meghan111's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Interviews with Sassy writers were my favorite aspect of this, but really this book aimed a direct target at me and my interests. I was a Sassy reader who was in Jane Pratt and co.'s demographic (early teenager) and not an adult reader, but all the reader anecdotes presented here hit home. I think I've written the blog post a couple years ago about how Sassy changed my life.

spinstah's review against another edition

Go to review page

2.0

I loved "Sassy" and I remember being so mad when it got turned into a section of "Teen" instead of being its own magazine. When I heard this book was coming out, it piqued my idle curiosity as to what actually happened to the magazine. This book can answer that question, and the tone is fairly light and gossipy. But I am in total agreement with another review of it that I read a while back - brainylady Alison's review (http://brainylady.blogspot.com/2007/07/review-how-sassy-changed-my-life.html). She expected something more substantial, and so did I.

While it's an interesting look behind the scenes at the formation and life of the magazine, I wished the authors had done more to put it in its context socially. They talked a bit about how it was different from the other teen magazines, and how the religious right was opposed to the magazine, I guess I would have liked to see a more academic approach to that aspect.

quietdomino's review against another edition

Go to review page

Sassy was the magazine (along with, oddly enough, Ranger Rick) that made me realize there was life outside western Massachusetts. And it's the definitely the reason I have so many magazine subscriptions still. Thanks a lot, Jane Pratt.

devanh's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

A pure joy every page

offbalance80's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

It was both heartbreaking and nostalgic to take a little trip down memory lane with my favorite magazine of all time. If you ever wanted to know what went wrong, and why Sassy is no more, you should read this. If you didn't love Sassy, this will not interest you. But if you loved it the way I did, this will bring a little piece of the good times back to you.

layton93's review against another edition

Go to review page

informative reflective medium-paced

kath_m's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

Did you read Sassy? Oh, Sassy. As a pre-teen, I had stacks of Tiger Beat and Bop magazines with pull-out posters of Duran Duran. As a teenager, I moved on to Seventeen and fashion magazines like Vogue and Elle. On a whim, I responded to an ad offering subscriptions to what sounded like a hip Australian teen magazine. It never arrived, but one day, out of the blue, I received my first issue of Sassy. I fell in love. This book about Sassy allowed me to relive some of my Sassy history, clued me in on the behind-the-scenes magazine life, and made me feel inadequate and not-cool all at once. I was clearly not as cool as many Sassy subscribers, but it was still an important influence in my burgeoning feminist identity and understanding that it was okay to be different.

oohsarracuda's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

I enjoyed it, because I was (am) a Sassy devotee. But I couldn't shake the feeling that it really could have been a lot more than it was. I guess I really want an in-depth, no-stone-unturned, good-bad-and-gossip accounting of my best loved magazine. This isn't that. It's good, yes, but it also left me wanting much more.

chelseamartinez's review against another edition

Go to review page

2.0

I did not learn anything from this book. Reading a book written by people who read the same magazine as you when you were little is, well, not pointless, but not real point-ful either.
I am just freaked out by nostalgia and attempts to justify it. Yes, this magazine did actually change my life, and I can see how someone who became a writer would want to document that fact. And yes I was really excited to get it in the mail from Amanda. And yes I probably am a writer (to the extent that I am... what, a blog is writing?) because of this magazine. But the book is a show, not a tell. And it's written by someone just like me, which is the worst thing I could force myself to read! (Is this true? Did I crave this when I was young?)It's like listening to a Weezer tribute album by bands with names like Cio Cio San. Empowerment is great in general but it certainly leads to a glut!

kickpleat's review against another edition

Go to review page

2.0

Sassy didn't change my life. In fact, I never read a single issue. I didn't have the cash to spend on magazines though I do remember leafing through it at my local bookstore a few times. If I had purchased an issue, I certainly would have gobbled it up but I'm sure I still would have felt that I just wasn't cool enough. Reading this I was disappointed that there were no pictures, no photos of covers, no cute little sidebars to help draw me in and make me see what I had missed. All in all, it all seemed just to cliquey for me and I don't feel like I really missed a thing.