Current:Home > News'The Care and Keeping of You,' American Girl's guide to puberty, turns 25 -Elevate Capital Network
'The Care and Keeping of You,' American Girl's guide to puberty, turns 25
View
Date:2025-04-12 07:00:27
This month marks the 25th anniversary of The Care and Keeping of You — a book that eased the adolescent anxieties of a generation of girls, including myself. The book, which sought to demystify puberty, sold millions of copies, and was on the New York Times bestseller list as recently as 2016.
For my friend Kaela Seiersen, however, the book was contraband. She says a family friend lent the book to her family when she was kid. Her mom wasn't sure her homeschooled 8 year old was ready to read a book so straightforward about changes to girls' bodies, so she took it away. But not very far away.
"The book appeared on top of my fridge, so I would stand on the chair and try to read it," Seiersen says. "It was really hard because my parents were around all the time, and also the fridge was really tall. So even when I stood in a chair, I couldn't grab it."
Seiersen says at first, she was mostly fascinated by the book's strange new information. She remembers seeing illustrations of the different stages of breast development and thinking "I'm never gonna look like that, I'm never gonna be an adult."
But when she got a bit older, Seiersen started to use the book to answer questions she didn't feel comfortable asking her parents.
The book's author, Valorie Schaefer, worked for American Girl magazine before writing The Care and Keeping of You. She says the magazine got a lot of letters from girls who had plenty of questions they didn't want to ask their parents.
"Just these heartbreaking letters, but also such sweet letters," Schaefer remembers. "When am I gonna get my period, what about these pimples, why do I feel so emotional all the time?"
Schaefer had a lot of empathy for these girls. Growing up in the 1960s, she says she had even fewer resources for figuring things out on her own.
"You would get a box of tampons and it would have this huge fold out set of instructions, like a road map for putting in at tampon," she remembers.
So Schaefer set out to write less intimidating instructions with a nervous young audience in mind. It included another of my friends, Abby Eskinder Hailu, who will never forget the diagram from the book explaining how to put in a tampon.
"It told you to angle the tampon towards your back," she says. "I remember thinking of that when I first started using tampons, like, wow, this is really helpful."
"No matter what stage of life you're in, it's very helpful sometimes just to have a voice somewhere telling you you've got this, you're normal," says Schaefer.
And as the readers of the first generation of The Care and Keeping of You get older, they've got a new request for Schaefer. "Most often the thing people ask for is a book for perimenopause," she says.
It turns out sometimes even the really big kids just want a caring and accurate book that explains their ever changing bodies.
veryGood! (56298)
Related
- Federal appeals court upholds $14.25 million fine against Exxon for pollution in Texas
- Jon Gruden joins Barstool Sports three years after email scandal with NFL
- Jennifer Hudson, Kylie Minogue and Billy Porter to perform at Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade
- Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow's Son Moses Martin Reveals His Singing Talents at Concert
- What do we know about the mysterious drones reported flying over New Jersey?
- Advocacy group sues Tennessee over racial requirements for medical boards
- Bankruptcy judge questioned Shilo Sanders' no-show at previous trial
- Paraguay vs. Argentina live updates: Watch Messi play World Cup qualifying match tonight
- Chuck Scarborough signs off: Hoda Kotb, Al Roker tribute legendary New York anchor
- Outgoing North Carolina governor grants 2 pardons, 6 commutations
Ranking
- Charges tied to China weigh on GM in Q4, but profit and revenue top expectations
- Hurricane-stricken Tampa Bay Rays to play 2025 season at Yankees’ spring training field in Tampa
- King Charles III celebrates 76th birthday amid cancer battle, opens food hubs
- West Virginia expands education savings account program for military families
- Which apps offer encrypted messaging? How to switch and what to know after feds’ warning
- Advocacy group sues Tennessee over racial requirements for medical boards
- In an AP interview, the next Los Angeles DA says he’ll go after low-level nonviolent crimes
- Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin to kick off fundraising effort for Ohio women’s suffrage monument
Recommendation
Most popular books of the week: See what topped USA TODAY's bestselling books list
Powerball winning numbers for Nov. 13 drawing: Jackpot rises to $113 million
Jimmy Kimmel, more late-night hosts 'shocked' by Trump Cabinet picks: 'Goblins and weirdos'
5-year-old boy who went missing while parent was napping is found dead near Oregon home, officials say
NHL in ASL returns, delivering American Sign Language analysis for Deaf community at Winter Classic
Mississippi expects only a small growth in state budget
Giuliani’s lawyers after $148M defamation judgment seek to withdraw from his case
Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow's Son Moses Martin Reveals His Singing Talents at Concert