Dear Teen Me: Authors Write Letters to Their Teen Selves

Title: Dear Teen Me: Authors Write Letters to Their Teen Selves
Authors: Various
Published by: Zest Books
Pages: 192
Source: Library
Format: Paperback

Summary from Goodreads: Dear Teen Me includes advice from over 70 YA authors (including Lauren Oliver, Ellen Hopkins, and Nancy Holder, to name a few) to their teenage selves. The letters cover a wide range of topics, including physical abuse, body issues, bullying, friendship, love, and enough insecurities to fill an auditorium. So pick a page, and find out which of your favorite authors had a really bad first kiss? Who found true love at 18? Who wishes he’d had more fun in high school instead of studying so hard? Some authors write diary entries, some write letters, and a few graphic novelists turn their stories into visual art. And whether you hang out with the theater kids, the band geeks, the bad boys, the loners, the class presidents, the delinquents, the jocks, or the nerds, you’ll find friends--and a lot of familiar faces--in the course of Dear Teen Me.

Dear Teen Me is a powerful book filled with many issues that teenagers deal with everyday.  Each of these authors wrote a letter to their teen selves.  Some were funny, some heartbreaking, but each one important to not only the authors but to many teens going through the same issues. 

Instead of a real review on this book I thought I'd open myself up a bit and write a letter to my teenage self.  This was quite difficult for me to do, but it was therapeutic at the same time.  I encourage each of you to do this also.  It really is quite powerful. 

Dear Teen Me,
It's your future self here.  Ok, I know you don't believe it's me because you are super skeptical, but stretch your imagination and trust me (and yourself) this once.  Please!

Ok, we're all good right?  Well we better be because there are some things you need to hear.  The amount of worrying you do is not normal.  This is something you are going to struggle with and truth be told we still do.  The worrying and anxiety will just lead to dark and lonely places you don't want to be.  You cannot control every aspect of your life.  Stop trying...you will be so much happier when you just let yourself experience the moment without analyzing everything about it.  Stop hiding behind your perfect facade and go talk to someone.  It will help. 

I know you have everyone fooled, but not me.  You are scared of what people will think, but I'll let you in on a secret...they don't matter.  Seriously you will only keep in touch with three people from high school and they love you unconditionally no matter how messed up you are. 

Let it all go.  You don't have to be perfect.  That little chant you tell yourself about being perfect so that when you are the first lady they won't dig up any incidents to hold against your husband is RIDICULOUS.  Let me spell it out.  You are not going to be the first lady so instead of trying to be perfect, have a little fun instead of pretending you are having fun.  Don't hold yourself to those impossible standards....no one else does.  You will look back someday and realize that you missed out on so much.  Please don't continue to let your life pass by without living it.    

You may not believe this but you have a great life and it's only going to get better.  So stop worrying about your future and what tomorrow may bring...instead find the good in everyday and every situation.  Oh yeah, and that boy...you know the one.  Stay away from him.  Trust me on this one.

         

Review of Two and Twenty Dark Tales: Dark Retellings of Mother Goose Rhymes

Title: Two and Twenty Dark Tales: Dark Retellings of Mother Goose Rhymes
Authors: Various
Published by: Month9Books
Pages: 340
Source: Publisher/NetGalley
Format: ARC ebook
Available: October 16, 2012
Rating: 4 stars

Summary from Goodreads:  In this anthology, 20 authors explore the dark and hidden meanings behind some of the most beloved Mother Goose nursery rhymes through short story retellings. The dark twists on classic tales range from exploring whether Jack truly fell or if Jill pushed him instead to why Humpty Dumpty, fragile and alone, sat atop so high of a wall.

When the weather starts getting colder and the leaves begin to change, I know fall is almost here.  And what is a better way to bring in fall than to read Two and Twenty Dark Tales?  If you thought you knew your nursery rhymes before, you were wrong.  

Each story starts out with the original rhyme that the dark tale was concocted from and then delves into it's haunting rendition.  The writing was exceptional and each story was completely different and unique.  Some ended happy and others did not, but they all offered a history to the rhyme you never would have imagined.  It was fascinating to discover how each author incorporated the rhyme and what they would come up with.

For me, some tales were confusing and they often felt a bit rushed.  Others though were wonderfully put together and they seemed to capture my complete attention in a short few pages.  After reading certain stories I felt that I had read a novel for how rich and detailed they were. 


To highlight a couple of my favorites... 

Boys and Girls Come Out to Play by Angie Frazier.  A great story about children responding to a witch's call.  This was my favorite story in the anthology. It was hauntingly and beautiful.    


Life in a Shoe by Heidi R. Kling.  A bit of a dystopian novel about a mother and her many children that live in a shoe-box sized apartment.  While I didn't quite understand what was going on in the outside world, I loved the main character and how she took charge.  

Those Who Whisper by Lisa Mantchev.  A girl gets cast off from her village and lives in the woods with the help of the animals which whom she can communicate with.

The Well by K.M. Walton.  How did Jack and Jill fall down the hill?  This is a great story with lots of sibling rivalry and what it will cause you to do. 

 
Whether you pick and choose which stories to read or read them all, these dark retellings will pleasantly catch you by surprise and have you craving more.