At the age of 16, Sara Shandler --- like much of America --- read Mary Pipher's acclaimed book about adolescent girls called REVIVING OPHELIA . Shandler was deeply affected by Pipher's book, but felt that Pipher was speaking for a group that could --- and should --- speak for themselves. So she began requesting submissions and collecting the poems, stories, essays, journal entries and letters that were to become OPHELIA SPEAKS. And the story they tell is moving, depressing, enlightening and rewarding.

Shandler collected over 800 contributions from adolescent girls all over the country, expressing their thoughts on everything from body image to family relations to sex to their thoughts on feminism. One of the most difficult sections to read is the first, on body image. Shandler claims that a large number of the submissions she received specifically dealt with weight and body image issues; over 20 submissions specifically blamed the media for their role in the body-image-stereotype war. One girl's poignant short poem, entitled "Catalogues", stands out: "Searching through catalogues/you wish you could order/the bodies not the clothes."

Although I clearly remember sometimes being depressed and unhappy and concerned about my body image during adolescence, I kept asking myself Was it this bad for me? while reading this book. I'm not sure I can remember accurately enough, but it doesn't really matter in the long run --- after all, even in the 10 or so years I've been out of high school, the world's changed considerably; the Colorado high school shootings a few weeks ago clearly reminds us of that.

Shandler's role as editor in OPHELIA SPEAKS is managed deftly, the editorial voice is not that of an "expert," but more of a peer and co-commiserator. The selections she's chosen are well-written, insightful, and do much to give the reader a glimpse into the difficult time for young women caught between girlhood and adulthood. OPHELIA SPEAKS is a valuable book for teenage girls and adults alike to read.

   --- Reviewed by Jordan Baker


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