“This gorgeous, shattering, sorrowful book is about the perils (and glories) of girlhood, yes, but also of motherhood and daughterhood, womonhood, life. I dare anyone to read it without a frequent—maybe constant—shiver of “Oh yes me too.””

“Melissa Fraterrigo’s The Perils of Girlhood is an essential meditation on how we raise our daughters, in a voice that is clear, honest, and wise.”

“The Perils of Girlhood will generate conversation that parents of daughters and sons find challenging. Her wisdom, painfully achieved, is important to pass on to the next generation, to strengthen the way we honer ourselves, both in how we are treated and the way we treat each other.”

“Fraterrigo’s memoir in essays explores how the inevitability of aging and death impacts one’s coming of age, work life, pregnancy, and parenting. For Fraterrigo, the most perilous part of girlhood is that it ends.”

“The Perils of Girlhood, by former Chicagoan Melissa Fraterrigo, takes a childhood and adulthood, in pieces, spread between essays on her daughters, Judy Blume, mace, creeps, school violence, and a dad’s anger.”

““The Perils of Girlhood moves from an ’80s childhood to motherhood with both intimacy and a precision of language that makes the book hard to put down.””

“[Fraterrigo’s] book is a work meant to connect and empower, not instill fear, but to scream there’s so much more to life than what has been sold to us in the past. It is a love letter to daughters, thankfully lacking advice yet filled with raw honesty. Fraterrigo invites you to the literary slumber party where secrets are spilled, tears are wiped and emboldened growth occurs. ”