Great, straight-forward, book.

Sorry for the delayed review. I have been working this year to catch up on my netgalley backlog. I appreciate the opportunity to read this story.

Girl Talk is a great book that targets girls from maybe middle primary through to lower secondary school. Excellent explanations that aren't cringeworthy. The illustrations match the content well, leading me to believe that this would work well in a library (or at home).

A very useful guide for every girl. This book understands the mentality of a girl child who is growing up and has answers to most of the questions which may arise. It has tips regarding health, hygiene and even dressing. A must read for every girl who is preteen or teen. Kudos to the author.

Highly recommended!

Thank you for the review opportunity.

This is a great book that is full of interesting facts and information. It's fun and easy to follow with interesting content for young girls to understand more about what will happen to them. Would definitely recommend this!

Girl Talk is a fantastic, straight-forward read that provide clear answers to common questions from pre-teen girls. The format of the book is attractive and fun. For girls that are enjoying the American Girl growing-up series, this could be a great complementary read.

Girls talk about what the girls will talk with their age group........

Girl Talk is a wonderful guide for young girls that takes them through what happens to their body and mind as they go through all of the joy and drama that is puberty. I would have devoured this book growing up if it had been available back in the olden days. It includes a couple of case studies and the answers to some of the more common but often embarrassing questions young girls need to know.

This book covers a wide range of topics:
* What puberty is
* Why it happens and how it affects the outside of your body as well as your brain
* Individual sections with information about breasts, bras, periods, body hair, pimples and skin care, eyes and teeth, body odour and personal hygiene, feet
* The stages that boys' bodies go through during puberty
* Love and relationships
* Sex and how babies are made
* Contraception
* Healthy eating and fitness
* Body image
* Body shaming
* Social media and phones
* Cyberbullying
* Bullying and peer pressure
* School life
* Sexism and gender equality
* Family talk
* Depression
* Growing up happy.

One of the things I love about this book is how it keeps telling its readers that what they're experiencing is completely normal and that they're OK!

* One of your breasts is bigger than the other? Normal!

* You like boys, you like girls, you like both, you like neither? Totally OK!

* You don't know how to tell if a bra fits you correctly? Here's a checklist!

* Not ready to have sex yet? Then don't!

The writing style is engaging. While Lizzie Cox never forgets who her target audience is, she also doesn't talk down to the girls who'll be reading this book. Her writing style is very down to earth so no topic feels sensationalised and there's no drama. It's all just good common sense advice. She also consistently encourages girls to talk to a trusted adult for information and advice if they're worried, scared or have questions. The illustrations by Damien Weighill are age appropriate, humourous and quirky at times but in good taste.

The helplines provided towards the end are UK specific and the target audience is listed as 8 to 11 year olds.

When puberty hit me I was best friends with a few extraordinarily sheltered girls from church families. I have nothing against church families but these ones in particular had their daughters so embarrassed about anything to do with their bodies that the girls wouldn't even use the word breasts in conversations. They were referred to "up top". Interestingly hypocritical though, one of the families had no problem at all with their 13 year old daughter that couldn't name her body parts dating a 20-something creepy, slimy leprechaun (sorry to all the leprechauns out there for disparaging your good name!).

Needless to say these girls, while lovely, weren't the most useful buddies to talk birds and the bees with, so my education came mostly through sneaking short reads of Derek Llewellyn-Jones' 1971 Everywoman when my parents were out or hoping that someone had written in (using actual paper, an envelope and postage stamp) to Dolly Doctor asking one of my burning "Am I normal?" questions. For those of you that didn't grow up in Australia, reading Dolly magazine was one of those girl rites of passages for those of us growing up in the pre-2000's and still exists today.

I'd recommend this book for parents to give to their young girls, either for them to read alone and ask questions at the end or to go through together. It would certainly make it easier for parents to discuss topics that they may not be overly comfortable explaining to their daughter. It would also be a great addition to public and school libraries, and during school sex ed classes. There's also a companion book by the same author and illustrator called Guy Talk which I haven't personally read but if it's anything like this book I could recommend it by association.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley (thank you very much to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group - QEB for the opportunity) in exchange for honest feedback.

*thank you to Quarto Publis­hing Group - QEB and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

4 stars.
This is a very good, informative book. Puberty. Such a rough time and alot of adults/parents find the subject and the thought of talking to their daughter about this, a bit too uncomfortable. But thats where this book steps in. In no way is it to be used instead of talking to your daughter but this will definitely help. It is appealing to read with lots of drawing to make it an easy read. The author tries to make it fun by trying to make it less serious by adding humor. She answers questions girls aged roughly between 8-14 although she states puberty can begin earlier or later and thats ok. I only wish I coukd have had a book like this as my own mother was definitely not one to tell me all I needed to know. This book would have helped me tremendously. Highly recommend!