The Fab Girls Guide to Friendship Hardship by Discovery Girls

**Giveaway at end of review!!**
CONTEST CLOSED

Stars: *****

The creators of Discovery Girls magazine has created a set of four books for preteens about situations they often encounter. Discovery Girls asked me to review one of their books and I was happy to. The four books in the series are Friendship Hardship, Sticky Situations, Getting Your Questions Answered and Getting Through Tough Times. I received The Fab Girls Guide to Friendship Hardship.

If I had to sum the book up in one word it would be “Wow.” I wish I had this book when I was a preteen. I had such trouble with making friends and getting along and this book would have been a big help. I’ve read other books on tween/teen friendship both as a tween/teen and as an adult and none have even remotely measured up to this book.

Synopsis: She knows everything about you… she’d never tell your secrets… she’s your biggest fan. Who doesn’t want a friend like that? True friendship is a gift… but it can be hard to find. Whether you’re stuck in a fading friendship, caught in the popularity trap, or dealing with mean girls, we’ll break down the solutions to the problems step by step. Best of all, we’ll teach you how to free yourself from poisonous friendships forever and be the best friend you can be. Soon, you’ll be meeting new people and making friends who truly respect and understand you…because you deserve first-rate friendships.

The book is written as if the “Fab Girls” Carmen and Dallas are talking, which makes it very tween friendly. No tween wants to hear an adult preach about friendships. Talking from their point of view and adding comments from real tweens and teens makes this book attractive to the girls.

Chapter headings include: “How Do Your Friendships Rate?, Mean Girls and Frenemies, To Clique or Not to Clique, This Friendship Is So Over, Stop Playing The Popularity Game!, How To Be Truly Popular, All the Fabulous Friends You Want, Be the Best Friend You Can Be and Summing It All Up.”

Sprinkled throughout the easily readable text are quizzes such as “Is Your Group a Bad Clique?” and “Do You Project Confidence?” A lot of the other books I’ve read on the topic seem to encourage girls to be popular as long as they don’t hurt other to do it. This book explains that real popularity is

“having a lot of friends and being well-liked and respected.” (pg 74), NOT “belonging to the coolest, meanest and most exclusive clique around.” (pg 74)

Friendship Hardship directs girls to learn how to be friendly to everyone, even to those who aren’t friendly back. Everyone knows the kid who doesn’t seem to really belong to a clique but is friendly with everyone and liked by most. This is true popularity and the one kids should be striving for.

Although this book doesn’t cover what to do if you are being constantly teased or harassed at school (this is probably covered in Getting Through Tough Times) the section on self-confidence probably would have helped me a bit in that department. I had no self-confidence or self-respect so I was “fun” to tease. If you don’t let it bother you, you’re no longer “fun” to tease.

As I said there are quotes from the Fab Girls as well as real girls from around the U.S. peppered throughout the book. The book is long enough to cover the important topics but not too long that the reader would lose interest. The only thing I could think of that would make this book better would be to have it in colour. The many shades of grey gets a little drab after awhile.

At the end of the book are the 8 Friendship Rules which along would provide help to many tweens/teens struggling with Friendship Hardships.

Also check out the Discovery Girls website for more information and a great website for your tween/teen.

Giveaway Info!

How would you like to win the whole set of four Fab Girls Guides? All you have to do is leave a comment on this message and you're entered. Make sure I have a way to contact you. Contest Ends Saturday, January 26 11:59PM EST.

Contest open to residents of Canada and U.S. only.

CONTEST CLOSED! And the winner is... BookGal! Congratulations! Email me your full mailing address and I'll forward it to Discovery Girls!