Girlhood: Teens Around the World in Their Own Voices compiled and edited by Masuma Ahuna grew out of a series the author composed for The Washington Post's The Lily. What this book does so beautifully is celebrate our diversity and draw us closer in the myriad ways in which these girls share similar experiences. In a world that seems focused on division, an attempt to unite is cause for celebration.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2021/02/girlhood-teens-around-world-in-their.ht...

Reviewed for NetGalley and a publisher's blog tour. ( )

Ever wonder what girls in Mongolia like to do? Or wonder about the home lives of girls in Russia? Or what girls in Haiti dreaming of becoming when they are adults? This book answers those questions for us.

Thirty ordinary girls around the world were asked about their families, their friends, their school, and their daily lives. Overall, girls around the world are very much alike. They go to school, hang out with friends, post on social media, help their parents with chores. Their dreams are the same, but how they are attained differ. Some encounter challenges that impact their access to education and, oftentimes, their safety.

The girls in this book shared photographs and diary entries to allow us a peek into their daily lives. Did you know that about 5M students around the world travel to another country for education? Education is so readily available here in the US, but not so much in many other countries.

In many countries, the future of women’s rights remains uncertain. In Nigeria, education is forbidden by the group Boko Haram. In Afghanistan, laws and attitudes shift with the politics of the land. Estimated about 40% of all school-aged children there do not attend school, with about 85% of those being girls. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, transport, water, and electricity are not always guaranteed. In Haiti, 13-year-old Merisena writes of days when her family cannot afford more than one meal a day, of lengthy power outages, and ongoing gang violence. Yet she has big dreams for the future.

Some of the girls have known nothing but conflict in their countries. Some fled their homes for a safer country, leaving behind their homes, friends, and most of their possessions. And while we see Baghdad as a place of war and conflict, 16-year-old Ruqaya sees it as shopping malls, exams at school, and long chats about marriage and life with friends. Some of the girls are dealing with gender identification and some with eating disorders. There is the universal fear of walking home after dark and the possibility of being attacked or worse.

I see this book as a valuable resource that should be in all school libraries. ( )