Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
New York, NY : Twelve, 2009.
Description
My Little Red Book is an anthology of stories about first periods, collected from women of all ages from around the world. The accounts range from lighthearted (the editor got hers while waterskiing in a yellow bathing suit) to heart-stopping (a first period discovered just as one girl was about to be strip-searched by the Nazis). The contributors include well-known women writers (Meg Cabot, Erica Jong, Gloria Steinem, Cecily von Ziegesar), alongside today's teens. Ultimately, My Little Red Book is more than a collection of stories. It is a call for a change in attitude. By revealing what it feels like to undergo this experience firsthand and giving women the chance to explain their feelings in their own words. My Little Red Book aims to provide support, entertainment, and a starting point for discussion for mothers and daughters everywhere.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member kwells
This is a very readable and relatable collection of vignettes about first periods. Women from all walks of life, of all ages and from different times and places in the world contribute their stories and poems about this time in their lives. There is Meg Cabot and Gloria Steinem and the compiler’s
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sister and grandmother. There are teenagers who have just experienced their first periods and a woman who had her first in 1916. A very good book! Show Less
LibraryThing member bibliovermis
This has been, by far, my best early-reviewing experience. I am going to lend it to most of my friends, but I am insisting they return it!
Menstruation is a universal experience for women, and it's hard to find a woman for whom the "first period" was not a major life event. However, for many women
The vast majority of the stories in this book deal with mothers and daughters, and the relationship between the women in a family that can be strained or improved by the handling of a girl joining the ranks of the ovulating. Some women report their mothers' embarrassment. Others report not being warned about the experience at all, and thinking they were dying. The most recent stories, told by the women of younger generations, recall mothers who made their first periods joyful—an always memorable experience made memorable in a good way.
A great many of the stories had me laughing out loud. Others, like the tales of women who had their first periods during important historical events, made me think about the fact that these human experiences are uncontrollable. A first period won't stop coming just because of Nazi's at the door, or because rationing in Mao's China makes it inconvenient.
As a woman I obviously had a vested interest in the book's contents, but my boyfriend laughed almost as hard as I did by the funny passages I read aloud to him, and was as stricken by the several historically significant passages, so I think this book could be read and enjoyed by a person of any gender.
Menstruation is a universal experience for women, and it's hard to find a woman for whom the "first period" was not a major life event. However, for many women
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across many different cultures, the monthly physical evidence of womanhood can be a lifelong burden and is considered shameful. The goal of this book, a collection of stories about first periods, is to reduce the taboo of talking about menstruation and to build bridges between women based on this shared experience.The vast majority of the stories in this book deal with mothers and daughters, and the relationship between the women in a family that can be strained or improved by the handling of a girl joining the ranks of the ovulating. Some women report their mothers' embarrassment. Others report not being warned about the experience at all, and thinking they were dying. The most recent stories, told by the women of younger generations, recall mothers who made their first periods joyful—an always memorable experience made memorable in a good way.
A great many of the stories had me laughing out loud. Others, like the tales of women who had their first periods during important historical events, made me think about the fact that these human experiences are uncontrollable. A first period won't stop coming just because of Nazi's at the door, or because rationing in Mao's China makes it inconvenient.
As a woman I obviously had a vested interest in the book's contents, but my boyfriend laughed almost as hard as I did by the funny passages I read aloud to him, and was as stricken by the several historically significant passages, so I think this book could be read and enjoyed by a person of any gender.
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LibraryThing member theepicrat
The contributors ranged from young to old, mothers to daughters to sisters. I especially appreciated those who had a terrible or disappointing "first period" experience with their parents and vowed to change that with their own daughters. I really enjoyed the older stories where "belted" pads were
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still in vogue - I had never heard of those before (and sadly, I have not read Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret). Or that French women cannot make good mayonnaise while they have their periods. I really loved Gloria Steinem's essay "If Men Could Menstruate" - the updated version in my little red book truly kicked ass! And I swear this entire book was chock full of really awesome quotables :) Show Less
LibraryThing member avisannschild
When I started reading My Little Red Book, a collection of women’s stories about their first periods, I initially felt mildly disappointed because many of the stories seemed too short and, well, too ordinary somehow, not “literary” enough. And yet by the time I finished the book I felt moved
Highlights of this book for me were: “Hot Dog on a String, 1993” by Ellen Devine, who writes about witnessing something sacred as a child; “Ink Blots and Milk Spots, 1987,” an imaginative retelling of first blood by Krista Madsen;“The Simple Vase: Part I, 1997” and “The Simple Vase: Part II, 1997,” two versions of the same event written by mother and daughter Laura and Rebecca Wexler; “Blood Month, 1979” by Sandra Guy, who writes poignantly about growing up without her sister; and “Twelve-Step Program, 1946” by Marcia Nalebuff (the editor’s grandmother), a touching piece about a grandmother saying exactly the right thing.
