel when you read it?

Tips for Writers from Gail Carson Levine

Believe it or not, Gail Carson Levine, author of beloved book club favorite Ella Enchanted, didn't spend her entire life writing. Though she loved writing as a kid, a single comment from a teacher discouraged her from writing for 25 years.


He called her writing, "pedestrian." Commonplace. Not special.


Luckily for us, Levine picked up her pen again, and has given the world not only Ella (a variation on the fairy tale "Cinderella), but a collection of creative, magical stories that captivate the imagination, including The Two Princesses of Bamarre, Fairest , and Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg. At a talk at the Rockland Library on Saturday, October 3rd, Levine talked about her newest books and offered her advice for young writers.


When she began writing again, Levine said she had to learn to ignore that negative voice in her head that said she couldn't or shouldn't try. She hoped that her newest book, Writing Magic: Creating Stories that Fly , might inspire young writers to do the same and believe in their creativity. The book offers writing tips, tricks and fascinating story prompts, like this one:


Use one of the situations below (or come up with one of your own) to create a scene full of description and details:

• Your character is on a boat at sea.
• Your character is in the middle of a crowded city.
• Your character is exploring an enchanted forest.

Have the confidence to try, says Levine, and always, always save your work. As crazy as it sounds now, it's easy for adults to forget what it was like to be a kid, Levine says, and your writing (or your art, or even the notes you and your friends pass) gives you a window to your past. 

Finally, don't let criticism get you down. Levine read from a rejection letter in which an editor told her her work wasn't captivating. I bet anyone who's read Ella would disagree! Even famous writers like Gail Carson Levine have had negative comments, but she persevered, and you can, too.  

Levine was kind enough to autograph a book for us, and inside, she offered one last piece of advice: "Don't be too obedient!" (Pick up Ella Enchanted and you'll understand this joke!)

More fun: 

Check out Levine's blog for more of her thoughts on writing. 

Ella Enchanted was made into a movie starring Anne Hathaway!

This site , dedicated to fairy tales, has an excellent description of Levine's books. 

Reflections on "Criss Cross"

Art, whether it's writing or photography or a movie, is a little slice of life. Photos, for instance, capture moments -- like the moments before your date arrives for prom, or someone's first kiss after getting married, or when your new puppy sees his home for the first time. These little slices have a built-in editing system: you don't take pictures of the boring stuff, like doing laundry or doing your algebra homework. 


The same thing can hold true for movies and writing. In movies and books, we meet characters and we follow them on their adventures, but writers edit their characters' stories to make them exciting. There are parts of our characters' lives that are left out because... well, they're just not that engaging, or they aren't relevant to the main point of the story. It's because these stories are "slices of life," pieces put together to tell a story or a teach a lesson-- they're not like exactly like real life.


 I was thinking about this because in an interview with USA Today, Lynne Rae Perkins, author of Criss Cross said that when she was growing up, she needed assurance that "life doesn't always happen like it does in movies and books, but that's OK."  Criss Cross seems to reflect that idea. It's about a group of 14-year-olds coping with the everyday concerns of teenagers: boyfriends, girlfriends, parents, clothes and feeling different. One review of the book criticized it for not having enough plot. "Nothing happens at all," writes one reviewer. Other readers appreciated the pace and the fact that these teenagers weren't living thrilling, glamorous lives, but more realistic ones. (Read a more positive review here .) 


The "slices of life" in Criss Cross are put together, maybe, with the point of showing that the average teenager's life isn't like a perfect snapshot, or like an epic movie with a grand soundtrack. Sometimes, things don't happen to all of us. 


I just wonder if that makes the book more enjoyable or not. What do you think? Sometimes I like escaping to books that don't mirror my life at all. That's part of the fun with art: those slices and snapsots and film clips have the ability to whisk you away and show you something new. So, what do you think about books that stick closer to reality? 


Let me know what you think.
Happy reading!
~Meredith 

A Few More Perks...

Want to know more about The Perks of Being a Wallflower? I did, too, and I found a few neat things online. First, Charlie experiences a lot of new music with his friend Sam and books with his teacher Bill. Wikipedia has a list of the songs, movies and books in the novel. Take a look. 

Next, this is a "literary weaving" that a class made after reading the book. The little sections have ideas or quotes from the book, and are woven together to make a piece of art that represents the book. Cool!

If you have ideas for projects to make, or songs that fit with this book, or movies it reminded you of, go ahead, leave a comment! 

