Lori Day - Her Next Chapter: How Mother-Daughter Book Clubs Can Help Girls Navigate Malicious Media, Risky Relationships, Girl Gossip, and So Much More

With wisdom and common sense, Lori Day provides a much-needed point of view for our society. I wish that she had written Her Next Chapter ten years ago, so I would have had her insight when my daughter was four! Mother-daughter book clubs are such a great step in the right direction. I know what Im giving my young mother friends and relatives this year for birthdays and holidays!

B RENDA C HAPMAN , writer and director of Brave

This book is an indispensable guide for anyone who cares about raising girls to be leaders. Lori Day identifies and articulates so many of the challenges that can hold girls back or trip them up. Her gentle, intuitive suggestions make it easier to start a meaningful conversation on these tricky topics. This book also offers a treasure trove of inspiring heroines. Whether its a daring heroine in a novel, a professor giving a great talk, CEOs and scientists profiled in documentaries, or simply the other moms in the mother-daughter book club, role models for girls abound in this delightful book.

J UNE C OHEN , executive producer, TED Media

Her Next Chapter is a smart and incisive guide for mothers raising daughters in todays toxic media culture, where hypersexualization and gender stereotypes are the norm. Lori Day shares with mothers important insights about media literacy, brilliant recommendations about healthy media, and discussion guides for book clubswhich offer mothers and daughters the opportunity to strengthen their relationship. A must read for moms!

E LENA R OSSINI , writer, producer, and director of The Illusionists

Looking for a wonderful way to bond with your daughter? Look no further than Her Next Chapter. Using mother-daughter book clubs as the backdrop, Her Next Chapter provides tools and strategies for discussing the issues todays girls face, while promoting media literacy and empowerment. What more could you ask for from a book?

J ENNIFER L. H ARTSTEIN , PsyD, author of Princess Recovery: A How-to Guide to Raising Strong, Empowered Girls Who Can Create Their Own Happily Ever Afters

For Geof, who loves Charlotte as if she were his own.

Copyright 2014 by Lori M. Day

All rights reserved

Copyright 2014 by Charlotte Kugler

Published by Chicago Review Press, Incorporated

814 North Franklin Street

Chicago, Illinois 60610

ISBN 978-1-61374-856-5

Cover design: Rebecca Lown

Interior design: Sarah Olson

Cover illustration: David Trumble

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Day, Lori.

Her next chapter / Lori Day, Charlotte Kugler.

pages cm

Includes index.

Summary: A guide to using book clubs to open up dialogue about and explore issues facing young girls today Mother-daughter book clubs are a great way to encourage your childs reading and for girls and moms to bond with each other while also socializing with friends, but they can do much more than that, suggests educational psychologist and parenting coach Lori Day. They can create a safe and empowering haven where girls can openly discuss, question, and navigate some of the challenges of girlhood today. In Her Next Chapter, Day draws from experiences in her own club and her more than 25 years in education to offer a unique, timely, and inspiring take on mother-daughter book clubs. She provides clear, succinct overviews of eight of the biggest challenges facing girls and young women today, giving mothers the information they need to moderate thoughtful conversations, while weaving in all the carefully chosen book, movie, and media recommendations; plentiful discussion questions and prompts; and suggested related activities that guide and extend discussions and make clubs fun. It outlines precisely how mothers can work together, using the magic of books, to build girls confidence and lessen the negative impact of media on self-image. Also included are relevant quotes and experiences from a wide range of mothers, a list of further resources, and chapter-closing reflections from Days now-adult daughter, Charlotte, who shares memories about what the club did for her as a child and observations on todays girl cultureProvided by publisher.

ISBN 978-1-61374-856-5 (pbk.)

1. Mothers and daughters. 2. Girls. 3. Self-esteem. 4. Parenting. 5. Book clubs (Discussion groups) I. Kugler, Charlotte. II. Title.

HQ755.85.D394 2014

306.8743dc23

2013045732

Printed in the United States of America

5 4 3 2 1

Index

W riting is never truly a solitary endeavor. I had so many muses, here and elsewhere, living and dead.

Right here, every day, my husband Geoffrey ate, drank, and slept this book with me. He provided everything from the most patient tech support to the deepest emotional support, and believed in me even when I did not believe in myself. He also began almost every evening meal with the admittedly tiresome but somehow eternally endearing quip, How was your day, Mrs. Day? followed by caring inquiry into whatever book-related triumphs and travails had characterized the last several hours. Geof, Mrs. Days day was always better when you were around.

One hundred miles away, at Mount Holyoke College in western Massachusetts, my coauthor and dear daughter, Charlotte Kugler, was juggling all of the writing necessary as a double-major in English and anthropology, plus her part-time writing job for the communications department of the college, plus working on her own novel, plus her contributions to this book. I dont know how she managed such a load. I could not be more grateful for the opportunity to write with my daughter, whose incisive editorial input and beautifully written reflections helped this book blossom. Charlotte, when you were in the second grade, you announced to me that I would be buying your books one day. I know that is truealthough I hope youll give me free, autographed copies! What I never imagined was that your first book would also be mine, and I am so honored.

From the United States and various countries around the world, my globetrotting brother Deron Triff opened countless doors for me with some of the most influential female leaders across the country, and I cant thank him enough.

At Chicago Review Press, my editor, Lisa Reardon, discovered me on a soda fountain stool at the Huffington Post and offered me an opportunity to fulfill my lifes dream. I am now a published book author thanks to her vision, faith, and guidance.

To David William Trumble across the pond, tremendous admiration and appreciation for lending your artistic talent to the cover of this book. There is no one who is more fun to work with.

I give heartfelt thanks to Lisa Francine, librarian at the Fenn School in Concord, Massachusetts, and Jordana Shaw, librarian at the Nashoba Brooks School in Concordtwo friends without whom I literally could not have pulled this off. Your expertise in childrens literature and generosity with your time was integral to this bookand to my sanity! Thanks also go out to Margot Magowan, founder of Reel Girl, who helped me choose the inspiring movies recommended in this book. Margot, the tagline for your website, imagining gender equality in the fantasy world, perfectly describes my hope for the moms and daughters who will be watching many of the movies you suggested.