I Am an Emotional Creature: The Secret Life of Girls Around the World

Ensler's groundbreaking play The Vagina Monologues sought to start a revolution in the way women related to their bodies and their sexuality; in her latest, the author and activist seeks to do the same for teenage girls-empowering them by giving voice and value to their feelings, opinions and struggles, and teaching them to do the same for themselves. This series of monologues from teenage girls all over the world includes poetry, blog entries, anecdotes and conversations covering topics as familiar as anorexia and peer pressure, and as hard to face as sexual slavery and institutional oppression. The collection shines when dealing with more serious material (arranged marriages, genital mutilation), but those powerful pieces unintentionally overshadow the more common concerns of girls struggling to fit in or cope with the popular crowd. As such, the average American teenager should gain a good bit of perspective, though less than Ensler would like about the legitimacy of her everyday experience.