How I Survived Being a Girl

Carolyn is a girl with strong opinions. On being a girl: ‘stupid.’ Wearing dresses: ‘only when forced, and then with shorts underneath.’ Summer nights: ‘make you feel invincible.’ Girls with MaryJjanes: ‘no use at all.’ The boy next door: ‘I do not have a crush on him!’ The top bunk: ‘for really great dreams.’ She thought she knew how she felt about everything. But the summer before the sixth grade, though everthing seemed the same, it all felt different.

In this wonderfully funny first novel, Wendelin Van Draanen perfectly captures the emotional earthquakes of growing up and growing into oneself.