Odd Girl Speaks Out: Girls Write about Bullies, Cliques, Popularity, and Jealousy

And, isn't this another way of telling you that you are flawed, that you should feel ashamed of yourself, and that you need to give up being who you are - or else?"

"Odd Girl Speaks Out," is a wonderful book, written with 11-22 year-old girls in mind. But, every woman can get something out of this, because by age 8, and for the rest of our lives, we are socialized with these 3 unspoken rules:
1. Don't Compete;
2. Don't Outdo; and,
3. Make the guys more valuable to you, than girls could possibly be.

We are also socialized to not directly confront conflict, especially with other girls.

And we learn, at an early age, to base our worthiness upon hanging onto our best girlfriends, at the price of our own worthiness.

I'm so glad to have read this book, because each letter, written by the 11-22 year-old contributors, reminds us that Girl Power is not about seeking legislative rights, although I wouldn't want to reverse what our foremothers have given us.

Girl Power also is not about blaming men for what we haven't succinctly communicated to them.

Girl Power is about facing the reality of the darker side of being girls. It is where we stop seeking targets in other women/girls, to make them look worse than we feel about ourselves. Allgirls are socialized to believe that power for girls is limited, and that if the other girl has it, she has taken away all the possibility for her to have power.

What troubled me, though, about this book were 2 things:
1. Never did the author explore how girl bullying is passed on between the mother/daughter wounds, and the decisions that mother make about what society expects of them.
2. Throughout this book, Simmons advocates girls changing schools when things are overwhelmingly difficult. The problem with this is: You are leaving with yourself. Whatever wound you have, whatever disempowering habit you created in reaction to being attacked is something that you will express at the new school, until you overcome your fears, and develop skills to defuse and deflect negative energy that is coming towards you, from others.

That being said, I still appreciate reading this book, and knowing that Simmons is brave enough to turn her own experiences into helping millions of others around the world.


Forget Diamonds-ODD GIRL is a girl's best friend.   February 5, 2004
Barbara Seaman (New York, NY USA)
21 out of 21 found this review helpful

It's obvious that the ODD GIRL books have helped dry the tears, and restore the equilibrium, of millions among the undeserviedly abused. Thanks to Rachel Simmons, we pick ourselves up from the floor and soldier on.

But there is more. ODD GIRL SPEAKS OUT has the power to unleash a spring of creativity in those who " make art." whether it be writing, music, painting, or theatre.
True story: Several children in a fourth grade class volunteered to write an opera. But they were stumped. One girl happened on a copy of ODD GIRL SPEAKS OUT. She couldn't put it down . She instantly got the idea that "betrayal" could be their operatic theme. All of the kids" got it,' and the more they looked in the book the more great ideas they had for the plot, the characters, the music, the stage sets. : BUBBLING BETRAYAL was the name. It was a big hit, and many in the audiences said that it was like a grown- up opera in its depth and emotion, yet it dealt with the real life experience of kids.
So for those among you who want to write truthfully and from your heart, -first read this book!. ODD GIRL SPEAKS OUT could "light your pilot" as it already has for one fourth grade class.


Odd Girl Speaks Out: Girls Write about Bullies, Cliques,   April 1, 2007
Donna Dannunzio
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

This is a GREAT book. My daughter who is 14 could really relate to it. As a mom it really gave me an insight to what she has to deal with at school.


Helpful conversation starter   May 21, 2007
A. Sands (Michigan)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

This book was recomended by my 6th grader's school counselor after she started making some questionable friend choices. We moved to a new area about a year ago and my two middle school daughters went from a very conservative charter school to a tight knit small town public school. My youger (6th grader) daughter has had a more difficult time adjusting and this helped a lot. My older daughter has always been the over-achiever, and expects the same of her sister. This book hleped a lot even within their relationship as I would consider my older child a "queen bee". This book helped my daughter open up to me more because it was easier for her to start a converstaion about something she read in the book, that happened to someone else, and it would lead us into things she is or has been going through. I read Queen Bees and Wannabes while she was reading this and it seemed to work out well, gave us a common thread and set the stage for planned conversations, something difficult to do well with girls this age.


Using this book with 11th graders....   April 12, 2007
Sonjanita Moore (chicago, IL USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

www.rachelsimmons.com

First off, I wanted to hook you up with the author's official site.

I think that this book is a MUST READ for any 8-12th grader in America! This coupled with the first book, Odd Girl Out coincide with the angst of being a young woman in this day and age. Thank God I don't have to be a teenager now!

I have used this text in my book club and it sparks great discussions and is a stepping stone to creating your own student anthology. It works well with tons of films and books, like Mean Girls, 13, or Speak. I can't even think of all the LIFETIME movies that coincide with this book as well.