I just finished reading your book and it was a pleasure to read. I too have wonderful friends in my life and I feel truly blessed for each and everyone of them. One in particular has been in my life since 7th grade. I am also a 18 year breast cancer survivor. So,to Kelly and Angela I wish you the best and my prayers are with you! Thank you for sharing your life's stories with the world of women and their friends!!

How are you gals? I hope Kelly and Angela are doing well. Thank you for your honesty and remembering all the important things to share with others about your relationships, families and bonds. Your stories are inspiring.

I am in Italy visiting my three granddaughter and seeing thme play with thier friends here while my son is in the Navy, I hope they can form lasting friendships even though they are moving around ever three years.

Warm regards,

sharyl

I have eleven friend taht get together twice a year. We started school at Immaculate Conception High School, Elmhurst, Illinois in 1959 and graduated in 1962. Eight of us also went to grade school together. Our stories so ring out like the Ames Girls. Our love is deep, our laughs are many and we will soon meet in Michigian at Donna's summer home. To hear more about these crazy, fun loving, marvelous women who turn 65 this year, contact me.

Sharyl Kennedy

I too sent an email to a "few" of my friends. This is the email and a couple extra comments.

hi everyone!

I am reading this book right now, actually I cannot put it down. its called "The girls from Ames".
Its about 11 girlfriends who have been friends for 40+ years. They graduated together in 1981 (MY age , and yes some of yours too!). This book has sparked more than a few memories.

(I then wrote here something persoanl to all 15 friends I sent this too)

So even though we all have not been friends for 40+ years (ok , except carriage friend...and now really getting close to grade school friend), But This book, The Girls from Ames, is a story really pointing out how women all connect with their grilfriends , maybe not on a daily basis, or even weekly basis, hell I haven't seen some of you in months or even YEARS !
You all may or may not know each other, but i know all of you. and I miss seeing all of you on any kind of regular basis.

So if you are like me , and have any extra hours this summer, pick up this book, and read it. Or better yet, lets all get together , one at a time, 5 or even , wow , how many are there ? 15!
Who's driving ????

And these are the woman , who have been important to me. There are a few more NOT in cyberspace, but as important to me as well. A GNO,(that;s a grils night out girl) and a neighbor as well.

Have a great day , hope to talk soon
t

the responses I got back were amazing. One even made me cry because I made HER day! Thanks girl from Ames.
Teresa

I just read your book and I fell absolutely in love, not only because it is an amazing tale of women and friendship, but it reminds me so much of my friends and I. We are a group of 5 girls who have been best friends since freshman year of high school. We call each other the Lambies (God knows why) and they are the absolute reason I am who I am today.

We are only 19 years old, just finished our first year at different colleges all across the country.

We always say we will be friends forever and though I always did believe it, your book has allowed me to actually see our future together as adults.

Thank you for your beautiful story.

I just read the book...I loved it. I also grew up with 5 other girls who were all born in 1963. Our parents worked with each other and bowled together while pregnant with us, therefore we shared a connection since birth. Now, as adults, we talk to each other almost every day and love one another like sisters and our children are all growing up together as we did. Your book inspired me to write our own book so we can share yet another memory in our lives. I have 6 rocking chairs in my backyard for them to share when they are here.

I have purchased the book for all my friends with a special note to each of them written inside. I wish you ladies well and a huge SALUTE to all of you for hanging in there and being there for each other through everything...unconditionally.

I don't know you but I love you for the strong women you are and the courage you have shown through it all.

God Bless

APH

I was looking for something special to give to my friends, lovingly referred to as the Fab 50. I found this book and could not have picked a better gift.... I have never tagged pages in a book, but this one was special. I cried, I laughed and cried some more. We have all taken different journeys in our life, but one road always
comes back to each other....
I was asked by a friend of my daughter, she said "is that the book where all those girls get together"? I said yes, but its not just that they get together, its the love, joy, support and the safety they feel when they get together....I have that with my my friends... and I am buying the book for her and my 3 daughters....
Thank you for the story, we are so truly blessed......

I couldn't resist replying with my thoughts. I have loved reading this book. It had been calling to me from every book store shelf for weeks. Knowing nothing about the context, I reserved it at the local public library, and have loved every page of it.

Interestingly, I told a friend of 62 years (we're 62) a few years back that we should write a book about women's lifelong friendships. We are the "next step", one more generation tacked on! Our friendship group began the day my mother moved from the exciting city of San Francisco with my father to a little Iowa farm and was introduced to another small group of women. They had Tuesday Coffee every other Tuesday until my mother went into a nursing home at the age of 89. She was the oldest one in the group.

All of their daughters continued the tradition and now we range from 65 to 50 something, still maintaining our lifelong friendship. We were potty trained together, gave birth together, raised children, dried tears, buried our mothers,buried husbands, and now are trying to outbrag each other about our grandchildren.
It is a most precious relationship, spun from the threads of post WWII mothers' hearts who showed us how to maintain a friendship that could never die.

