Your First Girlfriend

January 1, 2013
Grades 5-8 The Relationships 101 series is aimed at middle-schoolers who are seeking some help sorting out new relationships during this especially complicated time of life. The tone is earnest and conversational, addressing the reader directly through the second person: If you've ever found yourself jealous of a friend, take a moment to figure out why. The double-column format on a tall, skinny page gives this the accessibility of a magazine. It's a bit hard to imagine the intended audience snapping up Your First Girlfriend, but the book does include useful information on communicating with girls and dealing with rejection and a fairly cautionary discussion of sex. Each book includes color photographs that range from natural to cheesy and contains a section on the social-networking side of relationships. The authors' expertise is in writing rather than psychology, so the books are light on those kinds of specifics.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)