The Secret Language of Girls

by Frances O'Roark Dowell

Book Overview

Kate and Marylin have been friends forever but in sixth grade they find themselves being pulled in opposite directions. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0689844212
• ISBN13: 9780689844218
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
• Length: 247 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.3" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

A Great Book!

I loved this book so much! It was written so well and the characters were described beatifully and I felt like they were real it was so good! Kate seemed like the person I would become best friends with! We read "Dovey Coe" last year in my literarute class and I loved it! This one sounded good,too. I bought it at Half Price books last night and it was SO good that I read all 247 pages in one night! Frances O'Roark Dowell is a great author! I loved this book and it is SO recommended! READ IT NOW!!!

the best

It raelly teaches teaches girls about friendship and peer pressure.It is one of my favorites.

Very Good Book

I would reccomend this book to anyone and everyone. Very good book. It is about two girls who are best friends until a girl disrupts their lives. A girl who tries to fit in. The girl is a snob. It is about a friendship. Any girl should love this book; I know I did.

CHARACTERS COME ALIVE IN THIS READING

Gifted voice performer Michele Santopietro (with credits on TV's The Sopranos) brings to her reading all the pathos, giggles, insouciance and, yes, downright meanness typical of preteen girls as they struggle to find their place among their peers. Kate and Marylin have been best friends for all of their lives - all 11 years. They live on the same block, have spent countless hours together completely happy in one another's company. Suddenly, the air has changed with the arrival of Flannery and Marylin's interest in being a part of the "in" crowd at school. It's tough to lose a best pal, even tougher when you can't figure out what in the world has changed her. Nonetheless, Kate soldiers on eventually finding where she belongs in the ever shifting tides of pubescence. This is a story to which all young listeners can relate in one way or another. They'll see themselves and their friends in it - perhaps learning a thing or two. - Gail Cooke

A story with tremendous heart

Kate and Marylin have been best friends forever. But as they enter sixth grade, their friendship changes. Kate continues to love reading, basketball and bugs, while Marylin dreams of kissing, boys and cheerleading. The friends periodically drift apart and then are pulled back together throughout THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF GIRLS.As the girls hover between childhood and womanhood, and between being buddies and just acquaintances, their bond is tried again and again. Flannery, "the queen of eyeball rolling," moves into their neighborhood, wooing Marylin with her siren song of seventh grade sophistication. Marylin, who is working on a "whole new me," has changed her name's spelling (it used to be "Marilyn") and is wondering if her weird toes would improve with plastic surgery --- or, at least, a coat of nail polish. She goes out for cheerleading and starts hanging with the popular crowd. Kate, who does not yearn for romance, finds herself "in like" with a fellow basketball player.Each chapter in this book is a perfect little story with the power to make the reader giggle or choke up. Early on, when Marylin and Kate rescue an orphaned baby bird, Marylin thinks Kate is "back in first-grader land." Feeling compelled to motivate her friend to grow up, Marylin tries to educate Kate on the probability of the bird's death. She worries that Kate will be devastated when the bird succumbs. During the inevitable funeral, though, Marylin finds herself moved by the little bird's demise and afterward Kate amazes her by requesting toenail-painting lessons.In another story, Kate learns an amazing lesson on how to connect with others, taught by a free-spirited new girl at school. In yet another, Marylin has a sleepover that goes bad from the start --- until it's redeemed by a flock of snow-angels.This is a satisfying read with tremendous heart. I wholeheartedly recommend THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF GIRLS to any female who has a best friend, had a best friend, or wants a best friend. I do have just one question: How old is the author, Frances O'Roark Dowell? She knows sixth grade girls so eerily well, I swear she can't be much over twelve. --- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon (...)