Jacqueline Thomas

Lizzy & the Light Below: Third Edition Jacqueline Thomas

"Lizzy and the Light Below" gives mothers a beautiful tool for explaining and celebrating their daughters' first menstruation. Going beyond the important message that menstruation is a natural process and a sign of good health and fertility, this story tells how a girl named Lizzy--who has just had her first period--accidentally journeys to a friendly otherworld where she learns that human culture originated from the earliest women's understanding of their menstruation--from their simple mathematics of counting the moon's phases to their development of the earliest religious beliefs and practices, and more. Her otherworld guide, Luciela, The Keeper of the Light Below, tells her that, now that she is a Changing Girl, her resepectful attention to her body, feelings, and thoughts during menstruation can be a way for her to stay true to her dreams, revitalize her relationships, and renew the world. The book is written to be read aloud, but could be given to a girl to read alone. To provide mothers with background for the book's historical and anthropological claims, the third edition includes an introduction that condenses a part of the author's doctoral studies.