The Girls from Ames: A Great Summer Read

If you looking for light weight, enjoyable memoir that you can curl up on the lawn chair in the back yard then Meet the Ames Girls.

The Girls from Ames, by Jeffrey Zaslow, is a memoir about eleven childhood friends who stand the test of time and have managed to maintain the friendship for forty years. That’s amazing just on it’s own!

This is the story of Karla, Kelly, Marilyn, Jane, Jenny, Karen, Cathy, Angela, Sally, Diana and Sheila whose bonds were formed in early childhood.

The girls all grew up in Ames, Iowa. While they were the popular group in high school (the envied clique), they dealt with all the normal teenage stuff like boyfriends issues.

As young adults, they are spread to nine different states yet they still manage to keep in touch and are always there for the big events like weddings or funerals. They are really there for each other. When one is in trouble they all band together and send emails and flowers to show their support.

There were parts of the book where I found myself laughing like in the maxi pad incident and other parts where I was tearing up like the illness of one of their kids. The most appealing part of the book is the strong sense of friendship. To have a friendship that has endured as this one has and is still going strong is extremely special and now they are passing it down a generation by having their children get together as well and I think that’s great.

This is one of those feel good book. I know that as I was reading I couldn’t help but think about my own friendships and after this book I value them even more. I can relate to some of these women since I have a group of friends that was formed in middle school. We’ve been through our teen years together, have stood next to each other at our weddings, and have been there for the births of our children. As we’ve gotten older our lives have gotten busier but the thing I’ve always loved about our group is that we’re always there to celebrate each other’s birthdays. I hope that like these women we can continue these friends for at least another 20 years!

The Girls From Ames can be ordered through Amazon or purchased at your local bookstore. Here’s a quick tip when reading- I kept a sticky note on the pages that had their pictures so that I could refer back.

To read more about Michelle Zakko, www.paramusbuzz.com.