Reviews

Dear Teen Me: Authors Write Letters to Their Teen Selves by Kersten Hamilton, Miranda Kenneally

carolineinthelibrary's review against another edition

4.0

A really nice collection of letters that authors have written to their teen selves. I think a lot of the advice was relatable to many teens, though the book definitely is starting to show its age. Published in 2012, a lot of the authors are writing to themselves in the 70s and 80s and I don't know that teens today would understand some of the pop culture references. There was also a bit of repetitive advice throughout, which I don't know that that's a bad thing considering it shows teens how not alone they are in so many situations, but it did make for some letters being tough to read.

nagam's review against another edition

5.0

Where was this when I was in high school? Really enjoyed the letters & cannot stop thinking about how far I've come since those confusing high school years.

purrfectpages's review against another edition

3.0

I was intrigued by the premise of this book and basically, the title says it all. Each "chapter" is written by an author, to an earlier version of themselves. In these letters, they give their younger selves advice they wish they could take. Most of the advice is the sort of stuff you'd expect; don't worry if you're pretty enough, being an outcast doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, you will fall in love one day, etc. But some of the authors chose to reveal more personal, and often darker, advice to themselves regarding topics such as suicide, eating disorders, and depression. Each one has value, making this book a unique and worthwhile read. I just didn't give it a higher grade because it's a lot of the same to read in one sitting.

debi_g's review against another edition

2.0

Some of the anthologized authors contributed letters that are so enigmatic and context-dependent that they make no sense or impact upon readers.

A few of the letters are what I expected: easy to extrapolate and relate to.

hereisenough's review against another edition

4.0

Read this over the summer. YA authors write letters to their teenaged selves. These letters include photos, stories, advice, laughter, tears, and more... Really fun.

lornarei's review against another edition

3.0

Interesting collection of advice from the future. I can't quite give it four stars because I found it depressing in some ways - why do the teenage years have to be so hard? I may have my daughter read it, I know she could relate, but once again all the angst in it might be too much for her right now. And as for YOU, teen me, that guy you never spoke to again because you thought you were the butt of a joke - he was flirting with you, you big dummy. Took you 20 years to figure it out, but yeah. Would it have changed your life? No, but you wouldn't have thrown a potential friendship to the curb for no good reason.

shanyreader's review against another edition

5.0

As a teenager reading this, I can actually relate to this book a lot. The obsessive worrying about weight, and how I look, and whether or not this boy likes me, etc. And while the majority of the stories were about topics like that (some of which were very light-hearted and others which were very serious), you had a few oddballs like driving a drunk girl home, or thanking oneself for choosing to live, or thinking back to how awesome Prom night was, even though you weren't at Prom--so there's a lot of variety. But altogether, I thought this was a very good representation of what it is to be a teenager. I enjoyed the way the authors wrote because you could tell they were really talking to their teen selves from an older perspective, with a lot of love and support and acceptance and just, it was full of emotion. Sometimes teenagers feel like they're alone and life will always suck until the end of time and they'll never be able to love themselves, but this book really tries to tell teens that that's not true. There are good people out there, there are people who you might not think you like now but who you will be best friends with later, like a parent or sibling, and overall, things will be okay one day. There's always gonna be a rainbow after the storm.

I recommend this book to any teenager really, because as the book advertises itself, it's not just for the popular kids or the nerds or anything--each author is special and you will find yourself relating to a wide spectrum of them. Also, they had teenage pictures of all the authors after their individual letters which is so COOL! Plus, it had some authors whose books I've read, so that was Double Cool!! :D

thebookishlibrarian's review against another edition

Authors have come together to write letters to their teen selves, and to give the advice they wish they would have followed when they were going through some rough patches. Authors include Ellen Hopkins, Lauren Oliver and Tom Angleberger.

herlifewithbooks's review against another edition

2.0

Collections such as this one make me wonder who the book is really for. Is it for teens, looking for wise counsel from seasoned adults? If so, what gives 20/30-something YA writers the qualification to provide such advice? The stories are all so personal, too, I found it hard to relate to any of them and I *am* a 20/30-something.

I suspect the book is more for the authors to self-promote, or the industry to kind of bathe in everyone's success. Or perhaps for nostalgic 20/30-something YA-sympathizers who want a dash of nostalgia.

Also, I have no idea what advice I would give my teen self. Not one clue.

blurrybug's review against another edition

3.0

I think a teenager would get more out of this than me
Some stories just annoyed me, others left me wanting more and some was just okay.
Having said that it gets a 3 star cause it was more okay than annoying or good stories.

Recommending it for youth that may be a little lost as a reminder that hey things may not go your way now but give it time or see how other resolved their issues.