The Care and Keeping of You by Eds. American Girls

Guy Stuff covers much of the same territory as its feminine predecessor: how to handle acne, when to start wearing deodorant, the best way to keep your braces clean. As a result, we have gotten really good at talking to our girls about what’s happening … We have really not done that for our boys.” “The girl changes are quite obvious, especially at the beginning of puberty. As a mother of a 14-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son herself, she recognized that the need for good information was just as strong for both sexes. Cara Natterson, a pediatrician who also wrote the 2013 update of the original book for older girls. “Parents have called me, they’ve emailed me, they’ve stopped me after speaking events and said, ‘Please, there’s nothing like this for our boys,'” says the book’s author Dr. Now, parents who’ve considered the books a lifeline for their daughters are getting a counterpart for their sons: Guy Stuff: The Body Book for Boys. Nineteen years and several updated editions later, the Care and Keeping franchise has sold nearly 6 million copies. Girls kept copies of the book close at hand, on bookshelves or in secret hiding places, to return to for continued consultation.

Aimed at girls aged 8 to 12, it used a conversational tone and relatable illustrations to talk girls through everything from basic hygiene to the more pubic side of puberty. In 1998, American Girl accomplished something truly remarkable: the doll company published a puberty book that girls actually liked.įor many girls born in the last 30 years, The Care and Keeping of You has been a bible of awkward adolescence.

The Care and Keeping of You by Eds. American Girls