GIRLHOOD - Edited by Masuma Ahuja

5 stars

A celebration of girlhood from all around the world told from the girls themselves... a beautiful, moving, and heartwarming collection of what it means to be female across the globe.

Book construction: ★★★★★
Enjoyment: ★★★★★

Brought about by freelance journalist Masuma Ahuja's series featured on Washington Post's The Lily, which featured a few samples of girls growing up throughout the world, this work broadens the original grouping of young girls and their experiences into one collection spanning 27 countries and including 30 girls and their stories.

I thoroughly enjoyed this collection. Teenagers, and female teens in particular, experience certain life moments across all borders. And yet their individual experiences also showcase startling differences across countries, socioeconomic classes, racial divides, and the ever-present gender divide.

Girlhood: Teens Around the World in Their Own Voices attempts to showcase what girls' lives are really like—told in their own words. I think it delivers.

From an Argentinian football player with a passion for play to a 16-year-old Cambodian scholarship student learning in Australia (and more), this collection provides intimate snippets of 30 lives. Some are more lighthearted than you'd expect. Some are much darker. Some showcase the resilience of womanhood and others highlight the still too large gaps between the female and male experience.

One of my favorites was Jocelyne's story—mainly because she mentioned an interest in ASMR (a YouTube phenomenon that involves sensitive sounds and microphones, google it!). Jocelyne and I have that in common, but her life in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is worlds away from mine in the U.S.

I'd encourage all to check out this collection. It's a quick read due the format of blurbs and diary entires, but a powerful and heartwarming one all the same.

Girl power!

Thank you to Algonquin Books for my copy in exchange for an honest review.