New 'Girl to Girl' book launch Feb. 16 at Malden's Cheverus School

The following was submitted by PFP Publishing:


PFP Publishing announced that Cheverus School in Malden will host the launch of a new edition of the popular girls’ guidebook, "Girl to Girl: The Real Deal on Being a Girl Today," on Feb. 16 at 6:30 p.m. This practical, interactive book written by journalist and social worker Anne Driscoll has been updated for girls ages 8 to 12.

A portion of all books sold at the event will benefit the Cheverus School, a K-8 parochial school with a culturally rich enrollment of 350 students located at 30 Irving St., Malden. The event will take place in Monsignor Foley Hall on the Ferry Street entrance.

The program will include a presentation by Anne Driscoll, a longtime journalist and a licensed certified social worker, who has written for People, Teen People, CosmoGirl, Parenting, the New York Times and The Boston Globe. She credits her daughters Maura and Marisa Fields with helping to develop the book.

“It’s fitting that this new edition of "Girl to Girl: The Real Deal on Being a Girl Today" will have its official launch at Cheverus, where my daughter Marisa is now teaching kindergarten, since she and her sister were very instrumental in contributing to the shape and content of this book,” said Driscoll, who lives in Swampscott.

In addition, Debra Gansenberg, MSW, LICSW, cofounder of New Beginning Counseling Services in Stoneham and director of School Services, will be part of the program. George Ulrich, a Marblehead artist who illustrated Girl to Girl, will also be there. The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

When "Girl to Girl: The Real Deal on Being a Girl Today" was initially released as one of the first self-help books for girls in 1999, it was well-received, selling more than 100,000 copies in its first year of publication through Element Children’s Books and Scholastic Book Club. After its third printing, however, the UK-based publisher went out of business and the book went out of print. The Girl to Girl series was based on the surveys of hundreds of girls in the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, and Australia. The newly published version is available for the first time in both paperback and electronically for the Kindle, Nook, and iPad.

“I’m so excited to be able to offer this valuable guidebook to pre-teen girls at an age when they’re receptive and can really benefit by what their peers have to say about the issues, challenges and choices girls face. There’s no other book like this available for girls,” said Peter Sarno, founder of PFP Publishing in Georgetown.

The idea behind the book is that girls are particularly strong in their ability to create and maintain relationships of all sorts — with parents, siblings, classmates, friends, and boys. By quoting scores of girls, the book validates girls’ experiences and puts them in connection to one another. The book also is intended to be interactive, with lots of quizzes, word banks, true-false tests, and fun exercises to do.

Publisher’s Weekly called it “A ’girl power’ book for pre-teens” and said, “'Girl to Girl: The Real Deal on Being a Girl Today' spills secrets of keeping friends, cracks the code of boyspeak, and gives the skinny on body image.”

In her research for the Girl to Girl series of guidebooks, Driscoll has been in contact with hundreds of girls and boys around the globe. She and her work have been the subject of stories or reviews in Publishers Weekly, National Education Association, The Times of London, and The Times Educational Supplement. Her books are recommended as a resource for the Raising Confident and Competent Girls curriculum developed for middle school girls by the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women.

Driscoll is a frequent public speaker and has given talks to students, parents, and teachers in England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, and the US. She has also been interviewed about her work on television and radio, both in the US and abroad.

The books will be available at bookstores everywhere, as well as at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. For more information, visit www.pfppublishing.com or girltogirlbooks.com.