Leonard Sax - Girls on the Edge: Why So Many Girls Are Anxious, Wired, and Obsessed—And What Parents Can Do

The best book about the current state of girls and young women in America.

Caitlin Flanagan, The Atlantic

Packed with advice and concrete suggestions for parents, Girls on the Edge is a treasure trove of rarely seen research on girls, offering families guidance on some of the most pressing issues facing girls today. Dr. Saxs commitment to girls success comes through on every page.

Rachel Simmons, author of Odd Girl Out, The Curse of the Good Girl, and Enough As She Is

Crucial. Parents of tween and teen girls would do well to check this book.

Chronicle of Higher Education

Dr. Sax once again combines years of experience with compelling research and common sense to intelligently challenge the status quo of what it means to raise a healthy daughter. Girls on the Edge offers skills parents can incorporate to feel more competent with our girls and young women.

Florence Hilliard, director of the Gender Studies Project, University of WisconsinMadison

The world is way different from what it was a couple of years ago; this is essential reading for parents and teachers, and one of the most thought-provoking books on teen development available.

Library Journal

Fortunately, [Leonard] Sax is up to more here than pronouncing young women irrevocably doomed. Girls on the Edge doesnt dramatize the self-destructive behavior it describes [and it] speaks exclusively to parents and offers concrete ways to help their daughters cultivate stronger personal identities.

Slate.com/Double X

In clear, accessible language, Sax deftly blends anecdotes, clinical research, and even lines of poetry in persuasive, often fascinating chapters that speak straight to parents. Warning that a 1980s solution wont help solve twenty-first-century problems, Sax offers a holistic, sobering call to help the current generation of young women develop the support and sense of self that will allow them to grow into resilient adults.

Booklist

Turn off your cell phones and computers and read this book! You will connect with your daughter in new ways, and she will thank you.

Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, author of Gods Paintbrush and In Gods Name

Written through real stories and supported by strong evidence in the fields of education, psychology, and the sciencesa must-read.

Margaret M. Ferrara, PhD, associate professor, University of NevadaReno

Leonard Sax brings together a rare combination of psychoanalytic training with a deep empathy for girls and their stories in this important book. His argument that girls are struggling to find their centers will resonate and his recommendations for how to locate them will inspire.

Courtney E. Martin, author of Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters

Dr. Saxs deep commitment to girls developing a positive sense of self is woven into the fabric of this book. Girls on the Edge is a must-read for every parent of a girl as well as for every adult who teaches girls.

Dr. Mary Seppala, head of school, Agnes Irwin School, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania

I made Girls on the Edge required reading for all administrators at Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart, and I strongly recommend the book to all of our parents. Leonard Sax explains to parents and educators of girls just what is going on in the cyberbubble of instant messaging, texting, and social networking sites. There is a way to help girls navigate this world and find their centerscenters of genuine humanness and authenticity and, yes, spirituality. Readers will find out much they dont know, and that is more than they might guess. A must-read.

Gerald J. Grossman, head of school, Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart, Lake Forest, Illinois

Leonard Sax sounds a crucial warning to parents of teenage girls. No matter how attentive and savvy you are, the lives of girls today are like nothing you ever knew. The obsessions are worse, nastiness is rampant (especially on the web), drinking is up, and sexuality keeps creeping down the age ladder. Girls need girl-specific interventions, Sax insists, and Girls on the Edge explains whyand also how to do it.

Mark Bauerlein, PhD, professor, Emory University