Twelve-year-old Juanita Christine Gardner lives in California. She read through thousands of submissions from the readers of Agirlsworld.com and more than 90 girl editors from around the world to create "Talking About: Growing Up". Here's more about Juanita Christine.

If I were to describe myself to someone I've never met before, I'd say that I'd rather be laughing than having a serious chat. And for fun I'd want to be playing outside with my best friend. When I feel blue, I just imagine that nobody is around and I listen to music.

The most challenging thing I've ever done was learn how to walk a second time after a hip operation. The most exciting thing I've ever done is flying an airplane by myself. There was a real pilot in the passenger seat though. My experiences being a part of the A Girls World's girl crew have been great. I've gone on a lot of fun little field trips, and on the ones where you're supposed to learn, I've learned. I joined almost three years ago, and since I've joined the club has changed a little bit because we've done a lot more really cool activities. We've gotten more publicity too. And being a member of AGW is like being a mini-movie star. You get to be in the paper, on the Internet, and the thing that I like best is that you get a bunch of respect. In fact those are some of the things that keep me coming back every week. Besides some other things, I come back every week because the other girls in the crew are really nice, and since they don't go to my school, or live by me, that's the only chance I get to see my
friends at AGW.

Being a member of AGW makes me feel like I'm wanted or that I'm needed somewhere. I really like to feel like I belong to someone or something. For me, writing my first book was like I was a genius, because I always pictured authors as being the smartest in their classes and dominating their schools. And writing this book was really hard because I had to keep up with studying and my homework. Advice I have for other girls who want to be a writer is when you're just beginning, write whatever is in your head at that very point in time, then later structure it into well thought sentences. Some of my dreams for the future are to go to Stanford University and become a pediatric surgeon. And the thing I like most about being a girl today is that girls are as equal as boys! --Juanita Christine Gardner, 12, Talking About Growing Up, editor.

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