A short time ago, I picked up a copy of best-selling Christian author Dannah Gresh’s book, Secret Keeper Girl. This isn’t my usual type of reading, since this book series is geared toward young girls ages 8-12, but I love to read and if there’s a book in front of me, I pick it up.

It reminded me of when I was young and loved the Babysitters Club books.  It was a quick, easy read and had a wonderful moral lesson.  An overview of the book follows:

Rutherford B. Hayes Middle Schoolwill never be the same. Danika is in deep trouble for hitting Mrs. Hefty’s right temple with her brown bag lunch. Toni is trying out for the boy’s football league…against her dads’ wishes and the school rules. Kaitlyn is completely boy-crazy and will stop at nothing to express her love for her older brother’s best friend. And Yuzi is the new kid at school whose name nobody can pronounce and in a valiant effort to fit in their worlds collide one afternoon when they all end up in after school detention and the Secret Keeper Girl Club is formed to save the day. Full of comedy, action, emotion and life-transforming lessons, each book includes a mother/daughter Girl Gab assignment in the appendix.

After reading the book, I passed it on to my friend give to her 11 year old daughter, Ava*.  Ava is a beautiful, brilliant girl with a heart of gold and I know that she has had some recent struggles lately in school with some ‘fair weather friends’ in the popular crowd.

Ava is the type of girl to be kind to everyone.  She doesn’t pick on or alienate her peers, so she basically holds a solid middle ground in the popularity status at school.  She fits the mold the super popular girls look for but the fact that she won’t engage in picking on other kids prevents these girls from including her into their group.

There are times that some girls from the group will suddenly call her to hang out, but once they’ve made up with whatever friend they’re fighting with, they’ll drop Ava until next time.  I thought the Secret Keeper Girl was perfect for her.

Last week, we started talking about popularity and how to treat others.  Ava told me some stories about the cliques in her school and I asked if she’d had a chance to read the book.  When I mentioned the Secret Keeper Girl to her, her eyes lit up and she excitedly told me that that book played a major role in influencing how she thinks about treating others.

Ava told me that like all young girls, she naturally wants to be popular, but she’s happy being what she calls ‘middle class’ at school.  She said she has friends that are shy and withdrawn as well as friends in the higher social standings at school.

Ava refuses to give in to the pressures at school from the other children.  When all the girls decided to have a boyfriend, Ava considered it briefly but decided not to go along with the trend.  She didn’t want to have a boyfriend because it’s what was suddenly cool for the 6th grade girls.

Even when she was teased for not following another short-lived trend, Ava held her head high.  She never complained or fought back, she simply remained true to herself and eventually the problems blew over.  I credit the Secret Keeper Girl in helping Ava better understand the importance of kindness and consideration at this crucial time in her development.

The Secret Keeper Girl books are a four-book fiction series geared toward young girls as they transition into teens.  It offers a great interactive web page for both girls and moms where you can find recipes for snacks the girls ate in the book as well as videos and other great downloads for girls to enjoy.

With so many choices out there for our kids to make, it’s reassuring to know that we can still find wholesome, entertaining material to share with our children.  I have seen first hand through my experience with these books what a difference they can make in a young girl’s life.