Stephanie Weaver: Teenage Girls Talk

By MARGIE THOMSON

Not so much a handbook as an insight into the way teenage girls think and feel about their world, this is a companion to Weaver's successful Teenage Boys Talk.

Weaver goes straight to the source, speaking to 52 New Zealand teenage girls about subjects as diverse as their mothers, fathers, step-parents (what they like and don't like), education, social lives, personal choices to do with drugs, alcohol and sex, and about their beliefs and values.

Weaver ends each chapter with a summary of questions for parents to reflect on. There's much to learn here, and we will all find ourselves somewhere in this resulting spectrum of family life, warts, wonders and all.

Do we really need to be reminded of the value of communication, and regular family get-togethers around the dinner table? It seems we do.

Random House

$29.95