I apologize for the typing errors in my post earlier today. I was typing through tears. So very sorry. I really do know how to spell.

From the first few sentences in this book I felt as if I was reading about my friends, or as we call ourselves The Girlys! This is an amazing book for all women to read. Everytime I would read a page I would have to stop myself from calling my friends to tell them about it. I suggested it to all of them, and most of them have picked it up and can't put it back down. This author couldn't have written a more beautiful story about one of the most beautiful bonds in the world. I am so luck to have similar bonds with my Girlys. Thank you so much for writing this book and for writing it in a way that just makes sense!

I graduated in 1979 from a small town in Wisconsin. Although my group of friends wasn't the elite clique like the girls', so much of their history is similar to mine. Through the years I stayed in contact with a handful of girlfriends. Then at our 30th HS reunion I was able to reconnect with three friends that I hadn't seen in over 25 years. Now with Facebook, we are keeping in touch and it is so much fun. However, there was a conspicuous absence at the reunion. I have not seen or heard from the woman I considered my best friend in over ten years. She and I were soul-mates throughout HS and beyond. We wept as we departed for separate colleges. My first vacation at my new job was spent soley with her. I chose her to be my matron of honor over my own sister! As married couples, we four were friends. After my first child was born though, my best friend got divirced and moved away to "find herself". We kept in tough with letters and phone calls. We did meet up again in 1993 and it was like old times. We laughed and cried just as we did when were teens. Then as soon as the conversation turned to her ex-husband, it was obvious that I had committed the ultimate sin against her, I had remained friends with the ex. In her eyes it didn't matter that her ex was a friend of my husband's or that the ex's 2nd wife was a friend of mine from work. I had not remained loyal to her. An ocassional letter was exchanged for the next few years. Then in 1998, my Christmas card to her was returned with no forwarding address. I have been grieving the loss of this friendship ever since. I was told at the 30th reunion that she had been in the area recently and met with some of our frineds. When asked if she was planning to visit me, she evidently said "What would be the point". That was like a knife to my heart. With my 50th birthday approching, I cannot help being a little intospective. I have had a really good life. I have been married to a great man for 24 years, I have two wonderful daughters, and I do have a circle of friends. Yet, I still miss that intense friendship I had with my BFF. Why is that? My only hope is that somewhere out there she is living a happy life too, and maybe someday we can be friends again.

I just finished this book and it left me wanting to call up my best friends and have a reunion(we mostly all live in Iowa so we see each other often)! I was able to take my own trip down memory lane and compare my stories to yours. My friends and I have been just that, friends since I can remember...the earliest memories I have are from around 6-7 years old. Now 20 years later we are still going strong, standing up in each others weddings, being there when babies are born, and traveling to another state to see each other, we have stuck together thru it all. One thing that really stuck out to me in the book was the quote, "You can make new friends, but you can't make old friends." I love my new friends too, just isn't the same as my bond with my old friends who were there when we were molded to become the woman we are today. It wouldn't matter if we went a month without talking, as soon as you pick up the phone we start right where we left off the last time we talked. I have ordered and sent this book to my best friend since childhood who is living in Belgium. I plan to write a note in my copy and give it to my other friends to read. At 26 years old, I look forward to growing old with my friends who have been there threw thick and thin. What you girls from Ames have is beautiful and I'm so lucky to have the same bonds with my group!! Best of luck to you all!!!!

I decided to go to my 20 year reunion because I couldn't stand it any longer being in Florida from Altoona, Iowa I met the most dynamic young women that would change my life and my views forever. I never knew how to nurture friendships, follow with calls, write letters...I never did any of that. Instead I thought it was just lost, partly my fault...15 years just gone. For years, I had dreams about them and missed them so much and I just needed to fix it. Through Facebook we reconnected and left off like it was yesterday. Our reunion was amazing and meant the world to me. I forgot what it was like to laugh and cry with such comfort. This past weekend we reunited again, just the group of us and it was just as amazing. I can only think that each year will get better and better. I am now in their lives (I hope for good) and through your book have discovered that friendship needs to be nurtured, from all sides. Thank you again. The girls from Coral Springs thank you and I'll will pass this book along to the group.

