I have tired very very hard to get my girls interested in the new Journeys. I have failed miserably. My troop is now a mixed-level troop from ages 7-12, so I bought and examined each applicable Journey. I then read both the books and the leader guides cover to cover.

I had a mixed reaction. First, I LOVED the topic of the Cadette Journey. It deals with relational aggression and teaching our girls to navigate the shark-infested waters of social relations could be the single most valuable lesson of Girl Scouts. To round out my impressions, I could easily toss aside the Brownie and Junior Journeys and be happy to never look at them again.

To introduce them to my girls, I started with my own daughters and casually let them look at them. I should mention that my girls assume anything I give them for Girl Scouts will be something they will like. My 9 year old latched onto the Junior Journey and wanted to know if she could keep the book. An important point here is that my nine year old has never met a book she hasn't loved. My 11 year old flipped through her level book and gave it right back at me with a "do we have to do it?"

Step two: I took the books to a meeting and let the girls browse through them. I wanted one of the Cadettes to show an interest, any interest, in the Cadette Journey but I was disappointed.

Step three: I tried sending books home with the girls. I finally got one Cadette interested because she found it to be just like her American Girl book. Aha! For those girls who already like the American Girl books, this was an easy sell, but unfortunately, in my troop of 20, that was one family of sisters.

Gathering further feedback, the older girls strongly reacted to the "school-like" approach of the Journey and were completely uninterested in the topic. The Junior-level girls liked their book for the same reasons; either they like that it was an American Girl clone or they liked school and anything that resembles school is great in their assessment.

I suggested to the Cadette who liked the Journey that she could lead the troop through it. Despite her enthusiasm, her first question was, do we have to all do the whole book?

At this point, I am leaving the guidance of the Cadette Journey in the hands of the one interested girl. I figured she has a better chance of getting her friends interested in the Journey than I do.