I often blog about encouraging students to read and how to help create an environment for reading. As I continue to ask this of students, I am also reading voraciously to make sure I am a role model for my students. This summer two of many books on my reading list are by Mayim Bialik. You might remember her as the actress who played Blossom (which is when I watched a majority of my TV) or as Amy Farrah Fowler-Cooper on The Big Bang Theory. She has written two books that I feel like are ideal for middle students — Girling Up: How to be Strong, Smart, and Spectacular and Boying Up: Brave, Bold, and Brilliant. So far, I have had the chance to read Girling Up. Boying Up is in the mail; it was just published in May and is not in our public library system, yet.
Girling Up was the book I wished I had when I was in middle school to give my the confidence to learn about myself as a changing female. Bialik is a Neuroscientist and gives good insight into the changing bodies and minds of an adolescent female. The book has six chapters:
HOW OUR BODIES WORK
HOW WE GROW
HOW WE LEARN
HOW WE LOVE
HOW WE COPE
HOW WE MATTER
Bialik jumps right into what might be the most difficult part for changing kids, their bodies. The chapter gives detailed explanations and diagrams that might be intimidating, but necessary and scientific information. Because of this, I recommend, parents looking at the book before handing it off to their daughter. I like how the book also recommends at several points throughout the book for daughters to check in with parents. This book allows a female to get answers to questions she might not feel comfortable asking about.
The book gives practical ways to create positive and healthy mental states for this often puzzling time in a person’s life. I feel like it would be a great companion for a middle school health class. Warning: this is just my opinion, but I do not teach health. I, also, know that even though the book is steeped in fact, not everyone’s opinion about reproductive health is the same, and I honor these differences. This is why I encourage parents to pick it up with their child or review it first.
I picked up this book because as I spend more time with middle school students, I realize how difficult middle school can be. Students are changing both mentally and physically, and it can be a confusing time and a time to test boundaries and a time to question. I want to help students feel strong, smart, and spectacular and create a space for students to grow in a safe environment. This book helped remind me what it was like to be a middle schooler.
I encourage parents and students to check this book out or the male counterpart. I look forward to reading Boying Up to get a better understanding of what my male students might be going through. I am grateful for these resources Mayim Bialik (mother of two boys) has provided for our children and parents (and teachers).