Best to you! XOXO

What a FANTASTIC book! It made me laugh and cry and I didn't want it to end. This book and all of the Ames Girls truly show how strong the bonds are of female friendships and how much we should value them. I have a tight knit group of 10 friends we all are from Iowa as well and call ourselves the Iowa Gals. Some of us grew up in Des Moines (close to Ames) and others from around the state, and we all slowly came together over the years from kindergarten up to college, with some of us attending Iowa State in Ames. We have gotten together for our IA Girl's Weekend every summer since graduating from college this summer will be our 20th Anniversary celebrating our friendships. With all of us being either the same age or close to the Ames Girls ages it was so fun reading and connecting with growing up during those years, the IA and Ames connection and most of all reminding us of the wonderful freindships that we all should really be thankful for. Thank you Ames Girls for sharing your story with us it was a gift!

I want to thank you all, Girls from Ames, for sharing your stories of friendship. After I finished the book, I actually missed you all. Reading your story helped me to understand the people I've known that are involved with groups and avidly social. It also leads to some introspection on my own friendships. I believe the stars lined up just right for you all to meet, and form the type of lasting friendship you have. Through the years, those relationships have helped to make you who you are and must have given you a wonderful sense of being cared about. I have a lot friends, even some that go back 40 or 50 years, but very few are as intimate or supportive as you all have been to each other. I've taken a look at myself to understand why. I think an angry alcoholic mother had a lot to do with it. I was the family scapegoat and caregiver. As a result I wound up with friendships that are often one-sided, and out of balance, with me doing all the listening and giving. It's a tough habit to break, and not one there's a class for. If there ever is a plan to offer Friendship 101 as an elective, I believe you all should teach it. Thanks again.

I just finished your book and it was great. Thanks to all of you for sharing your friendship. It made me laugh and cry. I have a dear friend here in Memphis from Waterloo, Iowa who is going back for her 40th high school reunion next week. Although I've "only" just been out 31 years and grew up the same time you all did, she can't wait to read this. I grew up in the Boston area and from what I see, it wasn't that much different for teenagers in the 70's in Iowa than it was in Massachusetts.
The drinking age was 18 and we were all having keg parties somewhere. Thanks again and continue to make each other laugh and have fun.

What an incredible book! Incredible women, author, stories.
I grew up in a small town in IL across the river from St. Louis. The women I began first grade with are still a deep part of who I am, how I look at the world. We only see each other every five years at high school reunions ... but it's as though time never passed from reunion to reunion. I will forever cherish these women / girls and what they brought to my life.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this book!
PS ... I am yearning for a sequel in a few years.

This story really hit home for me. I read the first page and immediately sent out an email to my friends challenging them to read this book! I am lucky enough to be part of an amazing group of friends as well. While I read this book, I kept a notepad with me to write down all of the similarities between their lives and ours. There were so many! First of all, our group was also named by "haters" and it was an ugly name that we happily embraced. We have had the same conversations, the same stories! We are about to turn 30, so we don't have nearly as many life experiences as the Ames girls, but reading this has in a way, prepared me for what could come. We love each other and know with all our hearts that we will be friends forever. We have been friends for 15 years now. We have faced teen pregnancy, deaths in the family, moving away, births of children.....but we are lucky enough to be there for each other no matter how far. I recently moved away for the first time in my life and finally realized how important our group of 7 is to me. I happened upon this book at just the right time. Thank you for your story.

I am sure you have received literally thousands of letters from woman that shared their "friendship" experiences after reading this book, I however, would like to share the memories it brought to me about the birth of my son, Ward. My husband, in 1968, and I moved to Ames from Newport Beach, CA on a February day that went from 72 on the beach to 13 below a couple of days later when we arrived in our 1965 Mustang filled to the brim with all we possessed and a Labrador that was ready to deliver 9 puppies any minute. The weather was a drastic change from what we were used to as two native Southern California residents ages 21 and 23. By March I too became pregnant with our first child due to the need of staying warm in our paper thin farm hand home on an Apple Farm out on the dirt road of Rural Route 3. In the year we were there, while my now ex went to graduate school, we experienced things and people that we have not experienced anywhere else in our lives. Some of the experiences were fun like walking into town on the Railroad Tracks to get back to pick up our broken down car in -13 degree weather! Some were scary like the day my ex came home with glass all over his body from a train warning sign failing to signal and came down without warning crashing through the front windshield. The locals rejected us because we were "too Californian" and forward...etc. But the time I remember the most about that time in Ames was when I was stranded in our house because the snow drift would not let our front door open wide enough to get my 3 week over due body out of it. Finally when the time came to go to the hospital, my ex pushed open the door enough to get me to safety. The birth of my son and the precious days of being a mom for the first time were the best time of my stay there. This book took me on my own journey into the past and present time of both good and sad times. In 1994, my son, Ward stopped talking to both his sister and I and we don't know why. The book helped me to appreciate how life really is so precious through the stories of these wonderful Ames women and their family experiences. I too lost a son, but mine is still alive! I pray that some day my son will forgive me for whatever his father told him to turn away from his sister and I and will become more than just a memory from Ames! Thank you for allowing me to share just a snippet of my life too.

