Book Review: Period. A Girl's Guide

If you have visited our restructured website recently you may have seen our book page. I am in the process of working my way through quite a few books on the subject of menstruation.
Funny how something we usually try not to think about too much can be so interesting once you pay attention to it!
I am starting my book review with a book aimed at young girls and her parents.
My own daughter is only 3 but we get quite a few inquiries for pad sets for teenagers.
And what a great idea! Why not start out with your very own set of beautiful, comfortable, reusable menstrual products.
So I started researching book for young girls on this topic and found my favorite in this one:
Period. A Girl’s Guide by JoAnn Loulan and Bonnie Worthern
The book itself is divided into two parts. The main part is the Girl’s Guide to Menstruation, the second part is the Parent’s Guide.
The Girl’s Guide includes illustrations and a glossary with pronunciation instructions. Right from the start the book puts great emphasis on how we are all different and that it is perfectly fine this way. The authors foster a positive body image without placing too much emphasis on external things.
The tone of the book is gentle and informative. It is not the funniest or most excitingly illustrated book I’ve ever read on the subject but what makes it more desirable to me than other books with the same target audience is that it completely leaves out sex education, giving the parent an opportunity to broach that subject on their own terms.
As you can imagine the chapter I am most critical about is the chapter on menstrual products. Of course the focus is on disposable materials. Worse though it starts of with a sanitary belt implying that ‘maybe your mother wore one, but most certainly your grandmother did’.
I think it’s time to edit that out of the next version. I am almost 40 years old and I am certain that not even my grandmother wore a sanitary belt.
It came as a pleasant surprise that the authors in fact did mention –ever so briefly- that some people preferred to use reusable pads and cups because they felt they were better for the environment and better for their bodies.
They also included some natural remedies to ease menstrual discomfort and a calendar section.
Despite its few shortcomings I found it to be the best book on menstruation for girls in that age range of 9 to 12 I have seen so far.
(I liked it so well I decided to offer it as an add-on option to our gift sets).
If you are interested in other books on the subject I have created a summary book page on our website www.DominoPads.com.

The next review will be on a book for older girls and women: My Little Red Book