The Perks of Being... a Book Clubber.

Well, I just finished The Perks of Being a Wallflower . Let me tell you, it threw me for such a loop.

I picked up Perks because two friends of mine say it's their favorite book. I just had to see for myself what all the renown was about. It's a fast-paced read about a shy, but brilliant, ninth grader named Charlie, who writes to an anonymous friend about his hopes, fears and misadventures. His star football-player brother is off at college, his older sister wants nothing to do with him, and he misses his closest companion, his aunt who died years ago. Charlie, with the help of his new friends and a teacher who believes in him, must navigate the frenzied world of high school--and that includes dealing with drugs, dating, sexuality and self-confidence.

I'm not going to give away the ending, but it was cemented in my brain for days after reading it. I couldn't wait to tell my boyfriend the whole tale. The next day at work, I spilled the ending to Mary, our director, who'd never read it. The thing was, I couldn't help but talk about it. The story spun around in my head all day, like clothes in a washing machine.

This is, of course, the perk of being in a book club like ours: you get a chance to chat about those stories that just beg to be talked about! The books in our library were chosen for their ability to get your brains buzzing! They're wildly exciting or so painful you might tear up. Many take difficult issues and face them head on, with a roar. Regardless of your age or background, we bet these babies will get you talking.

You and your fellow club members don't even have to agree about whether you liked the book or not. Mary, when she picked up the book after me, remembered that she'd read it before -- the story had just so uninterested her that she forgot about it! But we still had a good chat about it.

And you know what? If you've read the book, you know that Charlie is pretty shy, and has a dilemma of watching life go by him. But he learns, I think, at the end of the book to dive in and participate. Well, that's what we say to do with your book club, too!

So, for those of you that have read it, what do you think? Leave a comment! Did you relate to Charlie's character? Did it get you talking? What's your take on that ending?

That's all for now! Happy reading.

-Meredith

We're off and running...

Hi gals,

Today's been an exciting day in the Mainely Girls office. Our first clubs have ordered books! We have one group reading The Book Thief, a 2005 bestseller by Mark Zusak, about a young girl using books to cope with the horrors of Nazi Germany. Another group just asked for Looking for Alaska, a coming-of-age story about a boy and his entanglements with a girl named Alaska. Two great books to start the year!

Check out this site, which has the author discussing The Book Thief: Check it out!

Also, cruise over to Looking for Alaska on Amazon.

The other news is that Maine author Megan Frazer sent us a copy of her book, Secrets of Truth and Beauty. I cracked it open today at lunch, while I soaked up sunlight on a bench outside of the Rockport Library. (What a beautiful thing.) Anyway, I'll let you know what we think about the book. Thanks, Megan, for your generosity!

A New Year!

Hi there! Meredith here. I'm the new Programs Director at Mainely Girls and I'm thrilled! The school year is just starting, and that means it's the perfect time for our Girl's Point of View Book Club to get rolling, too!

You might be wondering what purpose this blog will serve. Well, I'll be sharing info about our clubs and, of course, our books! I definitely want to hear what you have to say about them. See, that's the best part about these clubs: they offer a chance to interact! I want to hear your ideas. Did you really love "The Secret Life of Bees," or "The Bean Trees?" Did you hate that one character, or did you cry at the ending?

I also want to hear about what YOUR club is up to. Do you guys have an awesome idea for a meeting that other gals might want to hear? Did you all get together and watch, "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" after reading the book? Did you come up with a brilliant plan to make meetings even more fun? Let me hear it!

The cool thing about having a blog is that we can interact a little differently here than in the clubs. I'll post links to sites that relate to our books, or maybe even video clips that match up with our themes. There's a world of media out there and we can use it take these books off the page and into our larger world.

So, here we go! Hope you'll be joining me for the ride.

One more review of an old favorite...

Here's a book review of 13 Little Blue Envelopesfrom Mary S., the wonderful Americorps member who worked at Mainely Girls before me. Interesting reading! -Meredith

I'm excited to have an official blog follower! I hope those of you who aren't bloggers and can't add this to a list of "followed" blogs are instead showing your support by telling all your friends about the Girl's Point of View Book Club.

This review is of one of the books on our High School list, 13 Little Blue Envelopes, written by Maureen Johnson. It's not one of our new titles, but I happened to pick it up and read it a little while ago and I thought that I would share my thoughts with all of you.

