Dear Teen Me Blog Tour

Title: Dear Teen Me: Authors Write Letters to Their Teen Selves
Editors: E. Kristin Anderson and Miranda Kenneally
ISBN: 9781936976218 
Publisher: Zest Books
Released: October 30, 2012
Page #: 192
Source: Advanced copy from the publisher for the Dear Teen Me Blog Tour

Summary:

"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."

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Review:

Have you ever wished you could go back and give advice to your teen self? I know I have - we pretend we know everything in high school. I wish I could kick myself into gear now that I'm so old and wise :).

Dear Teen Me is the brainchild of Miranda Kenneally and E. Kristin Anderson. Apparently it started with a Hanson concert and the need to gush to her teen self. And then the blog was born. Many people started writing letters to themselves and this book is finally the anthology of those letters.

I loved reading the stories from these YA authors. Not all of the authors are people I have heard of, but their stories ring loud and clear. This book contains everything from hair issues, friendships, love relationships, dealing with parents, and even abuse. There are some that are hilarious, but some that are so serious that you feel for them as teens.

But I think one thing that really made this book wonderful for me was the sense of success. Even those letters with heavy topics, they all end with "it will get better." Maybe not in five years, maybe not even in ten. But you will make it. That was sort of the overall theme for me. And that is a very possible message that I think all teens need to hear. Even if high school is awesome for them.

I know that I am often asked for real life stories from teens. There is something reassuring about hearing that things are the same for someone else. You're not alone. You're not the only one that feels that way. You're not the only one dealing with that thing. What a great message. I'm pretty sure I will recommend this book to just about everyone - teens and adults alike. I think any age can get something wonderful from this book.
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Other Blog Reviews:

Check out the other stops on the Dear Teen Me Blog Tour!