Celebrating Girl Scouts

By Dr. Marciene Mattleman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Daisy Gordon Low was childless, but in 1912 she found a consuming interest - helping young American girls become civic-minded and competent - launching the American Girl Scouts.

This spring, its centennial will celebrate 50 million participants over the years and today 2.3 million active members, part of an international sisterhood of 10 million girl scouts in 145 countries.

Many interesting facts are reported in a Wall Street Journal article reviewing three new books, chronicling background of the movement. Juliet Gordon Low (always called Daisy) is a long history of the founder, an eccentric woman who knew what she wanted to do.

First Girl Scout, written by Ginger Wadsworth, herself a scout, tells about a life-changing trip with her troop in 1960, in a beautifully illustrated book.

And, Shannon Henry Kleber, a former Washington Post reporter, in On My Honor cites studies that support Girl Scouts as an antidote to bullying and damaging media images of girls.

It's interesting and informative reading.