Reading this book was such such a joy. I, too, have a group of friends that I couldn't imagine living without. We call ourselves the Girly Girls. Or GiGi's for short. And since we also graduated high school in the late 80's, it was fun to think back to those days.

A couple of the girls have moved away and unfortunately one passed away from breast cancer several years ago but we still try to keep in touch as often as possible. The craziness of life is ever present but the bonds of friendship are amazingly strong and for this I'm thankful.

Thanks for sharing this story. It really made me think about how luck I am to have my GiGi's. They've continued to walk beside me through life, and sometimes even carried me when I've needed it.

Dear Ames Girls & Mr. Zaslow,

As an avid reader I avoided this book feeling that my connections with women were not very strong. Having grown up with a hyper critical mother and moving every year until I was 11, I didn't make strong memorable friendships until I met a group of girls in the 6th grade, but like Sally, they turned on me in the 8th grade writing me a horribly mean note. Though we ended the school year on good terms, I entered high school leary of women and unsure of my support system. I soon found other friends, but made a point to keep myself free from a group of girls and tried to be friends with all different people. I had a successful high school experience and was voted most athletic, but I recall having many "best friends" and bouncing from group to group always staying on the fringe - this kept me from the risk of getting hurt again - especially since my role model at home was an angry rage-aholic who took her frustrations out on me. To make it worse, my mother had a close network of friends, but it seemed like complaining about their daughters (our weight, love of sports, and other differences) seemed their favorite passtime. Through the years I always considered myself a "guy's girl", chosing to make my relationships and friendships with men more important than those with women. The Girls from Ames made me reassess my female friendships, and I have come to realize that from my college sorority sisters to my group of 6 girlfriends today - I have wonderful women in my life though I've resisted getting close, they've put up with my sometimes callous, distant behavior and loved me unconditionally. I'll be in my 2nd wedding this year at the age of 41 (the bride is 31) and though I'm somewhat of a late bloomer, I realize I am now fully capable of loving and trusting my female friends. I plan on reviving some of my college connections (they've always tried, but I resisted) thanks to the book. I most identified with Jenny because of her career and Kelly because of her outspoken, rebel ways. Funnily enough my boyfriend who is 12 years my junior and are currently trying for our first child :). I will channel the strength of these two women - as well as look for Diana in one of my local Scottsdale Starbucks - as I happily strive to make my dreams for a family come to fruition. One of my biggest fears was having a girl and all the emotions that come with their upbringing, but "The Girls from Ames" make me realize the power of our gender. How exciting it would be to raise an equally strong woman.

to the Ames girls with love, faith and thanks,
Danielle

This book has let me into something I have never belonged too. I at the moment of finishing the book am feeling a great loss. Its as if I was accepted to participate with this friendship the joys, the love, the heartbreak, the grief, and loss. I feel like Karla would be my best friend, I need coffee, I need sleep, and I wanna go home! Everything about her I admire! Her courage, her perseverance, just absolutely everything! My heart is filled with thoughts of Kelly and Angela and their physical health. I simply am in tears, I felt a part of them, that through the book I was invited into their lives, their inner circle and now its as if they have all gone away. As a 35 almost 36 married mother of 3, I crave this in my life! Wow, is all I can say in conclusion! Wow! Brilliant brilliant captivating book. I spent a summer in Des moines and went to Ames 6 yrs ago to visit my sister. Iowa captured my heart and I tell everyone I would live in Iowa in a minute. Maybe the Ames girls left a precious sense of belonging behind, something magical as they all dispersed to other parts of the U.S. For others to feel cause I feel like I belong! Thank you so much ladies for your inspiration into my life and hope and pray I find a friendship like that someday.......

This book is very much like my 42 year friendship with 10 of my Purdue AOPi sorority sister pledge class. We, too, have a yearly reunion but usually at a large farmhouse or mountain retreat as we can be loud with our IPod hooked up to the stereo sharing our music with each other as we dance, eat, drink wine, laugh, cry and look at old photos. The therapy is wonderful. We are all 60 years old now and have experienced loss of a child, loss of many parents, loss of a spouse to cancer, a couple divorces, breast cancer and colon cancer. We are still here and email regularly. We are planning our next trip. Most of us have read your book.