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Kids Nonfiction
Strong Is the New Pretty: A Guided Journal for Girls

Strong Is the New Pretty: A Guided Journal for Girls

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Author(s)

Kate T. Parker

Publisher

Workman Publishing

Genre(s)

Age Range

Release Date

October 30, 2018

ISBN

1523505508

Buy This Book

Inspired by Kate T. Parker’s internationally bestselling Strong Is the New Pretty, which Drew Barrymore called “the first thing in a while to kind of knock me off my feet,” this guided journal invites girls ages 8 to 12 to discover and celebrate their independent, wild, silly, powerful selves.

Illustrated with favorite photographs from the book Strong Is the New Pretty (as well as more than 20 brand-new images), each page features an inspiring, interactive prompt that encourages writing, doodling, and creative self-expression:

Draw a picture of yourself as a superhero—what is your superpower?
Invent a new language, and write down some translations here.
What makes you unique? List three things about you that make you different.

As girls make their way through the journal, it becomes a source of motivation to be their most powerful selves. It’s a personal keepsake to revisit again and again.

Editor review

1 review

Guided Journal for Powerful Girls!

April 07, 2025 (Updated: June 23, 2026)

Overall rating

4.0

Writing Style

4.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

4.0

Learning Value

4.0

Using some of the photographs from her 2017 Strong Is the New Pretty: A Celebration of Girls Being Themselves, Parker has constructed a helpful guided journal to motivate girls to think about their emotions, their place in the world, and the intersection of these things with traditional societal expectations.

Prompts include introspective questions like "What is your happy place?" and "Who are your heroes?" They often include instructions for drawing pictures or defining words. I enjoyed the different templates for these; some involve bubbles for weekend activities or a plate to draw favorite foods.

Good Points

The accompaning photographs show a diverse group of girls climbing trees, playing ball, or just giggling together. The colors on the templates are often pastel, and the light line drawings leave lots of room for the owner of the journal to express themselves. This book would make a great gift along with some gel pens and a carrying case, so that the book would be easier to take up into a tree!

Some tweens will need help to work through this entire journal, but some will need more than one outlet for harnessing all of their writing energy. Other similar activity books include Carter,, Chamblee, and Walthall's I Am, I Can, I Will: A Guided Journal of Self-Discovery for Black Girls, Peterson's You're Weird: A Creative Journal for Misfits, Oddballs, and Anyone Else Who's Uniquely Awesome, and Whitehead's Girl Power: A Journal: Encouraging Prompts and Affirmations to Empower a Confident You.