Thanks to Aubrey Hansen’s suggestion I will be reviewing an extra book in at least two of our free Wednesdays. Today, I picked Beautiful Girlhood.
Girlhood is the opening flower of womanhood. It has charms all its own. The wonderful blossoming of young, healthy girlhood, will ever be God’s great miracle in life’s garden. Girlhood is like a half-open rose. We are charmed, both by the beauty of the bud and by the wonderful coloring of the rose. We behold the familiar traits of childhood that have always charmed us and held our affections, but blended with these in ever changing variety are the graces and powers of womanhood.
This book offers good, old-fashioned advice based on the Bible. It emphasizes lessons like the importance of being careful about what we say, how to behave like a lady, and the joy of being cheerful. As the back cover says, “What can be more beautiful than the budding and blossoming of girlhood? Those years of transition from childhood to womanhood are filled with wonderful interest and promise. But young feet that travel this way may be unsteady and unsure. Each could use guidance, a helping hand along the way. To encourage our girls to a nobler life and truer ideals is the task of this book.”
This book is admittedly old-fashioned, yet it was one of the shaping forces of my tween years. I could never bring myself to sit down and read the book cover-to-cover, but I returned to it many times over. When I was little, my parents teasingly called me a ragamuffin because I loved my old clothes and hated brushing my hair. This book is what made me start caring about the way my hair and clothes looked. Every time I opened it, I would put it down determined to work on my home-keeping skills or be a better friend. A very few of the minor points expressed in Beautiful Girlhood are too old-fashioned to be carried out today, but most of the content is timeless advice that every girl should be aware of as she grows up.
Author: Mabel Hale, revised and expanded by Karen Andreola
Audience: Middle-Grade to Teen Girls
Genre: Inspirational Non-Fiction
Pages: 205
Publisher: Great Expectations Book Co.
Leah E. Good 
*is very pleased her suggestion was helpful* 😀
I thought you and Aubrey were the same person. Hence, why everyone calls Aubrey “Leah.” Aubrey Hansen being a pen name.
I read “Beautiful Girlhood” over and over again when I was thirteen and fourteen … and I’m still fond of it now! 🙂