This is a collection of poems by Naomi Shihab Nye that is especially relatable to middle school girls. As the title suggests, Nye's voice seems to challenge others to see what it's like to be a girl transitioning from childhood into adulthood. The journey is complex and confusing, much like a maze. It is also rewarding and simply, well....amazing. Nye recalls her own transitional years in Texas as she writes about "Visiting My Old Kindergarten Teacher" on the last day of school and recalling her own "self-portraits with hats" that these students are now taking home. Likewise, she writes about day to day concerns for a teenage girl like what it is like "In the School Cafeteria." As you search for your friends to sit and eat lunch with, "your face makes me feel like a lighthouse beaming across waves." Nye's advice to young girls permeates in poems such as "Feeling Wise." She says, "It is not so hard to feel wise. Just think of something dumb you could say, then don't say it." Nye's poetry is simple and accessible to readers. Middle school girls will gravitate to her perspective, as it is true and honest.
Nye's poetry is relatable even to a thirty-something like me. One thing I've found as I grow older is that I have more and more to reflect upon in my life. One of my favorite poems in this book was "Baby-sitting Should Not be Called...sitting." I could relate to her thoughts of irony of the word as she chases, bends, amuses, and everything else except for sitting. Having babysitting jobs growing up, I can attest to the fact that it is not as easy as perceived. I got quite the workout babysitting younger children, and it taught me to appreciate those who teach and care for young children. This challenge led me to the profession that I have today working with early childhood students and educators.
In "Abandoned Post Office, Big Bend," I am reminded of the changes that technology has brought and the effects that follow. Nye writes, "Forty years ago this postal window far far far from any city closed for good," just like the post office in my community did just last year. As a teenage girl, I remember writing letters to soldiers oversees in the Gulf War. For this generation of teenage girls, skype, email, and texting, are all available. The need for communication is still the same, but the method has definitely changed.
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