Nearly 20 years after it published The Care and Keeping of You — A.K.A. That Puberty Book That Everyone's Mom Made Them Read — American Girl has finally come out with a body-book for boys, and it's really something special. Guy Stuff comes on the heels of another gender-inclusive initiative from American Girl, which announced the release of its first-ever boy doll, Logan Everett, back in February. The new body-book for boys is available today from American Girl and other retailers nationwide, and I've got a peek inside for all you curious folks out there.
Intended for boys ages 8 and up, Guy Stuff comes to us from The Care and Keeping of You author Cara Natterson, a board-certified pediatrician and Starlight Children's Foundation Board Chair with two children of her own. Like Care and Keeping, American Girl's new body-book for boys is a head-to-toe guide that includes hair- and skin-care, body positivity, and sexual development. Natterson says the dearth of puberty books that are exclusively for boys makes Guy Stuff all the more necessary.
More importantly, this new body-book for boys devotes an entire chapter to the "new feelings and emotions boys may be experiencing during puberty, including topics on peer pressure and bullying." Natterson's book makes an attempt to combat societal pressures that coerce boys into bottling their emotions by "letting guys know that it’s not only okay, but healthy, to express [themselves]." The author says that, although mood swings are universal in puberty, we focus on girls' emotional rollercoasters because they manifest differently than boys':
Many boys have mood swings, too, but unlike the girls who may laugh or cry much more readily than they used to, boys often swing in a different direction — becoming quiet and even withdrawn. This further reinforces the socialized pattern of not talking about what is going on because boys in puberty are chemically influenced not to.
Take a sneak peak at Guy Stuff below, and pick up your copy of the new body-book for boys wherever American Girl books are sold.
