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!
I am happy to have editors E Kristin Anderson and Miranda Kenneally on the blog to talk about the book. Here goes:
How did Dear Teen Me start?
EKA: I went to a Hanson concert, wrote a letter to my teen self about it on my own blog, and then thought more authors would want to do it. I emailed like 30 author friends. Miranda was one of them, and she got us organized. Suffice to say, far more than 30 people were interested in the project! Huzzah!
Fill us in on who the Fabulous Five are on the cover:
EKA: Clockwise we have Mike Jung in his band uniform, Kekla Magoon rockin' her afro, Jennifer Ziegler on the phone, Jessica Lee Anderson sticking her tongue out, and Joseph Bruchac making muscles.
Whose picture makes you still laugh/snicker to this day?
EKA: Oh God. There are so many great ones. I love that Stephanie Pellegrin's photo looks like it's from the 70s, but she's younger than me. And I love that K. A. Holt's hair, as she puts it, doesn't even fit in the frame of the photo. And Don Tate's teen self looks kinda like Lionel Richie circa "Hello."
Is there a story that surprised you in some way?
EKA: Most of these stories surprised me. I'm privileged to be close friends with many of these authors, and they revealed things about their past that I never would have guessed. But you'll have to read to find out their deep dark secrets! You know, stuff about petty crimes, bad hair cuts, eating disorders, and trips to the principal's office!
Add to Goodreads
Check out the Dear Teen Me website and Facebook page
