There’s been a lot of talk about Body Drama: Real Girls, Real Talk, Real Issues, Real Answers by Nancy Amanda Redd around the blogs recently. Broadsheet gave it a pre-release mention. MotherTalk held a blog tour, and here’s what they were talking about:
In the great tradition of Our Bodies, Ourselves, Body Drama is a medically-accurate, confidence-building text for teens that explains exactly how “women’s bodies actually look, smell, feel, behave, and change.” The author, a former Miss Virginia and Harvard-graduate is in-touch with the issues on the minds of young adults and presents the information in a frank and engaging manner.
Nancy Redd describes Body Drama as a book that “talks about all the issues that keep you up at night—lopsided boobs, stinky pits, eating disorders, facial hair, an “ugly” vulva, bad dye jobs, and more. Alongside real-deal photographs of women just like you and me (no airbrushing, no supermodels, no kidding), you’ll find medical pictures of things you need to be able to recognize, true confessions by yours truly, and the encouragement you need to appreciate the uniqueness, strength, and beauty of your body.”
Mother/stepmother to a total of five teen and young-adult females (!) MaryP was generous and thorough with her appreciation of the both the information and presentation of the book – “it gets teens,” she says. Girl With Pen Deborah Siegel suggests that it’s not just teens that will benefit from a book like this – and Mojo Mom said that she learned a lot from it herself.
SingleMa‘s teen daughter reviewed the book and was impressed with Nancy Redd’s frankness and honesty – she’ll be recommending it to her friends.
Dewey thinks that this is a book that belongs on every teenage girl’s bookshelf, and after she posted her review, she held a drawing for her copy – and I just received it in the mail today! I remember well my own adolescent awkwardness with these topics – because it took me more than 25 years to get past it – and since I’m now helping to raise my teenage stepdaughter, I’m really looking forward to reading this (I think Deborah’s probably right), and to sharing it with her and her parents. Thanks, Dewey!
I’m not sure exactly how soon I’ll get to read Body Drama, but when I do, I’ll be sure to talk about it too – right here!
I’m not sure we ever really get over some of these issues, even as we grow older and more confident. This sounds like an interesting book. It’s definitely great for discussion!
LF – I agree that some of those issues are hard to work through, Wendy. That’s one reason I’d like the book myself, as well as to share with Tall Girl.