As soon as I saw the cover of I Am an Emotional Creature online, I knew I had to have it. Thankfully, Random House was awesome enough to send me a free copy. When it came in the mail, I sat down and read it. One sitting. It's just that good.
What's makes it so good? I love reading about gender issues and relations and such. I think that there's just so much to think about when it comes to the intersections between society and the individual and how much the messages of a greater society affect the decisions of the individual. As always, Eve Ensler is a bit of a genius in this book. I loved the structure of this collection, which is told in a series of short stories, poems, recurring bits of drama, and powerful facts about girls. Ensler weaves these genres together, filled with the voices of girls from all sorts of cultures around the globe, and transforms their message into a sort of universal truth: we are more alike than we think and we all receive pressure and messages from society that we are not okay as we are.
As I was reading this book, I could not help but realize that it was essential that teens read and think about it. I don't know that every page needs to be read, but I do think that teens of both genders can benefit from thinking about the messages and pressures they experience in relation to their gender. I plan to use it in my teaching and I know that it will spur on some thought-provoking discussions and poetry.
