Spilling Open: The Art of Becoming Yourself
Readers of both genders and all generations will find timeless innocence  and age-old wisdom in the scrawling, sprawling words of Sabrina Ward Harrison.  The format here is a personal journal in which Harrison allows readers to be privy to her colorful pages of free-flowing collages, photographs, and wildly  handwritten words. Harrison explores many of the typical questions, confusions,  and insights that accompany the journey from adolescence to womanhood. At times  her angst feels a tad clichéd ("I am afraid to show you who I really am,  because if I show you who I really am, you might not like it--and that's all I  got."), but her gutsy presentation and honesty make her words feel fresh and  hard-earned, especially in passages such as this:I think God leaves me alone to let me find my own strength because  no one else can give it to me. Sometimes it is very lonely. But I know the  lonely times teach me the most. I must let go in order to let anything in. No  one can love me, for me. Take a big walk protected in the trees. I miss the time  before today.Harrison is a gifted writer with an inspiring amount of heart-on-her-sleeve  honesty. She even has the maturity to quote two of the bigWs--Walt  Whitman and Woody Allen--with equal panache. But more importantly, she earns her  readers' trust and hearts. As a result, Harrison is a woman to watch and a  writer to follow.--Gail Hudson