A book that gives instructions on how to do the most basic tasks such as washing clothes, changing batteries, cooking, etc. Most are very simple so children might already know them but it would still be useful for children to read the book because there might be important things to learn like how to safely cut while cooking.

Appreciated this opportunity to review Essential Life Skills for Girls by Lisa Quirk Weinman and Megan Monaghan. There were certainly a good number of life skills, but I question if these are really life skills *for girls*… the gendering of some of the skills/tasks referenced made this book a touch questionable for this reader. Thanks to NetGalley, the authors, and publisher for the opportunity to review this ARC.

Good information and well thought out. Thorough. But there is literally no need to say it’s “for girls.” And in 2024, the implication will likely be off-putting for most in the target demographic. It was off-putting generally.

I loved this, just wish it was renamed maybe "for Middle School Girls" as I don't see a lot of my freshies picking this up. However, the language is kind and I love that it explains the use of I-Statements and even has informative sections on school and academics. A few years ago, we had a program come into our schools for our girls that was meant to help them peer-facilitate hard conversations, and I remember a girl asking, "well what happens when it's an adult?" and the program person not understanding. Bravo for Weinman and Monaghan for including these types of scenarios to manage student-adult difficult conversations, like how to address homework or being asked to not talk as much etc.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Very well done! Everything a 10-14 year old needs to know!!!! If I can get mine to read it, it will be so helpful. Thank you forwriting this!

This is a fun and playful guidebook for tweens, with lots of helpful tips in a variety of categories. As the mom of a teen and a tween, some of the tips seemed incredibly simple, but I'm sure I would have found it very helpful when I was younger and had to figure out many things on my own (or with the help of a book). I know my girls will probably read through it once or twice and learn something new!

Essential Life Skills for Girls could easily be titled "Essential Life Skills for Everybody". It was a quick-paced, easy to read, guide to becoming a functioning adult. As an adult, I found myself reading through the list-like text, nodding my head, and realizing that I need to buy this book to have in the library, as well as for my own teenage daughters. I also found myself realizing that I could also learn from this book.
This book was very easy to read, with just enough illustrations to break up the text into bite size pieces. Does it have everything we want our children to know going out in the world? Of course not; but, it is a very good addition to the skills we try to instill in our teenagers/young adults.
As always, it can be difficult to entice the target audience to read a book on the subject of life skills, but this book is engaging enough to keep one reading it, once it is picked up. It is also organized in a way that it can be put down and picked up later, or read by chapter of interest and one will still walk away knowing more than before they picked it up.
Definitely recommend libraries to put this on their shelves.

'Essential Life Skills for Girls' is something I think all girls 10-14 could use to learn things and become independent and confident in their skills. That being said, while many of these things could be one based on these instructions, I think some more pictures would have been useful. For example, the instructions for operating manual and electric can openers are thorough, but if a child doesn't know what they look like because they're not used to seeing it, they're not going to be able to find it. I do love that the authors included emergency skills such as putting out a kitchen fire and practicing first aid. I wish these kinds of books were around when I was younger. We plan to use these types of books, including this one, for my family as our daughters grow so they can become confident in skill-building and in becoming independent.

I am giving this 4 stars based on some of the content. I felt the first part with cleaning tips are things many kids, boys and girls, know. I did like the self help part - screwing something back together, using a plunger and clothes cleaning is always helpful. I would have rather seen tips for emergencies, such as a water leak (where to turn the water off) or power. What if there is a weird smell like rotten eggs. These are important and everyone should know how to deal with emergencies. I did like most the other parts dealing with social media, peer pressure, how to self advocate. Young girls need guidance on this area as they can become passive. Overall, this title did have many useful tips, but I wasn’t keen on all the cleaning parts I also would have liked to see more cooking information. How to read a recipe and maybe some easy recipes to do.

I would like to thank #netgalley #zeitgeist for the opportunity to review this title.

I think this is a great book for girls that don't have the adult guidance in their life. It helps to explain how to do things in a simple way and also the skills that are essential in getting through life. My girls are growing up on a farm with a butcher shop so a lot of these skills they are already have but being in the school system, I can see a lot of girls with no moms and broken families that could really appreciate this book and the guidance it gives!

This is a nice concise guide to make sure your daughter or another tween in your life is prepared for teen- and adulthood. The sections make it easy to use as a quick guide in areas in which they can improve. Or they can read cover to cover to find areas they might not be as strong in, and shore up ones they know well.

This guide will be a welcome addition at my library, where women are not always taught to be savvy or independent.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

This book is really great. It’s laid out so it’s very easy to understand. It gives fantastic detailed information of actual skills that we need to know. The illustrations are cute too.
I appreciate how the life skills given are first focused on taking care of yourself and then goes into cleaning, clothing care and cooking before moving on to safety then ending with sound body and mind.
I will be purchasing this for a few girls I know once it’s released.


Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and especially the authors for the opportunity to read this advanced reader copy.

I downloaded this book under the guise of reading it to potentially give to my 11 year old niece, but actually ended up finding it helpful for myself! I'm 43 and learned a few things from this book, so I am in full support of tweens and preteens and teenagers reading it to get prepared for life. And while moat of it does gear towards girls, I think kids of all genders can benefit from this.

A great guide for girls 10-14. Wish I'd had this when I was growing up! Easy to read and packed with actionable tips and wisdom to help girls prepare for real life. A gem!

When books like this are fine right they are a gold mine. This is a hold mine. Love the topics. It is well organized. Very informative. Great format.

Thank you, Zeitgeist, for the advance reading copy.

I do feel my life would have a lot, lot better if I happened to read such a book in my developing years.
The book focuses mainly on two areas where we as teens are most likely to be at: Home and School.

I like how the chapters and subtopics are so organised as well as practical to follow for the readers of this age (10-14 years of age).

Basic life skills on how to maintain our rooms/ personal
space and what we can do to be independent and helpful at this age.

Starting from making the bed to personal hygiene; managing school activities and what we can do to make the environment better this guidebook gives a lot of practical amazing ideas on how we as young people can do to acquire basic life skills.

Totally recommended!

My eldest child just turned 10, so when I saw the title of this book, and the 10-14 target age range, it jumped out to me immediately. There are a few great books for this age range focused on puberty specifically, but I haven’t yet seen one focused on the other aspects of tweenhood.

This book was a succinct but thorough compilation of important life skills for tweens of any gender. We parents occasionally struggle with the right words to explain concepts like appropriate internet and phone usage, financial literacy, and hygiene. Not only is the language straightforward and easy to comprehend, but there are examples given for every bullet point, and even pictures to help the reader understand the information.

This book will be a great reference to have on the shelf in our house, for all of our kids.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book in exchange for my review! All opinions are my own.

As a twentysomething-year-old woman, I wish this book had been around when I was a child. This is probably one of the most important books for young girls to read. I highly recommend this book be purchased by parents and teachers to help young girls in their life come to realize how strong they are. This is especially important in the fast-paced social media world that we live in. I will also add that even as an adult woman, I learned valuable lessons from this book!

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I highly recommend this title that teaches and empowers girls (though it could be useful to boys, adults…). It is nicely illustrated and packed with information.

This title is divided into sections on matters related to home, schoo,l and being out in the world. Just to give a flavor of the title with a subsection from each area…learn how to do laundry, to have difficult conversations with friends, to understand money matters.

This title would make a great gift and I think the recipient may refer to it often.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Zeitgeist for this title. All opinions are my own.

This books is a fun and quirky format of the basics of growing up. There are often things I wish the writer provided more details for, but I love that this can be used as a reference book for my daughter for years to come. The illustrations are so fun and endearing as well!