What do you think?
Rate this book
96 pages, Paperback
First published February 10, 1995
Claire O'Connor was one of the
winners in the 21st W. H. Smith
Children's Literary Competition. Her
entry That's Life is included in
Children as Writers (Heinemann,
0 435 13410 8, £2.50). She writes:
'Should this experience get you down?
Is there something wrong with me? Am
1 so different that growing up for me is
a painful experience? Someone, please,
please answer me. I wonder why
menstruation is kept so quiet. I wonder
and ask why?'
The rawness of the emotion in this sad
experience hits hard at teachers and
parents. Claire was fourteen when she
wrote down her feelings. She's fifteen
now. Have you Started Yet? by Ruth
Thomson (Heinemann, 0 434 96600 2,
£3.50) may save others from the pain
caused by ignorance. It's a blessedly
honest book which deals with feelings
as well as facts. Happily it's published
simultaneously in Piccolo
(0330261347, 80p).