Rating: 
Summary: Boy-bashing writ large.
Review: As if being a boy in middle school wasn't already hard enough to survive, now we have a book by an author who wants to make it harder. Barf.
Rating: 
Summary: Describes loss of self-esteem in middle school girls
Review: Compares white, Latina, and black teenagers during a year of middle school. Discusses classroom treatment, discipline,
and life issues that the girls encounter.
Rating:
Summary: Coming of age is bad news -- but there is a better way.
Review: First studying girls in an affluent, suburban jr. high
school, then the same age group in an inner-city school,
Orenstein shows the terrible oppression that grinds down
young females in America, despite their struggles to over-
come it. It's not all bad news, however; the book begins
and ends with a remarkable portrait of a teacher making a difference in her junior high school.
Rating:
Summary: Better than Reviving Ophelia
Review: For a year, Peggy Orenstein followed middle school students from one white suburban and one impoverished minority community, documenting the gender, power and life struggles of seventh and eighth grade girls. The resulting work, SchoolGirls, draws from both academic and anecdotal sources and reads like a series of interwoven short stories with an unhidden agenda.
From the first example of biased classroom dynamics in which one male student engages in an attention-desperate power struggle with his female teacher to the teacher-imposed gender equality of a women in history class Orenstein demonstrates the extreme impact of teachers' attitudes and approaches. This is a thoughtful and thought provoking work that successfully avoids being preachy while offering hope and solutions, placing responsibility on every involved party. SchoolGirls' only glaring flaw is the overemphasis on the role of the teachers and the underemphasis and therefore ironic disempowerment of the girls to effect their own situations.
Rating:
Summary: Boys suffer anxiety in junior high school, too.
Review: I agree with Susan's review. This book employs a familiar and effective--but flawed--journalistic technique to build its case. Vivid interviews with individuals of one gender at two schools are coupled with broad-brush generalizations about all girl students and all boy students at all schools. The reader is encouraged to assume that the girls suffer greater anxiety in middle school, because only girls are interviewed. A book that only reported interviews with these girls' male classmates could have built up an equally powerful picture of anxious, underachieving boys at the same schools. This is not quality reporting. Let the reader beware.
Rating:
Summary: Clear prose in the service of a wretched theme.
Review: I agree with those earlier reviewers who pointed out how harshly this book treats junior-high-school boys.
Rating:
Summary: I'm a schoolgirl
Review: I read this book for psychology, and have since lent it to 3 friends. As Orenstein's book points out, although women have made great advancements in the last 100 years, we are far from being treated equally. During 10th grade, EVERY SINGLE BOOK that I was required to read for English had a male as the main character. So in response to the reviewer that whined about ALL students possibly studying NOW and the people accomplishments of both genders, I want to let you know that I am now in my senior year of high school and I am sick and tired of learning about the history of men and the literature of men. There is some great stuff out there that women have done and written, and students of both sexes should be aware of it. I don't blame my unwillingness to speak up in class on boys or my teachers. I know now, though, that I have the right to give my opinion in class, despite the reactions (or lack thereof) I may receive. As for other schoolgirls, stand up for your gender and speak out! That's the only way to be heard.
Rating: 
Summary: A great book for anyone--especially teachers!
Review: I'd recommend this book to anyone, but especially to educators. Orenstein does a good job of showing how the stereotypes ingrained in all of us influence a young girl's development. Our subconscious expectations of girls have a deep impact on their academic confidence as well as their self-image. I've seen examples in many high school classes of everything Orenstein discussed. She addresses the mistakes made by even well-meaning people and teachers who just don't know how to treat girls non-stereotypically. She gives us a different perspective--the perspective of the student and the adolescent. Looking at our actions through their eyes, we can gain an awareness of how to bring about change.
Rating:
Summary: An unforgettable read, impeccably reported and fair
Review: I've read SchoolGirls several times and bought countless copies for friends. It's a fantastic read, one that in moments had me trembling, recalling some of my own experiences and feelings during those middle school years. I applaud Orenstein for undertaking a large-scale piece of writing and reporting. I disagree entirely with those who are calling for more on boys: good books are by necessity specific.Because there's been a recent spate of books oriented toward boys' experiences at the same age, it seems both cheap and easy for new readers of SchoolGirls to question why boys aren't covered more thoroughly here. The book was written in response to a study whose results revealed startling statistics about girls. As a 32-year-old woman and a young mother, I find Orenstein's reporting and synthesis among the most powerful and helpful of tools given to me. I recommend this book heartily to those concerned about children of both genders.
Rating:
Summary: Selected stories to support a political position.
Review: If you're female and looking for scapegoats to blame for any educational difficulties you may have had growing up, this is the book for you. However, if you are sincerely looking for ways to help your daughters or students avoid the kind of angst you went through in junior high school and high school (as we all did), then you will find your time better spent elsewhere. This is a political book, not a report of objective research.
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