Girls Like Us: Fighting for a World Where Girls Are Not for Sale, an Activist Finds Her Calling and Heals Herself is an account of a human being in high spirit.   After surviving a period of being a victim of the commercial sex industry, she broke free of her pimp and her past, went to college and a graduate program, and founded a nonprofit organization - GEMS, Girls Educational and Mentoring Services - to help other girls who endure the same circumstances.

Chapter 4 "Recruitment" details how young girls are recruited into the trade, and explains "why the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 and its reauthorizations in 2003, 2005, and 2008 have all supported a definition of child sex trafficking where children under the age of eighteen found in the commercial sex trade are considered to be victims of trafficking without requiring that they experienced 'forced, fraud, or coercion' to keep them there."

Rachel's book is indeed a significant contribution to the motto "Human Trafficking: Fight It.  Expose It.  End It."

Although not available in the SJPL system, Somebody's Daughter:  The Hidden Story of America's Prostituted Children and the Battle to Save Them can be requested via the LINK+ system with a SJPL library card.

This book tells stories of girl victims of the sex trafficking trade from many different angles; it gives us the points of view of the judge in "Courtroom 18", the police officers, the social workers, and the activists who all work together to try to rescue and help these young victims.  It mentions the sin cities Las Vegas, New York City, Phoenix,  and Dallas as urban cities where this trafficking epidemic is found to happen.

Guy Jacobson, founder of Priority Films and RedLight Children Campaign (RLC), and his Priority Films partner, the Israeli actress Adi Ezroni were bestowed by Condoleezza Rice with the "Global Heroes" Award in the U. S. Department of State Trafficking In Persons (TIP) Report 2008 to recognize their efforts trying to rescue young children who are victims of the global sex trade, lots of whom are under the age of 6.  Read more about it on the U. S. Department of State page (under the paragraph of "United States").

Annabelle is the new kid at Birchwood Middle School, which is very different from her old all-girls elementary school.  Now, Annabelle has to figure out how to juxtapose being the new girl, being in a school with boys, being in a new family, and being a new dog/puppy owner!  She thinks boys are like wild animals!

Fortunately, Annabelle quickly makes some new friends and enjoys training her new puppy, Stripe.  However, the boys in her classroom make her quite miserable with their behavior.  Boys behave so differently from the girls at her old elementary school!  She needs to find some way to deal with their behavior because ignoring their bad behavior is not working.  What can she do?

Leslie Margolis has an immediately sympathetic character in Annabelle.  Kids will enjoy learning how Annabelle applies her lessons with Stripe to other problems in her life.  This is really a laugh-out-loud, book!  Boys are Dogs (AR 6.0, level 4.2) and Girls Acting Catty, (AR 5.0, Level 4.2) the sequel, are best read together. 

Soccer Song by Patricia Reilly Giff introduces us to Jill, a girl who loves sports. She uses her strong hands and long arms to play many outdoor games and even rescues a cat! But you cannot use your hands or arms when you play soccer! Can Jill use her head and find a way to be really good at soccer? A story written especially for young children all about trying to do your best. This is a Green Light Readers Level 2 series book.

David A. Adler's Young Cam Jansen series is a great one for kids who are starting to read on their own. The reading level is roughly grades K-2 and ages 5-8.

The books are short, tame, but interesting mysteries that readers can try to solve before Cam Jansen solves them. "Cam," short for Camera, is the nickname of Jennifer Jansen, an elementary school girl with a photographic memory and a wonderful attitude. There are 16 books in the series and counting, so kids will have plenty of stories in this series to satisfy them. The illustrations by the accomplished Susanna Natti are vivid and attractive. And each book includes a "Memory Game" at the end of the book. The best thing about the series, though, may be that kids that read all the books in this series can graduate to the longer, slightly more difficult  books of the Cam Jansen Adventures series.

For more information about Cam Jansen, check out the Cam Jansen Mysteries website.

We highly recommend Going on 13, an eye-opening movie for concerned parents and teachers of adolescent girls. The movie deals with teen sexuality, race, immigration, the coming of age, and other issues regarding 4 Bay Area teenage girls. Tracing the story of the girls from 4th grade through the age of 13, the movie also has a website with more information and a trailer.