The Confidence Code For Girls by Claire Shipman And Jillellyn Riley: Your Complete Guide
The Confidence Code for Girls is a New York Times bestselling book co-authored by journalist Claire Shipman and educator Jillellyn Riley, first published in May 2018. It is a science-backed, illustrated guide written specifically for teen girls, showing them how to build real confidence through action, risk-taking, and the willingness to embrace imperfection. If you are searching for The Confidence Code for Girls in Sri Lanka, you can order it today at bookshopnearme.lk with convenient island-wide delivery.
Key Takeaways
- Written for teen girls aged 10–16, this book translates real confidence research into practical, age-appropriate advice using an engaging illustrated format with quizzes and activities.
- Confidence is a skill, not a fixed trait — the book’s central argument is that girls build confidence through action, risk-taking, and learning from failure rather than waiting until they “feel ready.”
- Covers the real pressures teen girls face, including social media, perfectionism, school performance, friendships, and sports — making it deeply relevant for Sri Lankan readers navigating the same challenges.
- Goes well beyond theory with quizzes, real stories from hundreds of girls, hands-on challenges, and science explanations that make abstract concepts immediately understandable.
- A companion to the adult bestseller The Confidence Code by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman, now fully adapted for the next generation of women.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Title | The Confidence Code for Girls |
| Authors | Claire Shipman & Jillellyn Riley |
| Illustrator | Janet Sung |
| Genre | Young Adult Non-fiction / Self-Help |
| Published | May 2018 |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
| Pages | 304 |
| ISBN | 978-0062796226 |
| Format | Hardcover / Paperback |
| Recommended Age | 10–16 years |
What is “The Confidence Code For Girls” about?
The Confidence Code for Girls tackles one of the most pressing challenges facing young women today: the confidence gap. Research consistently shows that as girls move through their teenage years, their confidence often drops sharply — even as their competence grows. This book explains why that happens, and more importantly, what girls can do about it.
The book is built around a core scientific insight: confidence is not a fixed personality trait you either have or don’t have. It is a skill, and it is built specifically through taking action. Shipman and Riley identify the patterns that quietly erode girls’ self-belief — perfectionism, overthinking, people-pleasing, fear of judgment — and name them clearly so readers can recognise and break out of them.
Unlike many self-help titles that offer vague motivation, The Confidence Code for Girls is grounded in neuroscience and psychology. It explains concepts like neuroplasticity — how the brain literally rewires itself when you push through fear and try new things — in language a 12-year-old can understand and get genuinely excited about.
The book is also visually distinctive. Illustrated by Janet Sung in a graphic novel style with comic-strip panels, it feels less like a textbook and more like a story you want to read. Chapters are broken up with quizzes, activities, and real stories from girls around the world who shared their own confidence struggles. This makes the book feel personal and honest, never preachy or condescending.
Topics covered include social media and its impact on self-image, navigating friendships, speaking up in class, handling failure, trying new things, and building daily habits that grow confidence over time. Every chapter ends with practical challenges — small, doable actions designed to move readers out of their comfort zones one step at a time.
Who is Claire Shipman And Jillellyn Riley?
Understanding the authors behind The Confidence Code for Girls helps explain why the book carries the authority it does — because both writers bring genuinely distinct and complementary expertise to the project.
Claire Shipman is an American journalist, author, and television correspondent who spent over two decades as a senior national correspondent for ABC News and Good Morning America. She has interviewed world leaders including multiple U.S. presidents and reported from major international events across her career. She is also the co-author (with Katty Kay) of the adult bestseller The Confidence Code (2014) and Womenomics (2009), both of which examine how women can navigate professional environments more effectively. Shipman is widely recognised as one of the foremost voices on confidence, gender, and leadership in modern public discourse.
Jillellyn Riley brings an equally valuable but different perspective. An educator and researcher, Riley has spent years working directly with schools and young people, studying the specific pressures that affect girls’ confidence during adolescence. Her background means the book doesn’t simply report on the confidence gap from the outside — it is designed with pedagogy at its core, structured in a way that genuinely teaches, engages, and challenges its teen audience rather than just informing them.
Together, Shipman and Riley form a compelling team: one brings research authority and public credibility, the other brings classroom insight and educational design expertise. The result is a book that manages to feel both substantive and deeply practical.
You can learn more about their work by visiting the Claire Shipman and Jillellyn Riley author page on bookshopnearme.lk.
What makes “The Confidence Code For Girls” worth reading?
What sets The Confidence Code for Girls apart from other books in the teen empowerment space is its commitment to honest, specific, evidence-based advice over empty cheerleading.
Many books for young girls tell them they are amazing and worthy. This book goes further. It tells them why confidence feels difficult, what is actually happening in their brains and in the culture around them, and exactly what they can do to change the equation. That specificity is rare, and it is what makes this book genuinely effective rather than merely feel-good.
Here is what makes it stand out:
- It is science-based but fully accessible. The book draws on neuroscience and psychology research without becoming dry or overly academic. Readers learn about the brain, about how risk-taking physically strengthens neural pathways, and about why failure is not just acceptable but essential to growth.
