You’re instantly drawn to her. Maybe it’s because we all have a piece of BeBe Baker within us. Fallen from grace, beautiful no more, and recovering from a form of self-destruction. The words are griping at times. There is someone, out there, right now, living these words. It is this thought that makes reading Pretty by Jillian Lauren so haunting. It may be a work of fiction, but this could be my neighbor, a friends, a loved one, even me.

I was instantly shocked and moved. My personal life is no where near Bebe’s, but at a young age, I was up nights with an older sister fighting addiction. Cops at our home all the time. Fights my sister instigated, usually with family, even her teachers. I saw this life at a young age, and saw what it did to my sister. Like Bebe, she finally found the semi-greener side. Almost a peaceful relief.

You may in no way be able to associate yourself with Bebe, or the life she lives, but you will be moved by her determination and the strength she has found within herself.  Bebe finds a new life, on her terms, and finally succeeds in finding pretty within herself.

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It’s interesting sharing stories of my past with my daughter. Games I played. Toys I broke. Shows that I watched, but can’t remember clearly anymore. It’s funny how our past can become our children’s present.

I grew up with Strawberry Shortcake. I loved Strawberry’s red, bouncy hair with her pink and green accents. Today, I share the renewed Strawberry with my daughter. The strawberry smell from when you open the DVD brings back sweet memories.

Do you remember newspaper cutouts? Little people shapes cutout from dad’s newspaper just freshly dropped on the front porch. Oh, another piece of my past that I’m sharing with my daughter.

Honestly, I’ve never given them a thought since becoming an adult, or a mom. But, recently receiving a copy of Famous Figures of Ancient Times to review has brought back fond memories of those odd-shaped paper people. Sure, I did get into a heap of trouble, but the fun outlasted the grounding.

It was a great adventure to spend time with my daughter cutting out the ancient figures, poking holes into their paper bodies and piecing them together with little gold joints. Sharing funny stories with my daughter about how my paper people from the past always seemed to have big heads, thin legs, and the arms never matched up.

It is a joy to see how my past and her present have a shared moment.

What was more spectacular is that with Famous Figures of Ancient Times my daughter and I were able to learn about the ancient figures we were binding together. We have since taken the snippets of biography and actually done some simple research on the ancient figures that have grasped her attention.

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I won’t drag you through the gory, girly details of when I went through puberty, but even growing up with three older sisters, I really had no clue. So, believe me when I say I was not quite prepared to give the talk to my daughter. My daughter is nine, I’m thankful that I still have a few years to prepare for the ‘body’ talk.

Umm… no! This mom lost her few years about 3 months ago.

Not puberty. Not a training bra. Her period. At nine, my daughter, a third grader, still my baby, started her period and I felt lost. You can read about my instruction to my daughter, but I knew that at nine and her body already changing, we were going to be having all kinds of talks earlier in her life, and much sooner then mom thought.

It’s a wonderful thing that I’m part of the book club associated with SV Moms Group and Deep South Moms because I have been opened to a whole level of reading that I normally would not seek out on my own. Our current book The Body Scoop for Girls by Jennifer Ashton was a no brainer for me to be a part of.

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