Other reviewers have suggested this anthology is particularly good for preteens and mothers of preteens; while I wouldn’t disagree, I would add that My Little Red Book is likely to be of interest to all women.
A slightly different version of this review can be found on my blog, she reads and reads.
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to tears (and inspired to write about and reflect on my own experiences of menstruation). Covering some 90 years of women’s history (from 1916 to 2008) and including 92 essays and poems by women from all walks of life, the power of this anthology is not so much in the individual stories—although many of them are powerful in their own right—but rather in their collective impact. From funny to heart-rending, embarrassing to empowering, each of these stories illuminates what is, after all, a “momentous occasion” (as Nalebuff put it) in every woman’s life.Highlights of this book for me were: “Hot Dog on a String, 1993” by Ellen Devine, who writes about witnessing something sacred as a child; “Ink Blots and Milk Spots, 1987,” an imaginative retelling of first blood by Krista Madsen;“The Simple Vase: Part I, 1997” and “The Simple Vase: Part II, 1997,” two versions of the same event written by mother and daughter Laura and Rebecca Wexler; “Blood Month, 1979” by Sandra Guy, who writes poignantly about growing up without her sister; and “Twelve-Step Program, 1946” by Marcia Nalebuff (the editor’s grandmother), a touching piece about a grandmother saying exactly the right thing.
Other reviewers have suggested this anthology is particularly good for preteens and mothers of preteens; while I wouldn’t disagree, I would add that My Little Red Book is likely to be of interest to all women.
A slightly different version of this review can be found on my blog, she reads and reads.
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LibraryThing member khuggard
This collection of stories about first periods is a great read for women of all ages. The recollections are wonderfully diverse. We had girls who eagerly anticipated their periods, girls who dreaded their periods arrival, and girls who had no idea what hit them. I loved how this collection neither
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overstates or undermines the importance of this event in a young woman's life. Any woman who has ever menstruated will surely find something to relate to in this book. Show Less
LibraryThing member detailmuse
My Little Red Book is a collection of 90+ short essays (anecdotes, really) written by women about their first menstrual periods. Some are striking in their unique gravity (a Jewish girl whose period begins as she’s about to be strip-searched by guards at the 1942 German border; a descendant of
I loved this book in concept and liked it in execution. It’s an ambitious project, important and with a hugely supportive tone, accomplished by a remarkable young editor. Contributors are famous and not-famous, their current ages ranging from young teens to a women over 100, their first periods occurring mostly in the latter 20th-century and overwhelmingly in the USA (predominately California, Connecticut, and New York). But as a group, the experiences are surprisingly common and grow repetitive, and their scattered arrangement made me crave an organizing thread that would build in some way.
The back matter includes a reading-group guide; resources for learning and giving; and indexing by author and theme/topic. Although the content is relevant to tweens, the perspective and overall narrative voice seem more suited to teen and adult readers.
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slaves who carries familial memory of when menses transformed a girl from child to breeder) ... and others are striking in their universality (girls whose friends -- or younger sister! -- get their periods first; the interactions -- positive and negative -- between girls and their mothers).I loved this book in concept and liked it in execution. It’s an ambitious project, important and with a hugely supportive tone, accomplished by a remarkable young editor. Contributors are famous and not-famous, their current ages ranging from young teens to a women over 100, their first periods occurring mostly in the latter 20th-century and overwhelmingly in the USA (predominately California, Connecticut, and New York). But as a group, the experiences are surprisingly common and grow repetitive, and their scattered arrangement made me crave an organizing thread that would build in some way.
The back matter includes a reading-group guide; resources for learning and giving; and indexing by author and theme/topic. Although the content is relevant to tweens, the perspective and overall narrative voice seem more suited to teen and adult readers.
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LibraryThing member lahochstetler
As the title and cover may suggest, this is a book about first periods. Women of various ages, family situations, and ethnicities share their memories of menarche. The stories cover the full range of emotions one might expect: glee, embarassment, self-satisfaction, disappointment, and misery. There
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are numerous stories collected in this volume, but each is quite short. I would have preferred longer pieces and fewer of them. After a point they become repetitive, and I learned that there is definitely such a thing as a first period trope. Longer narratives that contextualized first periods within the larger context of adolescence would have offered more variety. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the editor is an eighteen-year-old college student. This certainly shows some initiative. I do think that the book's title, taken from Mao's manifesto, shows more useful enthusiasm than truly thoughtful use of the metaphor. This book is not directed at any one particular audience, but will be most useful, I suspect, to girls. I certainly would have read such a book with morbid curiosity about twenty years ago. Show Less
LibraryThing member rowmyboat
Could have been worse.
