_{The Girls' Guide to Rocking
by Jessica Hopper
Workman Publishing, NY
228p
2009}

Earlier this year I gave my good friend's baby a mix CD for her fifth birthday. In a way, I wanted to impart some kind of influence on her young life that she might appreciate later (similar to how I gave her Edward Gorey's The Object Lesson when she was born). Little did I anticipate that my mix, which ranged from kids songs like They Might Be Giants' "Don't Let's Start"  to The Pixies, David Bowie, Electric Light Orchestra, Cat Power, The Pipettes ("Your Kisses Are Wasted on Me!") and Queen ("You're My Best Friend"), would have such little effect on her. She liked it just fine, a lot actually, especially the Queen and the Pipettes songs, but when she brought it in to school to share with the other kids, they just didn't get into it like she did. "They just need to listen to it a few more times and then they'll like it," she told me. She already knew what was cool. I was heartened to see a little girl with such discerning and distinctive taste.

[I also gave her baby brother a CD for his first birthday. It was decidedly more aggressive, don't ask me why I started that one with "I Shot the Devil" by Suicidal Tendencies.]

Earlier this month I received a copy of The Girls' Guide to Rocking by Jessica Hopper, a long-time music journalist I'd last read in Punk Planet magazine back in the 1990s. I thought maybe this book would be good for Kaija, my friend's daughter, but maybe she's a few years away from this one still since the book is supposed to be aimed at teenagers and those just at the cusp—what's that awful word newspapers use? Still, and I know we usually do reviews of books aimed at a more literate audience, The Girls' Guide to Rocking struck me as relevant because I know I'm not alone in getting old, having friends who have kids, who are in the process of making kids, and who are raising kids to be cool, productive, and creative people. And with all these kids and making kids etc. comes those how-to books, books produced by those big publishing houses you can usually find for about a dollar in Wal-Mart that are written by like 15 people who awkwardly try to explain concepts and teach you how to wrap your brain around an idea that can only be articulated by action. Now picture a book like that, but one about learning how to play music and all the ins and outs of starting a band as a girl.

Books like this can be notoriously hard to read and even more frustrating for kids who are trying to learn, who are probably now at an age where they don't really want to ask their parents and too shy to ask too many questions from the dudes at Guitar Center. They just want to get out of there without feeling embarrassed and figure it out themselves (Hopper says she herself left the store with her first guitar without cords, a case, or even picks). It can be pretty intimidating, especially for young girls but hell even I don't want to ask too many questions or play my guitar too loud because I suck so bad.