Book Review: Girl Guide: 200+ Tips for High School Survival by Courtney S. King

Girl Guide: 200+ Tips for High School Survival Pages: 122
Format: eARC
three-stars

Title: Girl Guide: 200+ Tips for High School Survival
Author: Courtney S. King
Genre: Non-Fiction, self-help
Publisher: self-published
Publication Date: September 2012 
Pages: 122 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars

Synopsis (from goodreads):
Girl Guide: 200+ Tips for High School offers advice for teen girls entering or continuing high school. From primping for prom to decoding dudes, the first book in the Girl Guide series offers an array of advice for the sometimes difficult, but exciting four years of high school.

My Review:

I dreaded starting high school. My mother had just decided to go back to work full-time after taking 20 years off to raise use children and I had to change from the school all my friends were going to and go to a different one… one where I knew no one and was a little scared of. I was going to have start taking public transport (instead of being driven every day) and I hated the uniforms and… well… I was a pretty miserable 12-year-old.

I think I could have used this practical guide back then. With thirteen different parts each covering a different facet of school and growing up, there are hints and ideas of how to deal with classes, friends, boys and other things.

This little book is put together in such a clever way. There’s a quote and a supply list prefacing each part with not only physical items necessary but qualities a person might need to possess to achieve whatever task they are attempting – courage is definitely something that is necessary in most endeavours and high school is no different. There were a few times when I felt like the book was a little rigid in its instructions and needed a bit more flexibility in the language used – but as suggestions there is a lot of good and practical advice in the book. The chapter on boys may have relied a little too heavily on stereotypes and didn’t really mention the hazards of labelling people but that’s incredibly minor and I feel a little petty for even bringing it up.

I loved the websites mentioned to check out – weheartit is adorable! – and thought that including them in the book was a brilliant idea.

This is a cute little guide that I think would be a great tool for anyone starting high school to check out. The information included it generalized enough to be useful no matter your nationality (although I did have to google D.B.Q.’s) and I really enjoyed Courtney’s style of writing – I had a bit of a giggle when I read she mentioned that high school is nothing like it’s portrayed on Degrassi.

Thanks Courtney for providing me with a digital copy to review.

Purchase the novel from:

Amazon

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