Ok, it actually wasn't that bad at all. High ambitions and all, and getting society to accept all the facets of women's bodies, not to mention women themselves, is a worthy subject.
But, uh, the "let's talk about our periods" thing isn't exactly as never-been-done-before as
Not to mention, the author has this high-falutin' bit in the intro about how EVERY woman remembers with great clarity her first period, when, actually, there is even a story in the book wherein the teller can not remember her first period. (And I don't recall mine either.) If you're going to make broad, declarative statements like that, don't make them so easy to poke holes into. Also, apparently every girl in the last four decades has read Are you there God? It's me, Margaret. Again, with the declarative statements. And the titular reference to Mao, acknowledged in the introduction, is a little WTF.
But back to the book. It is easy to read, and goes along quickly. Stories follow one after the other though the whole thing; there are nothing like chapters, and stories do not start at the top of a new page. The stories range in length from a sentence or two, to maybe about eight pages. Most are about a page long. I have a personal thing against hardcover books bound in paper that is patterned to look like cloth, as this one is, but that's just me. At least it's not pink. There was a blessed lack of pink, except for the pink underpants image on the front.
One more complaint -- several times throughout, it was made clear that while sharing about periods with other women was fine, doing so with boys or men was not so ok. Bzzzt! Wrong! If one of the major reasons women's bodies are looked at as odd or gross or contaminated or scary or just not talked about, it is, as Gloria Steinem points out in her famous piece (updated here) "If Men Could Menstruate" is that men have the social power, and othering female bodies is a tool to keep it that way. By continuing the meme that we can't tell men the things that go on between our legs, we are not doing ourselves any favors. Also, though the word is used a few times, I suspect the author might be one of those women who does, or is tempted to say "I'm not a feminist, but..." I may be wrong about that, but it sure comes off that way.
Before I get too carried away, let me say that this book has its audience. That audience is mostly young, or maybe kind of old, and hasn't ever really engaged with feminist ideas before. If you've gotten far enough in your feminist reading to have covered The beauty myth, Where the girls are, Backlash, or Our bodies, ourselves, you're light-years ahead of this book, and it's reading will be attended with the occasional eye roll. Give it to a niece or neighbor instead.
Ok, it actually wasn't that bad at all. High ambitions and all, and getting society to accept all the facets of women's bodies, not to mention women themselves, is a worthy subject.
But, uh, the "let's talk about our periods" thing isn't exactly as never-been-done-before as
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the book makes it out to be, especially in the Web 2.0 age. It turns out this book came evolved from a senior project at Choate; didn't the author do her research, and hasn't she ever used the internet before?? Cause if we're talking about talking about female bodily functions, she missed a few things. BIG things. Not to mention, the author has this high-falutin' bit in the intro about how EVERY woman remembers with great clarity her first period, when, actually, there is even a story in the book wherein the teller can not remember her first period. (And I don't recall mine either.) If you're going to make broad, declarative statements like that, don't make them so easy to poke holes into. Also, apparently every girl in the last four decades has read Are you there God? It's me, Margaret. Again, with the declarative statements. And the titular reference to Mao, acknowledged in the introduction, is a little WTF.
But back to the book. It is easy to read, and goes along quickly. Stories follow one after the other though the whole thing; there are nothing like chapters, and stories do not start at the top of a new page. The stories range in length from a sentence or two, to maybe about eight pages. Most are about a page long. I have a personal thing against hardcover books bound in paper that is patterned to look like cloth, as this one is, but that's just me. At least it's not pink. There was a blessed lack of pink, except for the pink underpants image on the front.
One more complaint -- several times throughout, it was made clear that while sharing about periods with other women was fine, doing so with boys or men was not so ok. Bzzzt! Wrong! If one of the major reasons women's bodies are looked at as odd or gross or contaminated or scary or just not talked about, it is, as Gloria Steinem points out in her famous piece (updated here) "If Men Could Menstruate" is that men have the social power, and othering female bodies is a tool to keep it that way. By continuing the meme that we can't tell men the things that go on between our legs, we are not doing ourselves any favors. Also, though the word is used a few times, I suspect the author might be one of those women who does, or is tempted to say "I'm not a feminist, but..." I may be wrong about that, but it sure comes off that way.
