Tell us about sexual health/wellness books you have loved/loathed!

[rockstarbob.livejournal.com]

Attention VPers: We need your help!

We're trying to collect a list of books about sexual health/wellness that are aimed at a teenage (or even pre-teen) audience. Were there any books of that nature that you read as a (pre-)teen and loved/liked/loathed? If not, feel free to tell us about that, too... or describe to us the book you would have liked to have read. 

Otherwise, please leave us a comment (or shoot us an email if you prefer) with as much of the following information as you can recall:

1. Title


2. Author


3. Your age when you read it


4. How you accessed the book (Was it given to you by a parent or educator? Did you find it in the public/school library? Did you have to sneak to buy or borrow it?)


5. Your thoughts about the book -- please feel free to be as detailed as you like. We'd love to hear specifically about the aspects of the book you liked or disliked, and why you liked/disliked those things. Some examples of things we'd like to know about include:

• the accuracy/balance of the information (was anything missing, overemphasized, or just plain wrong?)
• the book's tone/voice/style (was it patronizing? just right? too technical? etc.)
• who you think the target audience is
• whether you thought the presentation of the information was good and age-appropriate
• whether there were any attitudes/implications in the book that you found troubling

Anything you want to tell us is good, though!  Thanks in advance for your help. :)

--Bob
For the VP Team
contact_vp

Comments

[eexposed.livejournal.com]

Let's see, I've read a ton of them, so I might just give a more quick rundown on each one, instead of typing out the whole thing, if that's okay... I read almost all of these from about ages 9-13, and I didn't find any of them in the library at school. My parents bought them for me, mostly. I was a pretty curious lady! :P

The Girls' Life Guide to Growing Up by Karen Bokram, Alexis Sinex, and Debbie Palen - sort of average/so-so, if I recall correctly - cool illustrations, but written for a girl that might be a bit younger (9-10 years)

The Period Book: Everything You Don't Want to Ask (But Need to Know) by Karen Gravelle and Debbie Palen - I loved this one! The illustrations were awesome, the information was pretty thorough, as far as I recall it only dealt with menstruation however.

Changing Bodies, Changing Lives by Ruth Bell - I remember enjoying this one, I had a pretty old edition of it, and it had good diagrams and actually said what sex involved, which was in only one other book that I read at the time

Period.: A Girl's Guide by Joann Loulan - Cute, short, to the point, and it definitely made you feel normal and gave ways to handle some of the weird new aspects of menstruating

The Care and Keeping of You: The Body Book for Girls by Victoria Schaefer - pretty good all-around hygiene and basic bodily change handbook, but not really any info on sex that I can remember

It's a Girl Thing: How to Stay Healthy, Safe, and In Charge by Mavis Jukes - empowering and cool, in my opinion! It also gave details on what actually happened in the act of intercourse (between a male and female partner), which wasn't in many other books that I read

Deal With It! by Esther Drill, Heather Mcdonald, and Rebecca Odes - great layout, colours, illustrations, and good info on many topics about sex (and gender, and psychological issues, and family, and school, etc.), not just the average menstruation + breasts speech.

Hope that helps!

[necromance.livejournal.com]

I had The Care and Keeping of You also. I still remember some of their hair and skin tips!

[neurotic.livejournal.com]

Me three! It was on my sister's bookshelf, and I used to sneak looks at it, lol.

[thinktink16.livejournal.com]

Me four! I loved this book. Was quite embarassed when Mom bought it for me, but I was so greatful for it when I had questions about my body changing. It was put out by the American Girl company.

But yeah, no real information about sex. Most puberty/buying bras/shaving/periods/etc. So wonderful.