I enjoyed reading about the girls from Ames, I am three years older and also have ten friends from High School that have been getting together annually for the last ten years. Many of the ten have been friends since Kindergarten. We are from Alexandria, VA so we do not have the same small town experience but we have a lot of the same sharing and growing together life moments.

I was amazed by all the similarities of us and the Ames group. Definitely the sharing support of female relationships but also breast cancer, the loss of a 7 year old niece to a brain tumor which we all followed, parents passing away and divorce. We discussed writing a book five years ago and did not do it - at least not yet. We also have the picture of laying in a circle all heads in the middle...

We usually get together in VA since all but myself continue to live in that State. This we will all turn 50 and we are headed to St Johns for a week!

Good luck to the Ames Women!

My great wonderful friend Pam, of about 18 years, gave this book to me and another friend as a gift. At dinner the other night she stated "we really don't know very much about each others childhood." The next day after thinking about the conversation, I felt very sad. This week, we have been sharing emails about our childhoods. This is a wonderful gift. The meaning behind the book will bring people closer and provide the conversation for a deeper relationship. Growing up in the military, I often wish I had lifelong friends. The friendships that I have with my friends I treasure. We have watched each other grow from being young parents, going through college together in later year and watching one another age. Thanks for letting us into your lives. Tina Victory, Anchorage Alaska

I am reading the book and every 5 minutes I find myself saying "Oh my gosh this could be US!" I grew up in Athens, Ohio (yes the home for Ohio University where Jane got her graduate degree and met her husband!)and graduated from AHS (our was Athens, not Ames) in 1979. A very similar town to Ames, a college town surrounded by rural hills and yes, quite a few corn fields. We had so many similar adventures and I am still close with a large group of girlfriends I grew up with. We just had our 30th HS reunion this summer. Thank you for sharing your lives and reminding me of the love and shared history that I have with my Athens girls. No newer friends have that history or aspect of knowing the "original me" and how I've evolved. I'm telling all my friends to read the book before we get together again!

I just finished reading The Girls from Ames tonight. I came across this book while flipping the pages of People Magazine one day a few weeks ago. As I read the book, I was able to envision my friends today, as Seniors in high school, tomorrow and in the future. Reading this book meant the world to me; because, as i read it, it gave me faith that my friends and I could overcome the odds of what people have always told me. "You'll never be friends with the people you were friends with in high school." I know we will be friends in the years to come, and in the lifetimes ahead. We are the future girls from Ames. Though the stories from our lives will vary from the eleven girls chronicled, the meaning will be the same, the love and laughter will be the same, and our bond will be just as strong. The single difference, we are "The Girls from Medford."

Sir- Am really enjoying your book...I am in a group of "girls" who have been friends since 1937!! My sister is also in a group of "girls" who have been friends since 1942! My group has been getting together for a weekend for the past 17 years...we all spread out after graduating from Teaneck High School( NJ) and going off to college and living our lives...17 years ago one of our "sorority" sisters got us together and we have been doing this for 17 years now..there are now 7 of us ( one has passed away) and we are 78!! We have a 60th THS reunion coming up in Sept. 2010...we lived in a suburban town with 7 elementary schools and got together at various stages..5 of the group went from K thu 12 together...We were children of the Great Depression and grew up during WWII..in a way we were lucky..non of us had fathers who were in WWII, all of us lived in single family homes, and none of our dads were out of work!! We figured that out a couple of years ago...we were luck! All of us were married once except one "girl" who lost her husband when he was 34...she did remarry. I am the only widow in the group at this point..I love the book and see all of us...we are friends..warts and all..some were closer than others mostly to do with where we lived in our town...we had a high school sorority..not all of us were "best friends" all the time with the same person...my two closest friends passed away before the age of 50! We also had one Jewish girl in our inner circle...she is still the one we plan our annual "Jersey Shore" gathering around...her Holy Days being what we work around! She lives in Ill...and has to come to NJ...I am going to get my sister to write to you about her group..mostly K-12 "girlfriends" who are now 73! Thank you for the book....

I had the joy of reading "The Girls from Ames" last year after having read a People Magazine review on it. My initial interest in the book was peaked by the fact that it was about this group of friends from the midwest who were sharing their stories of growing up together in the 70's. I could relate as I am one of a large group of girls from another midwestern town of Wisconsin all whom graduated in 1978 but remain in touch to this day. As a matter of fact, it is this year 2009/10 that we are all turning 50 years old. We are planning our own reunion to take place in September of this year in Dallas, Texas. We are going to celebrate our 50th together and are all looking forward to sharing the laughter and the tears that our memories of yesteryear and and our lives to date are sure to bring. We are now scattered throughout the U.S. including Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Colorado, California, Texas and beyond. We are married and divorced and mothers and grandmothers We are professionals and homemakers. We are survivors in many ways and friends 'til the end. -. Its a tribute and a celebration, not only of our 50 years of living but of our anywhere from 36-45 years of friendship. When I read the book, The Girls from Ames, I couldn't help but think it just as easily could have been The Girls from "the Falls". Thanks for sharing your stories and for inspiring us to share our own.

