Monday, June 14, 2021

Clothes, Devices, and Manners: The Thoughtful Girl's Guide


by Mary Sheehan Warren

I was considering including It's So You by the same author in our high school health course, mainly for my daughters, when one of the members of the Mater Amabilis Facebook group mentioned The Thoughtful Girl's Guide. 

This book is like a casual conversation with a mentor. It covers many topics we all want to discuss with our children but may not know how to broach. (The topics for boys are similar, but the book is expressly written for girls.) There's a little on fashion (clothes and makeup), presentation (speaking, meeting people, interviews), phone etiquette, social media, and manners. Everything is related to the big theme of who God wants you to be and how you reveal that true self to friends and family members.

The only quibble I have with the book is how few of the drawings depict obvious women of color. There are vignettes throughout of people to know and stories to illuminate virtues. Those vignettes feature people of many races, mainly women. The line drawing examples for the fashion sections, however, appear mostly white to me. It also seemed like the (brief) tutorial on applying makeup assumed a light complexion. These are small quibbles, but I think they might make it more difficult to share with young women of color.

I plan to include this book in our health course for my daughters. I'll probably make it free-time reading because it's such a conversational and enjoyable read. I know my older daughter is looking forward to it. I caught her reading bits and pieces of it while I was reading it.

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Amazon and Bookshop are affiliate links. I purchased this book.