Rating: 
Summary: Huge Help for Parents!
Review: I bought this book for my best friend, who is the mother of my six-year-old goddaughter. I figured that it couldn't be too early to learn about what lies ahead for all of us when little Ryann starts interacting with cliques. What I was totally unprepared for was how interested I would be in the book. I don't have a daughter, and my son is only eleven, but when I started reading the text myself, I didn't want to put it down. The easy-to-follow advice made me laugh and cry as it helped make sense of my own past and even shed light on the social structure surrounding my young son at his school. It also made me realize how similar boys and girls can be in their need to be popular and understood within their peer groups. I found that some of the text of this jewel of a book applies to parenting either sex (i.e. the most effective parent is a "Loving Hard ... Parent" and the all important reminder that the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree), and I felt an urgency to take notes so that I could be a more trustworthy and effective mom. This book showed me that my parents did many things RIGHT, which explains why my teenage years--and my relationship with my parents--were so enjoyable. I will reread this book so that I will do the right things with my son and with my goddaughter. I'm not sure why several of the reviews on this site are negative. I enjoyed this book so much that I am buying copies for all of my friends who have girls, as well as one for myself. It is beautifully written, expertly edited and comes straight from an author with more experience with teens than anyone I've ever met. Through her work with thousands of teenage girls, her "insiders" look into the world of young women is profound and a gift to those of us whose sanity will at times depend on making sense of the alien girls in our midst (whether they are our own, or interacting with our sons), and saying and doing the "right" thing at the "right" time. Thank you for this fantastic labor of love!
Rating:
Summary: Thank you
Review: I bought this book last night for my 14 year old daughter, who knew about it. As we BOTH read various sections, we were amazed at how accurate the information was. At various times we both had to smile as some of stories really hit home. Thank you !!!
Rating: 
Summary: What's going on with our kids?
Review: I bought this book on the recommendation of a friend. My daughter was having trouble with friends ganging up on her. She's only in 5th grade! It's troubling to me that 11 year old girls are already playing the popularity game. Our society isn't allowing little girls to remain little girls. They have all these images thrust upon them...teen queens Brittney and Christina tell them how they should look. Nickelodeon tells them what to buy. They listen to popular music and watch the news and are forced to grow up too soon. They are too young to make judgements and they begin to act in ways mentioned in the book. They feel they must act out and be seen. I don't remember school being such a competitive place. I'm saddened by what our society has become. I hope I can study this book and help my daughter to become a self-confident young woman. I'm thankful Ms. Wiseman wrote this book.
Rating:
Summary: A great book for understanding your teen daugher.
Review: I have to admit that when I first read this book, I was shocked. As a parent (and as a teacher), I thought I had a fairly good handle on what goes on in the life and minds of teens. Boy was I sorely mistaken! Ms. Wiseman's book is like a guidebook to another planet! Planet Teen Daugher, and it helps both parents and child(ren) negotiate this potentially horrendous time of life. The section dealing with the parenting styles was worth the price of the book. The reader is able to gain some keen insight on how he/she/they come across to their children, and what the potential drawbacks are to the various styles. It helps parents work out their own "issues," which is, what I feel, a key step in helping teens work out theirs. I had no idea that the social world of girls was so clique-ish and catty, but Ms. Wiseman sure wised me up in a hurry. She pulls no punches and tells it like it is, the truth, in all of its shocking reality. I think this book will go a long way in helping my wife and I understand our daughter, and what she will be going through, inside and out, as she approaches the 6th grade. What a remarkable book!
Rating: 
Summary: These girls aren't necessarily the norm
Review: I know girls like the ones in the book exist, but to assume your daughter will fall into one of the catagories is presumptious. Before reading the book I always saw my 14 year od daughter as a "floater", having a wide variety of friends in a wide variety of groups (music, sports, academics). The same could be said of many of her closer friends. When I read the descriptions of types of girls, she immediately recognized herself as a floater, but her reaction to the "queen bee" and the supporting group mentality was "who has time to be concerned about that stuff? Those people really need to get a life." In high school the catagories seem even less important.
Rating: 
Summary: Preparing for the inevitable
Review: I picked up this book for two reasons: first I am raising a young daughter and want every opportunity to understand what her world may be like, and what I can do to help as her father. Second, the reviews here really piqued my interest. For example when literary thinkers like John Zxerce review a book that looks on the surface as little more than tripe psychobabble, I take notice and assume there might be more to it. Overall, I have skimmed the book, and plan to read it again in more detail, but there is some great information here, as well as some of the expected psychobabble that sounds good on paper but doesn't really lead anywhere. An example of this is the section of homosexuality. It was presented with an agenda, not as a realistic look into this issue. The book is well written though, and I enjoyed, make that grimaced, at the thought of my daughter going through the school age gossip and cliques, and other potentially destructive issues teen girls face. If you are raising a young woman, this is a good source of information, but not by any means should it be taken as an "instruction manual" as the views are often overly simplistic and also often carry a liberal agenda. Good resource for identifying problems, just not solutions.
Rating:
Summary: A must read for parents
Review: I picked up this book from the library because I read that this book was the inspiration of the hit movie MEAN GIRLS. Not a work of fiction, this book is more of a self-help book written for parents to make parents understand the horrors that girls experience in school. Written by cofounder of Empower, a group that studies and helps teen girls in both elementary and high schools deal with daily social situations, this book examines why girls act the way they do and what parents can do to understand their daughters better. The book discusses the social hierarchy of all schools, why new students have trouble being accepted, why there are hierarchies in the first place, and how this social situation affects your daughter. I am only eighteen years old and not yet a parent, but I do agree with everything that Rosalind Wiseman writes in this book because I experienced it. There is valuable information in this book on how to help your daughter without invading her privacy or making her situations that are a crisis to her seem trivial. Wiseman speaks about the pressures of the white culture being dominant and how racism affects other cultures. It is honest and very true. It is a must read for all parents!
Rating:
Summary: I enjoyed this book
Review: I read both this and Odd Girl Out, and, in my 14-year-old mind, this was much better. This book gives a somewhat humorous, but at the same time completely accurate and serious, look at the middle school atmosphere. I was not a popular girl in middle school, but I've begun to realize how lucky I was the popular girls wouldn't even give me the attention to pick on me! Reading this book brought back several memories, and it also made me smile, and comprehend the world of cliques a little better.
Rating:
Summary: Beggining Helpful for New Middle Schoolers
Review: I really enjoyed Ms.Wiseman's book. I just started middle school this year and was suprised and hurt when one of my close friends in the lower school became a "Queen Bee" and I was not interested in those isuues. In the beggining of the book, Wiseman really explained some of those types of people and how to cope with cattiness. After reading other reviews I have a sneaking suspicion some of thelow rating female reviewers have had themselfs described in the book.
When the book nears the end however, it starts on things like sex, drugs, parties, ect, which is not really nessacary for 6th or 7th graders. I think Wiseman should have made two books because the beggining is more for middle schoolers while the end is more for high schoolers. Overall very helpful.
Rating:
Summary: A MUST read
Review: I recommend this book CONSTANTLY to parents and educators to help them learn what's really going on with teen and preteen girls. Queen Bees is a MUST read! Julia DeVillers, author of Girlwise: How to Be Confident, Capable, Cool and In Control
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