Do you remember that girl who got made fun of for stuffing her bra in the 6th grade? What about the girl you always noticed as she tried to hide in the bathroom during lunch because she thought she had no friends? Maybe you were that girl. Maybe you were the one that picked on her. Regardless of which role you played in this early teenage drama, I hope you can look back on it and breath a sigh of relief that it’s over.
But for millions of young middle schools girls today, it is getting even worse. So Haley Kilpatrick has made it her mission to make it better. “I started Girl Talk to help young teenagers build self-esteem, develop leadership skills, and recognize the value of community service,” says Kilpatrick, the Founder and Executive Director of Girl Talk Inc., a national nonprofit organization through which high-school girls mentor middle-school girls to help deal with the trials and triumphs of the early-teen years.
Kilpatrick has taken her 10 years of experience with Girl Talk and turned it into a must-read for any parent or professional that works with girls in their teens and tweens. “More than 2,000 hours of in depth interviews with middle and high school girls were conducted to help to identify the problems and perhaps more importantly, to identify the solution,” says Kilpatrick. “The book is also a comforting read for tween and teen girls to hear other stories, learn they are not alone, and perhaps most importantly learn simple, inexpensive ways to ditch the drama and make this an inspiring time in their lives,” she adds.
Not only is The Drama Years giving insight and encouragement to each reader, the book proceeds are going back to help maintain Girl Talk’s rich curriculum at no cost to the 35,000 young women (and growing) benefiting from it every day. Pick up a copy of this no-drama read here.