A fresh, surprising, and empowering guide to better understanding teenage girls.
Written with warmth and humour, Underestimated is the first book to invite us into a teenage girl's brain and heart, as told from the point of view of a beloved and trusted mentor. Chelsey Goodan is a highly sought-after academic tutor who has worked with hundreds of girls from all different backgrounds, earning their trust, confidence, and friendship. They in turn have shared with her their innermost concerns, doubts, and what they wish they could communicate to their parents and the world at large.
With topics and language directly chosen by the girls, Goodan reveals how the solutions to a girl's wellbeing lie within her. She offers parents the exact words they can use to help her discover these solutions and demonstrates how adults can better support a teenage girl's voice to create positive change.
Rather than dismissing teenage girls based on our own fears or treating them as problems that need to be solved, Goodan encourages us as parents, and as a society, to help girls unleash their power and celebrate their intrinsic wisdom, creating more healing and connection for everyone. With inspiring ease, Underestimated shows us how to do this with accessible advice, entertaining narratives, and profound wisdom.
'I've personally witnessed how Chelsey changes the lives of teenage girls for the better by deepening connections and helping everyone feel more heard and understood. With passion and enthusiasm, Chelsey empowers girls to discover their voices in both the most practical and deepest of ways. This book is exactly what we all need right now, for our families and for our future voices in the world.'
-Laura Dern, Academy Award-winning actress and New York Times bestselling author of Honey, Baby, Mine
'To create a world that welcomes girls' and women's powerful voices and fosters their agency, we need this book. Underestimated masterfully teaches us how to empower teenage girls by simplifying solutions to challenging topics like self-doubt, shame, the beauty myth, and power, offering effective tools for parents, educators, and trusted adults in girls' lives.'
-Jennifer Siebel Newsom, filmmaker and founder of The Representation Project
'Sometimes we wish our children came with an operating manual. Fortunately, that operating manual now exists. If you are a parent, caregiver, or educator who cares in any way about understanding this crucial period in a teenager's development, in a way that supports thriving rather than walling off, Underestimated is essential reading. The powerful wisdom will help you not just as a parent, but in every relationship.'
-Neil Strauss,#1 New York Times bestselling author of The Truth- an uncomfortable book about relationships
