Go With the Flow

Product Information

But with the lack of any and all information, I think updating the one and only book on the shelves to discuss it for so long made sense. It speaks to the nature of gender dynamics and institutional misogyny in an approachable manner that will help teens discuss their period and their rights openly and honestly, and understand that they can demand better from those in authority. A fictional story is great, but giving real world information and facts for readers really helps propel this into a true actionable story. Before I get into my review proper, I would like to say I am biased: I am a non-binary trans person that gets periods, and I was very much an Abby when I was in high school (extremely concerned with the injustices that menstruating people face, and many other injustices).

Sentenced to a brutal juvenile detention camp for a crime he didn't commit, a wimpy teenager turns four generations of bad family luck around in this sunburnt tale of courage, obsession, and buried treasure from Sachar ( Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger, 1995, etc. The captivating illustrations are all in various shades of red, getting lighter and darker with the girls' varying tone throughout the story. Through flashbacks, Sachar weaves a complex net of hidden relationships and well-timed revelations as he puts his slightly larger-than-life characters under a sun so punishing that readers will be reaching for water bottles.It tackles not only the difficulty of having your period (which is its own thing) but also navigating through high school. Abby, Brit, Christine, and Sasha are sophomores at Hazelton High and they are tired of the tampon/pad dispensers always being empty. Go with the Flow is an uplifting graphic novel about friendship and period positivity for middle schoolers and young teens. A final “go big or go home” strategy upsets her friends — especially Sasha, who is still trying to live down her “Bloody Mary” episode. And again, I’m aware this is by design, but I think a huge opportunity is missed by only paying lip service to the fact that trans men and gender nonconforming trans people can also menstruate.

It’s aimed at teens but I’m going to purchase it for my Year 7/8s as I know some of them would enjoy it. One of the main characters has endometriosis, which is a refreshing addition to the few YA books which explore this ( The Girls I've Been, Dark and Deepest Red, and Period Power: A Manifesto for the Menstrual Movement do this).Readers who find the topic a little embarrassing will see the word "period" used so often that it becomes casual conversation within the book. There’s bullying by popular track team players, boys being jerks in dating/studying, young friendship-love, and unresponsive school administrators. This is not something only happening in far and away in distant countries, this is happening in our own communities. I often missed days of school due to extremely painful cramps so I found Brit especially relatable, even as an adult.

Kids are less afraid these days to speak out and pursue various forms of activism, but this takes it to a whole other level. What follows is a fabulous read that acts as a primer for activism while also giving each girl her own storyline.And… we wrote it for kids, like the little girl in California, who don’t have safe spaces to have these conversations. What Go With the Flow does is show not just a range of body types, orientations, races, and belief systems, but it also shows how differently menstruation affects one person or another.

Some of the older girls have even started teasing her, but there is a girl in her gym class who consistently stands up for her. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. There are unique issues trans people who menstruate face that really could have fit well into the story, especially considering the whole plot starts with the pad and tampon machines at their high school being empty. Different shades, you betcha, but this isn’t one of those books where the color scheme shifts or adds a new color at a significant point in the proceedings. For example, Sasha’s mom learns of her daughter’s period from seeing the stained clothes in the laundry and rather than talking to her daughter, just provides supplies (pads and tampons) to Sasha the next morning.They deal with crushes, artistic inspirations, trig, questioning their sexuality, being the new kid, menstruation and endometriosis. and 7 classes…I asked the teacher-librarian what she thought the reaction would be if I introduced this book in front of the class and she thought it was a good idea. Since then it has been translated into Italian, French, Spanish, and German (forthcoming) and sold close to 100,000 copies, was published to critical acclaim, and was nominated for an Eisner and was a LA Times Book Prize finalist.