Dear Teen Me Review

Title: Dear Teen Me: Authors Write Letters to Their Teen Selves 
Author: Anthology 

Publisher: Zest Books 

Release Date: October 30, 2012 

Received: From publisher for Dear Teen Me 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. 


Review:  I have been reading more and more anthology's lately and I am really liking them. Dear Teen Me isn't your typical anthology. It is filled with letters that authors have written to their teen selves. 

Dear Teen Me was awesome. Each story touched me and gave me insight not only to these fabulous authors but into people I come across every day. Especially people I went to high school with that may have been going through similar things as these authors did.

One of the best things about Dear Teen Me is that I think almost everyone can find a story they relate to. Maybe not 100% but finding even a small connection with these letters is easy. The letters are all so varied and deal with a multitude of different topics. Each letter is encouraging and I can see teens getting encouragement from them, because the letters were written to the authors' teen selves so they are personal and real. 

I would definitely recommend this anthology. Because whether you are a teen or have not been a teen for quite some time I think you will be able to connect to at least one of these letters.

Check out the rest of the tour here!

 

Two and Twenty Dark Tales Review

Title: Two and Twenty Dark Tales  
Editors: Georgia McBride and Michelle Zink   
Publisher: Month 9 Books  
Release Date: October 16, 2012
Received: Netgalley  

Summary:  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. The authors include Nina Berry, Sarwat Chadda, Leigh Fallon, Gretchen McNeil, and Suzanne Young.

Review:   
I love retellings. It is really interesting to see how different authors take classic stories and make them new and different. So I was super excited to read this anthology of Mother Goose nursery rhymes retold to make them darker and expanding them.

I enjoyed all of the stories but some of my favorite were by Leigh Fallon, Leah Cypess, Angie Frazier, Jessie Harrell, Lisa Mantchev, Michelle Zink, and Suzanne Lazear. I loved Leah Cypess' and Jessie Harrell's because when I read them I could totally see the stories as full novels that I would totally read. Leigh Fallon. Angie Frazier, Lisa Mantchev, Michelle Zink, and Suzanne Lazear had great stories as well because while I could not see them as full length novels the short stories were so awesome and expanded on their nursery rhyme so well that I could read them again and again. 

All the stories in Two and Twenty Dark Tales took these nursery rhymes and expanded on them in such varied and interesting ways that I never would have thought of. The authors that I had read books by before I see their styles and it was fun to see their takes on these nursery rhymes. I was also introduced to some authors that I had never heard of before that and I am totally going to pick up their books because I really enjoyed their retellings.

One of the coolest things about this anthology besides the awesome concept is that the proceeds of the first 5,000 books go to YALITCHAT.ORG which fosters the advancement, reading, writing and acceptance of young adult literature worldwide. 

 Two ad Twenty Dark Tales is an awesome anthology that will surprise you and enchant you with each new story.

Check out my interview with Jessie Harrell one of the authors in this anthology and enter to win a copy of Jessie's book.

2 & 20 Dark Tales Tour: Interview with Jessie Harrell

Today I have with me Jessie Harrell who is part of the 2 and 20 Dark Tales anthology which is a bunch of retellings of classic Mother Goose nursery rhymes

What is your favorite Mother Goose Rhyme besides the one you wrote about, and why?

I can remember back to being a little kid and singing Sing a Song of Sixpence, because what isn’t awesome about a pie full of blackbirds that end up snipping off the maid’s nose?  (Although I must say, Sarwat Chadda did an amazing job with this one!) She really did! But it would be cool to see your take on it.

Do you have any other favorite nursery rhymes that are not in this book that you would like to see re-imagined?

I can see Peter Pumpkin-eater being redone in a really creepy way. That sounds like spousal imprisonment to me.  And if you were locked inside a room with sticky, dripping walls?  Like I said, creepy. Oh, that would be cool!

If you could write a totally new nursery rhyme what would it be about?

Since I have children of my own, I tend to think I’d write much happier rhymes than good old Mother Goose.  Maybe something about a nighttime ballet between the moon and the stars at night. Something that feels magical and calming.  (But don’t ask me to actually write it - there’s a reason I write YA and not children’s books.)

Why did you decide to revisit the Mother Goose Rhyme that you did?

Actually, Hey, Diddle, Diddle was assigned to me by the editor, Georgia McBride.  And I must say, it worked out so well.  At first, I had no idea what do with a fiddle-playing cat, laughing dog and moon-jumping cow.  But I knew I wanted to tie the story into mythology somehow (since my novel, Destined, is a Greek myth retelling).  After doing some research and realizing that the Egyptians had gods represented by a cat, cow and jackal (close enough) - and they all had roles in the afterlife - I had the seeds for my retelling. It was a very cool take on Hey, Diddle, Diddle and unlike anything I would have thought of!

What is another childhood favorite (book or story) that you would like to revisit?

That’s hard to say. I’m thinking the Grimm tales lend themselves best to new interpretations, but so many of the good ones have already been taken (Jackson Pearce does a great job with these retellings).  Since I’m such a mythology nut, I would like to do more of these retellings.  My seven year old knows who Medusa is, so that counts, right?  I would love to paint her in a better light - in the time before she was a monster.  That would be cool! I would read it :)

What made you want to be part of this anthology?

Not only is the idea totally unique, but the proceeds from the first 5,000 sales go to charity.  It was definitely worth the opportunity to stretch myself as an author and give back to the community.

 

If you could be any Mother Goose Rhyme character who would you be and why?

Mary, Mary quite contrary -- I’m an attorney, need I say more? I can find a counter-point to about anything. 

Thank you so much to Jessie Harnell for doing this interview! And be sure to check out her story in 2 and 20 Dark Tales. You are definitely in for a treat with her story and all the other ones! 

Check out the next stop on the tour at Literary Escapism! 

Check out my review of 2 & 20 Dark Tales here
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