I am one of 6 girls who got back together after our 25th high school reunion! We had all gone to girl scout camp together in junior high and a couple had even known each other since birth! Since our high school reunion 10 years ago, we have gotten together every summer for a reunion of just us! We have a special name, trade swaps every year (like at girl scout camp), call each other when we need emergency meetings (usually regarding our families), get together when we're in each others' towns and swap books with each other. One of the girls' sister gave her the book for Christmas saying it reminded her of our group then called me saying she was going to send it to me. Today, she emailed the others telling them she really wanted us all to read it so we could discuss it this summer at our gathering and even play "The Pebble Game". One of the others wrote to say her daughter-in-law had given her the same book for Christmas as it reminded her our our group. This book must be something- I can't wait to get Nancy's in the mail!

nUkAW

I am a freshman in college and have had the wonderful blessing of an amazing group of friends since 8th grade. While reading, I found so many similarities between our group, "The Hockey Girls" and the girls from ames (i.e. the nicknames, the crazy memories, and the overabundance of laughter whenever we are together). I'm eager to see where our lives lead us and find comfort in the lasting friendships of the ames girls! I'm most definitely going to suggest this book to all of my friends!

A friend of mine gave me the book to read. I just finished the book and WOW, I loved every chapter! I cried while reading several parts of the book. My heart warmed up many times as I could relate to so many of the stories about the girls and their relationships, struggles, etc. I am a member of a wonderful group of woman who came together the summer before our oldest child entered kindergarten. There were five of us with one that had twins and an older sibling. We had a instant connection that quickly grew strong each month. We now have at least ten in our group of wonderful woman. We have similar interests and that has kept our bond strong. We live in a small town. Other woman would like to join our group but there is something special about the natrual bond that develped between the original 5 woman and then the additional 5 woman. Thank you for sharing your life stories in the book. I pray for Kelly and Angela as they battle breast cancer. I hope they are doing well and living life!

I just finished the book yesterday and couldn't help but write to you about my "girls". We are a group of six who have been connected to each other in one way or another since birth. We grew up in Manhattan, Kansas which is a Midwest college town very similar to Ames. The book resonated with me on so many levels. We have experienced so much of life together, high school crushes, standing up for one another in our weddings, divorce, becoming moms. Although distance apart is our biggest challenge, we remain in one another's lives daily through email. We are always there for one another no matter the miles and get together at least once a year for a girl's trip. Most often we get together in Manhattan where all of our parents remain and we have built in sitters for the kids. We are free to galavant the town carefree as if we were still teenagers. In fact, your book was given to me in a care package from one of my "girls" after I went on bedrest with my third pregnancy!

Wow. Just finished reading the book and it feels so close to home. I am part of a "group of eight" that originated in kindergarten for some and highschool for others in the group. We are now all 43. We have celebrated or grieved marriages, divorces, death, love and eveything in between. Thank you so much for sharing all your memories with all of us.
There is something magical about relationships that last this long and strong, isn't there?

I just finished this book with tears streaming down my face. What a story of female friendship over the years! I am fortunate to be a member of a female group who were in Sioux City IA together during 1969-1971 while most of us attended Briar Cliff College. We also have annual reunions but live closer together than The Girls From Ames. We also have had births and deaths of children, struggles and joys, health issues with ourselves and our parents. This book reminded me of the improtance of these friendships and how they need to be nutured. I just emailed the four others and told them to read this book. I would do just about anything for each of these women friends and I know they would do the same for me (and some already have). True friendship is such a gift. Thank you to the girls from Ames and Jeffrey Zaslow for allowing us into their lives!

This has been a wonderful journey reading about the sisterhood of another group of women!

I am 35 years old and my four girlfriends and I have been the best of friends since grammar school. We started out in pairs and then somehow became this group that's been more like sisters for the last 25 years or so. We, too, have moved away from each other, with only one left in our old hometown, and we have at least one annual get-together where we stay up late eating, talking and laughing so hard it hurts. We kayak every summer. We break out the yearbooks and old notes. Now we're traveling through adulthood together, helping each other through marriage, adult dating, raising children, aging parents....life. Our friendship is something we all cherish.

It was touching to read about another group of women with the same special bond. I laughed and cried reading this book and will be recommending it to others. Thanks to the Girls from Ames for sharing their story.

I was setting up a reunion of some of my closest college friends from Iowa State in Ames when my sister recommended this book to me. It made me miss these fantastic women even more because our connections were not so close or so long as the girls from Ames, as our relationships began as freshmen in college. We are getting together to tell stories and find out how our lives have all taken their course over the years. I am absolutely looking forward to our get-together, and re-connecting with the people who played such an important part in my life then and now.

My book club and I just finished "The Girls from Ames." To discuss the book (and celebrate the holidays!) the 8 of us met for dinner in downtown Manhattan. Although we all loved the book for different reasons, we agreed that the girl's friendship reminded us so much of the bonds we share with each other. We call ourselves "The Mean Girl Book Club," although we are really a bunch of "nice girls"! Much like the "S Sisters", the "mean girls" title is meant to represent how outsiders may view our close-knit relationship.

During the event, we replicated Angela's "fill in the blank" game and also revealed the character that we most related to.

"The Girls from Ames" was one of our favorite book club selections. It was an extraordinary story that is played out with different characters and in different settings throughout the world.