Review HOW TO (UN)CAGE A GIRL by Francesca Lia Block

HOW TO (UN)CAGE A GIRL
by Francesca Lia Block
Published March 1st 2010 by HarperTeen (first published September 1st 2008)
Paperback, 144 Pages

Placement in the Pile: A Bit Buried

Summary:
The pain of wanting to fit in

The joy of being consumed by love

The shame of not feeling at home in your body

The strength in learning you're beautiful

These are moments that every girl knows . . . for they are part of growing up, of uncaging yourself, from your childhood, your environment, your view of yourself. Francesca Lia Block follows the journey from girlhood to womanhood in this three-part poetry collection that channels girls' innermost feelings and experiences and celebrates women everywhere. It is a call to embrace the girl within, to heal her and set her free.

Review:
The premise of this set of poems sounded really great. I love books that make girls feel better about who they are regardless of what they tell themselves, what media does to their brains about their beauty and worth. And trust me as a woman I feel so much of that as well...and I often just feel like that little girl looking at the boys flirt with the other girls and ignoring her. Sigh.

Anywho, I can say that I enjoyed most of the last 2 of 3 sections of this book. What makes it hard is although all the poems have a connection to one another, they are all so very different. There are some that I want to post and share with every female I know and some that made me go, ew.

You have to understand that I don't enjoy reading about sexuality in a blase sort of way as in "well it happens, it's gritty, and dirty, and hard and here it is in detail". And I certainly don't like reading about that kind of sexual encounters in a young teen's life. Does it happen? Sure does. Do I have the right to not like reading about it or to want to expose my daughter to that? Yep. So that is where my issue was with really just a few of the poems in this book.

So, if you are an adult, sure, read this cause there is stuff you may want to take down and share with your daughters some day. If you are a teenager and don't mind, or your parents don't mind you reading somewhat sexually explicit content, then read this. The overall message is great and I really enjoyed it.