Dare to Be You: Inspirational Advice for Girls on Finding Your Voice, Leading Fearlessly, and Making a Difference by Marianne Schnall

When I was growing up, at around 12-year-old I found an old book in the house that had belonged to an older cousin of mine. Since my older sister had also read the book, I figured I would, too. Basically, it was an advice book for teenagers that had been published in 1958 and, needless to say, I didn't get very far. Thinking about it today, I felt the message for girls was "keep your mouth shut, don't make waves and be a good girl for your husband."*

Sometimes it feels like things haven't progressed much from that way of thinking. And why wouldn't I think that? When my Kiddo was in school, she did a project where she kept track of the number of times teachers called on boys in relation to the number of times the same teachers called on girls. She also included the number of times both boys and girls raised their hands to either ask or answer a question. Boys beat out the girls on average 3 to 1. The subtle message to girls: your voice doesn't count.

Well, yes it does and here is a whole book packed with quotes from different successful, well-known women that will help girls remember that their voice is important. My personal favorite quote comes from Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State under President Clinton:

"It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent."
                                                                                                                                                  (pg 106)

But the book doesn't end at finding a voice, there are also inspiration quotes about the importance of having an authentic voice, as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi says:

"Be your authentic self. Authenticity is everything. Think of what you have to offer and how unique that is." (pg 64)

This book contains quotes from a lot of different women in a lot of different fields: politics, sports, acting, diplomats, journalists, and more and you can find short biographies at the end of the book on each one of them.

I wondered what a girl around 12 would think about this book, and gave it to one of my neighbors daughters. She read it, passed on to a friend, who passed it on to another friend. It was a well-read book by the time I got it back, with unlinings and marginalia. Their verdict: not all the quotes appealed to all the girls, but each one had a wide variety of favorites, which is basically how I felt about it, too.

March is Women's History Month and a great time to read this book. It is the kind of book young readers will probably return to again and again.

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was an ARC sent to me by the publisher, Tiller Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster

* The book I almost read was called 'Twixt Twelve and Twenty by Pat Boone