A collection of personal essays that explore various aspects of young womanhood as well as a wide array of topics from the social to the political, from economics to religious expression, and even love and sexuality. As a teacher I cannot preach enough about the importance of representation and of seeing yourself reflected back at you from the page; because of my fervent belief, I wish this book would make itself to every school library and most classroom libraries.

I loved these stories and each one was so unique. These perspectives are so important, especially in today's world. Each story was beautifully written and many women/girls will be able to relate!

A necessary collection that feels empowering and radical just in the act of publishing the stories of teenage girls alongside those of established female writers, mentors and celebrities.

I agree that it lends itself well to being used in class - there are lots of stories short and compelling enough to hook reluctant readers in and the themes make continued independent reading easy.

I can see this being a catalyst for the work of lots of future writers - I’m looking forward to introducing my students to this.

A quick and fun look at how girls are continuing to exceed expectations. A good choice for younger girls who are looking for some inspiration.

GIRLS WRITE NOW is a beautiful collection of essays which would make a fabulous holiday or graduation gift. It is subtitled "two decades of true stories from young female voices" and these short writings feature typical teen concerns (first kiss, bullying and belonging, work and school pressures) as well as lifelong issues associated with gender, poverty and opportunity. Due to the non profit's location, many of the inspirational young writers are from the New York area, but several other states and countries are represented and the surnames reflect the breadth of ethnic experiences which are included. Well-known, established writers (e.g., Alice Walker, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Francine Prose), have provided brief reflections on writing, such as:

"Everyone has a voice. It's just a question of finding the courage to use it, and the first step in finding the courage is knowing that no matter who you are or how quiet you think your voice is, your voice matters. You are never going to please everyone with what you say, but you don’t have to worry about that...." ~Roxane Gay

"To write is to bring an inner voice into the outer world, to believe that our thoughts are worth entering the thinking of others and to make real what has never existed in quite the same way before. What could be a better path to self-value than that?" ~Gloria Steinem

GIRLS WRITE NOW is full of emotion and will elicit even more from readers; this title received a starred review from Booklist. Get this text as an advisory/homeroom read and pair it with other readings like The New York Times feature – "This is 18." In fact, many of the essays in GIRLS WRITE NOW would be appropriate to share with middle school students (School Library Journal suggests grades 7 and up) which makes this collection a great book for parent-student reading. That, in turn, offers the possibility of complementing this text with the NEW Frontline Dispatch Podcast on the refugee crisis which has been designed specifically for parents to share with older children and teens.

Links in live post:
https://www.girlswritenow.org/
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/11/style/this-is-18.html
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/podcast/dispatch/muzamils-day/

This is a varied selection of short true stories written by young women from all walks of life. Each page (or 2) offered a small view into the life of a brave girl who was determined to be herself and achieve her dreams.

From authors who were born and raised in New York City to those who emigrated with their parents in search of a new life, we learn about the obstacles they face each in a unique writing style expressing the individual writing. There are also snapshots from a number of established female writers offering advice to young women who might be reading.

This was an excellent selection of true stories, each one only a page or so long with a very short biography of the author at the end. It made it an easy book to pick up when only short periods of time were available, and as a result was quite quick to get through - it's easy to find a couple of minutes to read a couple of pages and not feel you need to find hours at a time - though it was easy to get sucked in to reading several!

Sometimes it would have been nice to read a bit more - I felt there was more to tell - but this is a great selection to help young girls from all backgrounds, cultures and walks of life to learn that they each have a place in the world and are free to express their own identity - and most importantly have the power to become whatever they want to be.

I received an e-ARC of this book from the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoy this book so much. I love the mix of authors and all the different style of writers, is great! It's very personal! I love the messages, the multi-cultural, and all the different subjects that all of these stories have. I learned about some authors I haven't heard yet, that I can't wait to look into and read their books. I can't believe I haven't been hearing about this book. It's a must read!

I can't wait to give copies to my younger female family members once they get old enough to read this book!

This book is great for younger readers and writers to see what people their age are capable of doing and the ways in which their voice can be heard.

Unfortunately I’m no longer of that age and it didn’t engage in quite the same way. I would certainly pass this on to any teen readers/writers that I know.

I loved the variation in styles and subjects that all these stories brought to the table. This is a really special anthology - I can't wait to see what these girls do next.

Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC of this book that I was provided in exchange for a fair and honest review!