That is why I have loved the book so much. Let me ask this....could it be Iowa?

XiZTH

Just finished reading the book and am about to email my group of high school friends to recommend it. Although we are 20 years older than than the Ames girls and didn't grow up among cornfields, (Class of 1960 from a smallish high school in NJ)there's something about longterm friendships among women that is unique and important. Thanks to the internet we were able to reconnect with two of our group and for the past several years, 9 of us have met in NYC in the spring for lunch. We talk and talk and talk and none of us wants to miss these gatherings, also traveling long distances to do so. Thanks to Jeffrey Zaslow for shining a light on the importance of such friendships.

FBBKS

I'm having a reunion with my college friends the last week of July. Five of us have kept in close contact through the years - oh yea - it has been 40 years since we met one another! We all studied to be teachers and 2 are already retired. Two more are still in the classroom and one taught for a year and then began raising 4 children - full time job right there!


I'm having a 40 year class reunion in October of my high school class. My golf partner and I were in first grade together. I've always valued my friends very highly. One high school friend and I have written letters to one another for 40 years - what a collection that would be! She has since moved within 40 minutes of me, but we still write. We call them our "therapy sessions" and agree we have saved a fortune in psychiatric bills. One dear friend moved to Texas 2 years ago. I miss her every day - email just doesn't do it. I have a strong bond with my friends as I'm divorced and my children are grown and making their own lives. I'm going to encourage my book club to read this book as I think we will have a wonderful discussion about it. Before I read it, I mentioned the book to the group and one member shared with us the unshakable friendship her husband formed with men who were in Vietnam with him. As I said - it is all very thought provoking!

Friday, 17th of July,

Just finished the book Girls from Ames, what a delight!I feel that I have a little bit of each girls personality in me. I am around their age, I grew up the same time as they did. Its funny me growing up in Ga. I could of been in the group, because I have so much in common with them, even to this moment in my life. I told my best friends about the book, It is a MUST read!I always tell them men may come and go, but your girlfriend will always be there and Never leave you!!

Loved the book. I grew up in Laurens, Iowa a small town of 1500 people. Class of '64. My highschool friends somewhat lost touch until the internet put us back in touch. Many of us got together for a class reunion in 2005 and decide that we should celebrate our 60th birthdays together, we met in Florida and have been traveling together every year since. Will be in Spirit Lake to celebrate our 45th class reunion. So it is never too late to pick up those friendships again. Reach out and touch a friend from long ago. You will be amazed how much you have to talk about.

Wow...I finally finished the book. I loved it. You would think that being born and raised in Brooklyn, New York would have led you to having 50 friends. However, I have 5 friends who are amazing. We are all in our 40s and have shared many experiences. We don't even see each other often but we know how to reach each other when we need our "girlfriends".

While I read, I laughed, cried, and truly felt the bond the Ames Girls shared. Amazingly enough...today July 16th I was reading pg 157 when Diana was reporting to Jane in Spain. The news about Michael Jackson getting burned during the Pepsi commercial...WOW, that was just all over the news today! It was such an odd moment!

I can probably go on and on....I just wanted to say thank you to the Girls from Ames for sharing such details. Thank you to my friends for their friendship and I hope and pray my daughter Victoria will have the opportunity to experience the true gift of friendship and love.

Mr. Jeffrey Zaslow this was GREAT! Gracias!!!

I have recently read this book and was so moved by the relationships between all of the Ames girls. It just struck me that they are all so capable of being non-judgemental (overall) and accepting of each other. I let all of my high school and most of my college friendships go and I am regretting it deeply in my 40's. I recently reconnected with some high school friends via Facebook and am enjoying getting to know them again. Since reading this book it has made me want to get together in person with them, which will not be an easy feat given that we are all over the country. However, my soul is yearning for female connection and the story of these women confirms for me that we need each other more than we admit.

I am girl from Hinton, Iowa. I was born in 1980, and I went to a K-12 community school all the way through high school. I knew every single one of our 43 high school graduates of 1998. Of my high school friends, I only have 2 close friends that I am still in close contact with. I admire the Ames girls for their continued bond and their large numbers. I hope to have that continued friendship throughout my lifetime. And I understand how difficult it is to find new friends of the same caliber as my two best buds.

I also am VERY familiar with Ames, IA as one of my close friends is an Iowa State alum (class of 2002) and I spent many a weekend roadtripping to Ames - experiencing Veisha, etc, etc. I also have 2 younger brothers who also are Iowa State alum (class of 2004 and 2009). *As I write this, I have an Iowa State T-shirt on.

I now live in Sioux City, IA. I didn't move away from the great state of Iowa as my family, as well as my husband's family, are very close and live in this area. I graduated from Briar Cliff University and have my MBA from the University of South Dakota.

I value my Iowa upbringing and the close friendships that I have to show for it.

Thank you for writing this book as it is a testament to the value of friendship and the importance of the strong bonds that women have.

Thank you.