Dear Teen Me - Review, Interview, & Giveaway

Dear Teen Me: Authors Write Letters to Their Teen Selves

October 30th, 2012 from Zest Books

I am so thrilled to talk about this book and encourage everyone to read/buy/scrapbook. I have been reading the Dear Teen Me blog for....a long time. When word came out that it was being made into a book I was thrilled for the editors and contributors! The day I got the book in the mail I read all the way through. I cried, literally laughed out loud, blushed, and said the word "awe" a lot. I read a few stories to my husband and kids and eventually my 14-year-old read the entire book. People we know and love writing to their teens selves - what is not to love? 

A few stand out letters were Jessica Lee Anderson's and Ilsa Bick's. Both were totally different stories, but I remember them in detail months after reading. Anderson talks about the pressure of achieving and getting into a good college - something millions of us can relate to. I related a lot to her story, even the epic trip to Mexico. Bick's was a completely different story and absolutely took my breath away. It is one of the longest letters and yet when it ended I wanted another page. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but let's just say her letter talks about a 40+ year-old secret and hidden past. When I meet Bick face-to-face again, this story is something I will be asking her about.

Waiting on Wednesday - Dear Teen Me by E Kristin Anderson and Miranda Kenneally (+Interview)

Dear Teen Me by E Kristin Anderson and Miranda Kenneally
November 2012, from Zest Books

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.

It is rare when you are excited that a ton of your friends get to do something cool and you aren't invited, but  Dear Teen Me is exactly one of those cool things!! I am so excited for this book and even more excited to read some seriously embarrassing stories from some of my favorite people. I have stayed tuned to the Dear Teen Me website for(ever) a long time and I'm happy that all this will be wrapped up in a package I can share and take home with me. I can picture the release party right now.... I hope you check it out!