Those novels I referenced rather negatively in my last review, that focuses solely on one sudden, huge, and rather unlikely life-changing event? That is exactly the concept on which 13 Little Blue Envelopes is based.

However... it is an absolutely wonderful, fun, interesting and entertaining story. Even if you have never been left a mysterious series of notes or a hefty inheritance from a recently deceased, quirky relative, this book contains enough careful character development and realistic conversation to be understood and appreciated by everyone. Ginny’s European adventure is complete with Italian food, Parisian wine, and a cute British actor, but her classic teenage American charm, naivety, and awkwardness persist throughout the story and compel the reader to love and relate to her as well as the girl next door. As she explores so many different countries and cultures, it is impossible not to empathize with the main character’s every excitement and discomfort. I would strongly recommend this book for anyone who is looking for a laugh and a confidence boost.

Currently, I am finishing up both The Green Glass Sea (by Ellen Klages) and Ida B. and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (possibly) Save the World (by Katherine Hannigan), which are both new titles here at Mainely Girls and would probably be best enjoyed by girls reading from our 4th and 5th grade or Middle School lists. Look for those reviews coming up soon! Enjoy your Club meetings this week.

First review!

Here's a book review of Criss Cross from Mary S., the wonderful Americorps member who worked at Mainely Girls before me. Check it out! -Meredith

Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins

Everyone has read at least a novel or two about teenagers whose lives are changed suddenly when they have to move across the country during freshmen year, or decide to become a high school soccer star. While I generally find these stories entertaining and critically important, I have often felt that those of us without some life-altering change during our teenage years are in need of some relatable plots and characters as well.

Enter, Criss Cross. Have you ever been introduced to a cute boy or girl for the first time and then realized afterwards that you missed their name completely? Have you tried to prevent an argument by allowing your mother to buy you some piece of hideous clothing, and then ended up stopping along your walk to school to change your outfit? Do you sometimes wish that something really interesting would happen to you…something different, and soon, just anything totally out of the blue? If you can understand any of these situations, then this book was written with you in mind. Lynne Rae Perkins manages to capture in print the hilarity of basic everyday life, allowing readers to laugh at the characters and then at themselves as they experience each simple, awkward moment of this relatable and entertaining story. The main characters are not rock stars, or even high school superstar athletes or geniuses- they are just small-town kids, growing up together one day at a time and wondering when their lives will really begin. Perkins’ language is simple but not simplistic, and her tone is reminiscent of a comfortable conversation with an old friend. I found myself laughing out loud throughout almost the entirety of the book, and I am excited to recommend it to anyone looking for a relaxing afternoon.

Inspiration and an explanation

Here's the first blog entry from Mary S., the wonderful Americorps member who worked at Mainely Girls before me and started this blog. Take a gander... - Meredith

An introduction of this blog, to the Mainely Girls in book clubs around the state...

So I started my job here at Mainely Girls several months ago, and a big part of my position is to ship out books to our book clubs around Maine and check them back in when they return. I had noticed over the course of my four months here that a lot of the same titles were going in and out quite a bit, but I didn't realize just how many brand new sets of books were being neglected until yesterday afternoon during some office inventory. Ladies, we have TONS of new titles that are just sitting in our office (slash storage room) literally unopened and simply dying to be read. These books are award-winning, recent stories on a huge variety of topics, and there are a few new ones for each of the three Club age groups. Go on our website right now to look through the list of titles (www.mainelygirls.org), or remember to ask your club facilitators if they have a hard copy lying around anywhere at the next meeting, and pick out something you've never even heard of to suggest to your club this month!

If the enticement of simply being the first person to open a brand new copy of a book (don't you just love the way it smells??) isn't enough for you... this brings me to the real reason that I have started a blog. Although I generally find the word "blog" awkward and unattractive, I wanted a method of communicating more directly with the Girl's Point of View members from around the state, and it seems that this is probably the best way to do that. Through this blog, I will be able to do things like review some of our brand new titles, so that you will be able to choose something that you think you or your club will really have fun with (and have a way to convince the girls at your school to choose that new title you've been eyeing since September!).

In order to do all of this, I obviously have to get reading on those new titles, but I do have two reviews around here somewhere that I wrote about two of our older books a few months ago. I'll try to post those first and start reading the new stuff right away, but for the time being please tell all your friends to keep their eyes peeled for the upcoming reviews! Stay warm and check back soon.

-mary