Sign up for our newsletters to receive our Most Anticipated Books of 2025!

Summary and Reviews of What Every Girl (Except Me) Knows by Nora Raleigh Baskin

What Every Girl (Except Me) Knows by Nora Raleigh Baskin

What Every Girl (Except Me) Knows

by Nora Raleigh Baskin
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus (5):
  • Readers' Rating (23):
  • First Published:
  • Mar 1, 2001, 224 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Nov 2002, 224 pages
  • Rate this book

About This Book

Book Summary

A humorous and resonant novel about a girl growing up without a mother, of preteen friendships and the necessity of coming to terms with a loss before being able to move on with one's life. Ages 10+

A humorous and resonant novel about a girl growing up without a mother.

I'm assuming I'll turn into a woman someday whether I know anything about being one or not. But being womanly is something you definitely have to learn. Girls probably don't even know they're learning it. But one thing for sure is that it has to come from a mother.

And a mother is one thing I don't have.

Unlike most kids faced with the prospect of having a stepmother, Gabby Weiss isn't the slightest bit resistant to the idea. Gabby wishes her father would hurry up and marry someone who knows more about womanhood than she does, someone who understands her obsession with all that is happening (and, worse, not happening!) to her body. For a while, it seems as though her father's girlfriend, Cleo, might soon be filling the role of mother, but when things fall apart, Gabby has to find her own solution. So she travels to the last place she remembers seeing her mother, searching for a memory. But what she finds is something even better.

Chapter 1

My Journal

I've been keeping a journal now for almost a full year. Actually, I have three journals. One is for dreams, one is for important stuff like this, and one is a list. My list journal is called "Things I Need to Know to Be a Woman."

First I wrote in "woman." Then I crossed that out and wrote in "girl." Then I crossed that out and wrote in "woman" again. I still can't decide.

I'm assuming I'll turn into a woman someday whether I know anything about being one or not. I think Amber Whitman already has, because every month she goes to the nurse with a mysterious stomachache. We learned all about that in health, and everyone saw the movie. So Amber's not fooling anyone.

But being like a girl (or womanly or girlish or feminine, whatever you want to call it) is something you definitely have to learn.

Girls probably don't even know they're learning it. It just gets absorbed into them while they are sleeping. But on this ...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $50 for 12 months or $18 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

BookBrowse Review

BookBrowse

Written as a first person narrative from the perspective of Gabby, a twelve year old girl, What Every Girl, Except Me, Knows combines a touching story of preteen friendship with the mystery and guilt surrounding the death of Gabby's mother when she was 3 years old; and the effect it still holds over Gabby, her elder brother and father, and how, due to Gabby's initiative, they eventually come to terms with the loss. Highly recommended for ages 10+.

Media Reviews

Booklist
This first novel is a mystery about a young person's search for the truth about a parent long dead. It is also a gripping coming-of-age story.

Kirkus Reviews
The sympathetic protagonist has reality and dimension and readers should be squarely in her corner as she goes through the difficult process of becoming a young woman...

Publishers Weekly
...bittersweet, emotionally complex first novel...a keen understanding of pubescent concerns...

School Library Journal
....an engrossing coming-of-age story peopled with characters about whom it is easy to care, and Ian's empathy when he realizes his sister's needs is beautifully developed. This is a fine novel that offers a perceptive and positive look at dealing with loss.

Reader Reviews

Valerie

Awesome!!
This was such a good book!! I want to read it again but I cant find it anywhere!! It's one of my fave's!!
Alison Miller

Alison Miller
I think this was a very interesting and exciting book. I was shocked to find myself never wanting to put it down. This book is so unique because I really feel that I could connect with some of the things the main character was going through. I would...   Read More
Bella

A very good book for girls growing up
My daughter has read this book and loved it! It is truly a great book and this is true!!!
olivia

bombage
I really enjoyed this book because it expresses Gabby's feelings. And every girl HAS to go through this in there life

Write your own review!

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $50 for 12 months or $18 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked What Every Girl (Except Me) Knows, try these:

  • Dairy Queen jacket

    Dairy Queen

    by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

    Published 2007

    About this book

    More by this author

    A well-written story written in a pitch-perfect teenage voice. D. J. Schwenk is an unforgettable character: A football-loving 15-year-old who takes over running her family's small Wisconsin dairy farm when her dad is injured. Like the rest of her family, she is not much of a talker - but when she meets Brian, a snooty quarterback assigned to her...

  • The Second Summer of The Sisterhood jacket

    The Second Summer of The Sisterhood

    by Ann Brashares

    Published 2004

    About this book

    More by this author

    Brashares returns to the beloved characters she brought to life in her first novel, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, for a new installment that's equally authentic and engaging.

We have 4 read-alikes for What Every Girl (Except Me) Knows, but non-members are limited to two results. To see the complete list of this book's read-alikes, you need to be a member.
More books by Nora Raleigh Baskin
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $50 for 12 months or $18 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

BookBrowse Book Club

  • Book Jacket
    The Wager
    by David Grann
    From the bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a gripping story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth.
  • Book Jacket
    The Bluest Eye
    by Toni Morrison
    The story of a black girl in America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others. First published 1970; won the 1993 Nobel Prize.
  • Book Jacket
    The Frozen River
    by Ariel Lawhon
    From the bestselling author of I Was Anastasia comes a historical mystery inspired by 18th-century midwife Martha Ballard, who investigates a shocking murder.
  • Book Jacket
    Wandering Stars
    by Tommy Orange
    Tommy Orange follows There There with a powerful multi-generational story of survival and legacy.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Harlem Rhapsody
    by Victoria Christopher Murray

    The extraordinary story of the woman who ignited the Harlem Renaissance.

  • Book Jacket

    Three Days in June
    by Anne Tyler

    A new Anne Tyler novel destined to be an instant classic: a socially awkward mother of the bride navigates the days before and after her daughter's wedding.

  • Book Jacket

    Beast of the North Woods
    by Annelise Ryan

    When a local fisherman is mauled to death, it seems like the only possible cause is a mythical creature.

Who Said...

Children are not the people of tomorrow, but people today.

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

D to T N

and be entered to win..