The physical and emotional changes that accompany puberty can leave a child feeling confused and self-conscious. As with any other stage of child development, everyone experiences puberty differently. What matters most is that during this time, you remain open and available to answer questions your child may have.
While most schools have courses or instruction around this stage of growth built into their curriculums, you can support your child’s expectations by letting them know changes are on the way before puberty hits with books — and having some larger “life talks” when it does.
For its 100th anniversary, Scholastic spoke with experts to identify a set of books, articles, and tips that make starting a conversation with your child about puberty easy and informative. These resources are part of a broader initiative, called the Scholastic Bookshelf, created for Instagram to raise awareness around contemporary issues affecting children today.
Articles About Puberty for Pre-Teens and Teens
“A Survival Guide to... Your Body Right Now” in Scholastic Choices magazine gives kids an idea of what to expect in the seven to eight years their body is growing from kid to adult (think sweat stains and breakouts). The article also flags what’s not-so-normal to occur at this time, such as prolonged feelings of sadness that last for more than a few moments.
“Stranger Things: Weird Body Stuff,” also in Scholastic Choices, offers solutions for countering the most obvious changes, such as wearing deodorant to mask new body odors and picking out a body cleanser with salicylic acid to fight acne.
When it comes to how your child interacts with others also going through puberty, it’s wise to consider larger discussions about honesty, any household rules you want to set around dating, and different communication styles as they form intimate relationships (like how to navigate “asking someone out”). All of these bases are covered in “The Dating Survival Guide” in Scholastic Choices magazine.
You and your oldest reader can also check out “The Teen Campaigning for Comprehensive Sex Ed” in Scholastic Choices, which profiles Pennsylvania senior KC Miller and his mission to make sex education in his home school district more relevant and inclusive of all sexual relationships.
Books About Puberty for Pre-Teens and Teens
Fiction offers a safe space where kids going through puberty can gain perspective on the process. Characters experiencing the same physical changes and social awkwardness let kids know they’re not alone.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth is the series volume with the most prominent references to puberty. (This is the story of a middle schooler, after all.) In the fifth installment of the hilarious, record-breaking series, Greg Heffley’s desire to hurry and grow up becomes a reality.
As Greg finds himself dealing with the pressures of co-ed parties, more adult responsibilities, and the awkward physical changes that come with getting older, a rift also surfaces between him and best friend Rowley, who’s going through puberty faster than Greg.
In The Moon Within, readers meet Oakland-based Celi Rivera, an 11-year-old whose body is changing at the same time that she’s experiencing her first feelings for a boy and learning about gender fluidity vicariously through her best friend.
What’s not changing is her mother’s position on the ancestral Mexican ceremony Celi must participate in when she gets her first period. Told in dazzling verse, The Moon Within is Celi’s story of reconciling tradition with self-discovery.