I want to start off by saying that in some ways this review may be a bit unfair for the sheer fact that I was so excited about this book when I started reading it. I don't mean excited in the normal "oh, wow, this book sounds so good" way, either: I mean I was excited about this book's very existence. There is such a tendency to downgrade the teenage girl's experience as frivolous and shallow that I think we've become dismissive: learning that there was a book that was nothing but an outlet for these young, female voices thrilled me!

having said that, there were times during my reading of this book when I was pretty disappointed. This book told the stories I wanted to read: immediately from the jump there were stories reflecting real issues with things like identity, sexuality, race, and religion. It was incredibly powerful to read these heavy complicated thoughts from such young minds. So what disappointed me wasn't the content: it was the writing.

Here, again, I think I'm being unfair: these are teenage writers and, frankly, most of them write much better as teenagers than I ever could have, so I'm aware that the problem is potentially a me problem: I want too much. Even knowing that, though, I can't help but be sad that so many of these essays read like college entrance essays: they cover the introduction and many make huge revelations at the end, but there's no middle. There's no real showing how they got there. That's what I most hungered for and that absence, ultimately, made me wholly unsatisfied.

There were other really predictable issues (namely a ton of overwriting and some weirdly mixed metaphors), but those things are so not even blips. They're easy to ignore and totally normal. The missing middles, though, just weren't easy to ignore for me. I couldn't get over it because it happened in essay after essay. I was excited to read this book because I so desperately wanted to hear these teenage voices: voices speaking for my daughter, her friends, my little cousins. I'm still excited by what Write Now is doing to provide that for young girls and think it's incredibly empowering . . . but for right now I'm left still craving those voices.

http://bibwithblog.blogspot.com/2018/09/thank-you-to-net-galley-for-arc-of-this.html

An honest, and powerful book. Unlike anything that I have read before. Every teen girl should read this book.

Girls Write Now is a powerful book. It includes a compilation of stories written by girls/young women from a variety of backgrounds and cultures. The stories prompt the kind of reflection much like someone viewing a piece of artwork – what meaning can I take away of from these written words. This quote from the book, “In many ways, there’s nothing more powerful than writing,” sums up the feeling I got from the book. These girls found their voice in the writing. The themes of the stories are not presented in any specific way and that may make it seem disjointed and unrelated. However, I thought that format added to the reflective nature of each individual story.

This title was provided by NetGalley in return for an honest review.

What a wonderful book to gift to any woman, but specifically a teen. Eye opening stories from so many unique viewpoints.

A brilliant exporation of modern feminism within the writing world, I loved it and believe it will help inspire younger girls.

I received an ARC of this collection from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Brutally honest essays from young females--a wide range of backgrounds and topics. I enjoyed the book, and feel that it will be a good classroom tool for teachers to inspire honesty and creativity in young writers.

A collection of very personal narrations that vary in length, narration, point of view and come from all walks of life, which I love and embrace with both arms wrapped tightly. However, if the stories were grouped or organized differently, the book would be much more approachable. Also, since the lengths vary, the book can be picked up or put down at will. And if the last story read didn't really hook you, it takes a long time to pick the book up again. There are a lot of very short reads, so perhaps longer and fewer may have been a better way to collect the stories for maximum impact of what is happening in the young women of right now.

A nice addition to a YA library, specially as it focuses on stories about diverse girls by the girls themselves. A good read to spark debate among teens. My only negative is that the stories feel a bit old.

This is a powerful collection of narratives written by a diverse group of young women. However, this compilation would have had a stronger impact if the essays were grouped by theme. The essays cover issues that run the gamut from the ending of a friendship to systemic racism in our society. Yet they appear to be arranged in no apparent order. Additionally, there were a number of grammatical errors, which is a drawback for educators seeking to use these essays as examplars in the classroom. Ultimately, this is a worthy publication that features admirable young females writers using their voices to tell stories that are more important than ever.

Filled with multi-cultural stories from girls living in the United States, the stories all share common themes of teenage angst, family issues, fitting in/self-image and more. These teenage authors write with exquisite voice and prose in a relatable format for teen readers. I can't wait to recommend this book to my readers. #netgalley #girlswritenow

Sectioned off by quotes from strong female writers like Roxane Gay, Zadie Smith, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, this collection of girls’ letters is both heartening and heartbreaking.
Authentic, strong (although insightful and empathetic) girls voice their thoughts on having a voice, independence, and maintaining identity.
This book would be a powerful weapon in the hands of a female teen — I know I myself could have used a strong female influence from a book of real writers with lives similar and different from my own. They’d have spoken to me: “It’s okay if you’re going through this and it’s okay if you’re not—what matters is YOU being you, not being what everyone else wants.” I needed to hear that daily as a teen, even though in reality I did not.
I think this read will be powerful for young readers, but even as an adult I found it meaningful and inspiring.