- It names the confidence gap honestly. Rather than pretending gender differences in confidence don’t exist, the book explains why they occur — both culturally and biologically — and refuses to let either factor become an excuse for staying stuck.
- It is interactive by design. Quizzes, confidence challenges, and journaling prompts are built directly into the text. Readers don’t just absorb information — they apply it. This turns the book from a passive read into an active experience.
- It addresses social media directly. In a world where platforms like Instagram and TikTok constantly expose teen girls to comparison and judgment, this book offers grounded, practical advice for managing those pressures rather than dismissing them.
- Real girls’ voices are woven throughout. Shipman and Riley interviewed hundreds of girls for this project. Their real stories, fears, mistakes, and breakthroughs appear throughout every chapter, making the content deeply relatable.
- It is a proven, widely recommended title. This is a New York Times bestseller used by schools, libraries, counsellors, and families across the world — not a niche publication.
For Sri Lankan parents, teachers, and school counsellors, this book carries particular relevance. In environments where girls are often socialised to be quiet, modest, and accommodating, this book helps young women find a confident voice within whatever context they navigate — without rejecting the values that matter to their families and communities.
Who should read this Book?
The Confidence Code for Girls is primarily written for girls between 10 and 16, but the honest answer to who should read it is anyone who cares about a young woman’s development.
Teen girls are the obvious primary audience. If you are navigating secondary school, preparing for O/Levels or A/Levels, managing friend group pressures, worrying about what others think, or holding yourself back from putting your hand up in class — this book speaks directly to you. It won’t lecture you. It will show you how your own brain works and give you tools to use today.
Parents, particularly mothers, will find it a revealing read alongside their daughters. The book helps parents understand why their daughters may be struggling with confidence even when they are clearly capable, and gives them practical language and strategies to offer support without pushing. Many families read this together as a shared experience.
Teachers and school counsellors at Sri Lankan secondary schools — especially girls’ schools and mixed schools — will find this a genuinely useful classroom resource. The book’s activities, discussion prompts, and short chapters adapt well for guidance periods, pastoral sessions, or reading circles.
Older teens and university students who feel the confidence gap following them beyond school will also find value here. The core principles — about perfectionism, risk, failure, and action — do not expire at age 16. They apply across every stage of life.
Gift buyers looking for a meaningful present for a girl between 10 and 18 will struggle to find something more genuinely useful. This is the kind of book that stays on a bedside table rather than a shelf. You can buy The Confidence Code for Girls as a gift with island-wide delivery anywhere in Sri Lanka.
Books similar to “The Confidence Code For Girls”
If The Confidence Code for Girls resonates with you, here are several other titles worth exploring — each sharing a thread of courage, resilience, and the remarkable inner strength of women.
For readers who love stories of extraordinary female bravery in action, The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah is essential. Set in Nazi-occupied France during World War II, it follows two sisters who discover different, equally powerful forms of courage in the most impossible circumstances. It is a novel that makes the lessons of The Confidence Code for Girls vivid — showing, in story form, what women are truly capable of when they choose to act rather than retreat. Deeply affecting, beautifully written, and impossible to forget.
For fans of witty fiction featuring brilliant, unapologetic women, Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood offers a charming and genuinely empowering read. Its neuroscientist heroine refuses to shrink her intelligence or ambitions in a male-dominated space — making it a natural companion read for older teens and adults who enjoyed the science-meets-empowerment tone of The Confidence Code for Girls.
For Sri Lankan readers who want stories of valor rooted in their own cultural heritage, Mahabharata: Stories of Valor and Virtue is a rich and rewarding read. The epic is full of characters who demonstrate what it means to act with courage in the face of uncertainty and fear — timeless themes that connect directly to what The Confidence Code for Girls teaches.
For those who love historical fiction about resilient women, The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B by Sandra Gulland traces the early life of Napoleon’s first wife — a woman who survived upheaval, loss, and reinvention and found her footing in extraordinary circumstances. A rich, layered portrait of a woman discovering her own strength.
Where can I buy “The Confidence Code For Girls” in Sri Lanka?
You can buy The Confidence Code for Girls online in Sri Lanka at bookshopnearme.lk, with island-wide delivery available across the country — from Colombo and Kandy to Galle, Jaffna, Matara, and everywhere in between.
Bookshopnearme.lk is Sri Lanka’s dedicated online bookstore, offering a carefully curated selection of titles across every genre, with secure payment options and reliable, convenient delivery. Whether you are buying for yourself, your daughter, a student in your school, or as a gift, ordering online removes every barrier between you and the right book.
Here is why Sri Lankan readers choose bookshopnearme.lk:
- Island-wide delivery — wherever you are in Sri Lanka, we deliver straight to your door.
- Secure, easy online ordering — a simple checkout process with trusted payment options.
- Wide selection of titles — from children’s books and teen reads to literary fiction, educational titles, and professional development books.