Before I get too carried away, let me say that this book has its audience. That audience is mostly young, or maybe kind of old, and hasn't ever really engaged with feminist ideas before. If you've gotten far enough in your feminist reading to have covered The beauty myth, Where the girls are, Backlash, or Our bodies, ourselves, you're light-years ahead of this book, and it's reading will be attended with the occasional eye roll. Give it to a niece or neighbor instead.
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LibraryThing member GirlMisanthrope
Excellent idea which makes you wonder, "why hasn't someone thought of this yet?". Wish I had this when I was younger and terrified by the prospect of menstruation. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing each story in each woman's own words: that made it most poignant.
LibraryThing member metonymic
Props to Nalebuff for getting this book out there. I wish it had been around when I first got my period - which, despite the theme, I will not share here - but it was still a funny and invigorating read. As with any collection some of the entries stand out more than others, and the quality is
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generally high. Also high quality: the book design. I don't usually notice, perhaps because I usually read crappy quality paperbacks, but the whole thing is really excellent from the typesetting to the paper. If you know a girl the right age, I'd strongly recommend this as a gift. Show Less
LibraryThing member andreablythe
This is a collection of first-period stories, written by women of all ages from around the world. They are artists, writers, professionals, doctors, and students. Many of these stories have similar themes, for example:
*The author thought she were dying.
*The author was excited about becoming a
*The author got their period in a public situation and bled through her clothes.
*The author didn't know anything about periods until it happened.
And so on.
And yet, despite these similarities than run through, each story maintains a sense of unique experience particular to that author. The story may be universal, but the experience is deeply personal. As I continued to read through these stories, and even as I saw more of the similarities that tied them together, I became more and more fascinated with these people who all experienced a similar event in their own way.
In many ways, I think this is a vital and necessary book, normalizing an experience that is often treated as a secret shame, even today. We need to be more open about these kind of things, to bring them out in the open, to facilitate discussion, and this book does that in a classy and tactful way.
*The author thought she were dying.
*The author was excited about becoming a
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woman.*The author got their period in a public situation and bled through her clothes.
*The author didn't know anything about periods until it happened.
And so on.
And yet, despite these similarities than run through, each story maintains a sense of unique experience particular to that author. The story may be universal, but the experience is deeply personal. As I continued to read through these stories, and even as I saw more of the similarities that tied them together, I became more and more fascinated with these people who all experienced a similar event in their own way.
In many ways, I think this is a vital and necessary book, normalizing an experience that is often treated as a secret shame, even today. We need to be more open about these kind of things, to bring them out in the open, to facilitate discussion, and this book does that in a classy and tactful way.
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LibraryThing member Whitaknee
A great book about women and their first experience with their period. Incredibly well written, a great conversation starter, and makes the experience feel unifying.
LibraryThing member Salsabrarian
Do you remember when you first got your period? These ladies do. This collection of remembrances about first periods is funny, distressing, oh-so-familiar, and it seems every other essay cites the classic tome "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret." It's also reassuring: The sisterhood is as old as
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time and it lives forever. For teens already "on the rag," this book can help assuage embarrassment and discomfort. As a read for pre-teens, it's too sophisticated a work for all but the most precocious. This book will get you remembering your first period and how you've lived with your monthly visitor. Show Less
LibraryThing member bnbooklady
Whether the contributors are writing about not knowing what their period was and thinking they were dying, or lying about having it (or not having it) to fit in with friends, or hiding it from their mothers, or thinking it will never come (or wishing that it hadn’t), all of theme express
And, oh yeah, nearly every one of them learned about periods and sex from Judy Blume. Seriously.
My Little Red Book is a fantastic collection that explores an experience that ties all women to each other and that, more importantly, goes a long way in making these common experiences something we can feel more comfortable with and open about. It would be a great addition to any woman’s library, but it is a great fit for anyone interested in women’s studies, sexual health, and feminism, or who wants to begin an open dialogue about periods, puberty, and sexuality with the girls and women in her life.
Read my full review at The Book Lady's Blog.
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experiences that all of us who have periods can relate to and that all of us who don’t can learn from.And, oh yeah, nearly every one of them learned about periods and sex from Judy Blume. Seriously.
My Little Red Book is a fantastic collection that explores an experience that ties all women to each other and that, more importantly, goes a long way in making these common experiences something we can feel more comfortable with and open about. It would be a great addition to any woman’s library, but it is a great fit for anyone interested in women’s studies, sexual health, and feminism, or who wants to begin an open dialogue about periods, puberty, and sexuality with the girls and women in her life.
Read my full review at The Book Lady's Blog.
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Subjects
Language
Physical description
225 p.; 20 cm
ISBN
9780446546362
Similar in this library
Call number
2.63 N3 my 2009