Celebrate HER Now: An Interactive Guide to Loving Ourselves and Embracing Female Youth of the Hip-Hop Generation by Lacey C. Clark.

Unlike many books of its genre, Celebrate HER Now! focuses less on theory and more on practice. Drawing from Clark’s experiences as a teacher, activist, and community leader, the book provides a wide range of activities for mentoring young women. Although the book’s topics range from health to finances, Clark is at her best when dealing with issues of self-love.

Clark devotes the first half of the book (“Mission 1”) to activities that help young Black girls to appreciate their own bodies and minds without an approving male gaze. Activities like “I Am My Own Celebrity,” “I Eat To Live…,” and “I Enjoy Being With Me” are wonderful counter-narratives to the 106 & Parks of the world. These activities alone make the book worth buying.

The second half of the book (“Mission 2”) shifts the focus from the mentee to the mentor. True to the honorable spirit of the book, Mission 2’s activities force mentors to do the necessary work of self-examination and concrete planning. Clark’s tips on how to financially and spiritually support young women are among the section’s strongest.

Overall, Celebrate HER Now is an extremely fun, engaging, and useful read. Although the introduction could have been expanded and the section half feels rushed, this is an extremely worthwhile read for anyone interested in the hard work of supporting little brown girls.

For more information about this book, visit www.CelebrateHerNow.com.