This is a great book by the beautiful Hill Harper (CSI: NY; Get on the Bus ... Brown University; Harvard Law with Obama; etc.). Written in the style of letters to a teenage girl going through all sorts of typical teenage issues, Harper offers advice on topics such as relationships, family, men, racism, sexism, self-empowerment, career choices, faith, and service. At the end of each chapter are questions posed via email, answered by famous women including Michelle Obama, Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, Nikki Giovanni, Ruby Dee, and Ciara.One thing Harper said that I really like was about the "high-tech/low-touch society" we are living in.
"Because so many of us are using technology ... to communicate rather than being face-to-face, it allows us men to lie much more easily. Attempting to have a serious, real conversation with someone using technology is not the way to do it. You can't look them in the eye, see their expression or their body language, or all those other things that allow your intuition to get a feel for whether what you're hearing is the truth or a lie."
I do feel that this book is more suited for a younger audience, i.e. adolescents, maybe college students. For example, an email asks, "Hill, a lot of my friends and people on TV say that boys are liars, boys are jerks ... What do you think I should look for in a boy?" Nonetheless, grown women can definitely benefit from and be reminded of these lessons, too. And reading this book made it an easy choice for what I'll get my cousin who just started high school, and her slightly older brother, for Christmas! (Harper also wrote Letters to a Young Brother).
The next book I plan on reading is Harper's newest book, The Conversation: How Black Men and Black Women Can Build Loving, Trusting Relationships. I'm sure that one is geared a little more towards my age group, and am looking forward to it!
(Oh - and how many people knew that his full name is Francis Hill Harper? That's okay. I'd still marry him.)
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