Dear Teen Me Blog Tour

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Dear Teen Me, a book composed of letters that some of your favorite authors wrote to their teen selves! Today for you I have all the information you need about the book, as well as an interview with one of the authors! So please take a seat, grab some popcorn, and enjoy!

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.

Dear Teen Me is available NOW! To learn even more about this totally awesome, original, and inspiring book, just check out all the links below!

Zest Books Facebook profile: www.facebook.com/zestbook

Zest Books Facebook page: www.facebook.com/BooksWithATwist

Zest Books website: www.zestbooks.net

Twitter: www.twitter.com/zestbooks

YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/zestbooks

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/zestbooks

Dear Teen Me Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12479640-dear-teen-me

Dear Teen Me LibraryThing: http://www.librarything.com/work/12195764

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/zestbooks/

Dear Teen Me site: www.dearteenme.com

Dear Teen Me Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Dear-Teen-Me/108380165901152

Dear Teen Me Twitter: www.twitter.com/DearTeenMe/

E. Kristin Anderson Facebook: www.facebook.com/ekristinanderson

E. Kristin Anderson Twitter: www.twitter.com/ek_anderson

Miranda Kenneally Facebook: www.facebook.com/miranda.kenneally

Miranda Kenneally Twitter: www.twitter.com/MirandaKennealy

Miranda Kenneally is the author of the contemporary YA novels Catching Jordan, Stealing Parker (just published), and Things I Can't Forget (Spring 2013). Miranda is also the co-editor, with E. Kristin Anderson, of Dear Teen Me: Authors Write Letters to Their Teen Selves (Zest Books), and is co-creator of the Dear Teen Me website. E. Kristin Anderson, in addition to co-editing Dear Teen Me and co-creating its eponymous website, is a writer and poet who has been published in dozens of literary journals. She is also an assistant editor at Hunger Mountain for their YA and Children's section.

And now it's time for my super cool interview with one of the editors of Dear Teen Me, E. Kristin Anderson!

What are three essentials a teen should always have with them? 

Okay, I'm a chick, so this is totally coming from a chick POV, but I think a lot of these go both ways!

1. Lip balm. Not gloss or lipstick, but lip balm. If I forgot my lip balm (growing up in Maine! Dry chilly air!) my lips would get so cracked. Gloss doesn't help that, balm does! I recommend Burts Bees.

2. Your phone or some way of reaching out for help if you need it. When I was in high school, this meant having a quarter or two for a pay phone in an emergency. (I used the pay phone to call my dad for a ride after track practice when it ran late...quite a bit actually!) Phones now are great for games and texting and emails, but don't forget that you can CALL people on them. So maybe bring your charger, too, since I don't know if many places still have pay phones...

3. A book to read or ereader/app! Hey, I don't drive even as a grown-up, so when I'm commuting on public transport, that's what I need. Or if I'm in a waiting room? Must have a book.

What's your most embarrassing moment as a teen?

I spent a lot of time as a teen feeling totally wicked embarrassed by everything. I write about my crush "John O'Bleary" in Dear Teen Me. He was on the hockey team with my brother, Joey (and coached by my dad, OMG!) -- so there was no end to the torture my brother could inflict on me when it came to this crush. The pic below is something I recently found in one of my diaries, depicting what I thought at the time was super crazy traumatic. My brother pointing at me and getting John (okay, his name was Sean) to look at me while he was sitting with other hockey players, including my sort-of-friend from home room, Jeremy.  

What's the best thing about being a teenager? (Besides the fact that they rock.)

I honestly think that being a teenager is wicked, wicked hard.  People don't give teens enough credit for this -- it's a tough time and there's a lot of pressure and we're going through a lot of serious shit at this age. BUT, that said, I think the best thing is the discovery. Discovery of your favorite band (mine were Hanson and Foo Fighters), discovery of your first kiss (DF, I remember you! And your long, windy driveway under the stars!), discovery of books (Zlata's Diary, The Little Prince) and movies (Can't Hardly Wait, Empire Records) and television (Buffy the Vampire Slayer!!) that will stick in your memory and guide you as an adult for the rest of your life. And I think the discovery of your own talents and secrets and fears and desires is huge too. It may not be the best time of your life, but there's a lot going on that you'll never experience again. So discover!  

Why did you decide to put together Dear Teen Me?

I thought it would be really fantastic for teens to know that there are adults out there who aren't suppressing their teen years. I think a lot of grown-ups tell kids "these are the best days of your life!" and "kids have it so easy these days" and stuff like that -- and most authors -- YA authors especially -- that I know have a deeper understanding of these years. We know it's hard out there. And we're not going to sugarcoat it -- that's why we write the books we do. When Miranda and I started putting together the website, we agreed -- it was important for teens to have a place to come and read about experiences who didn't look back at their teen years through rose-colored glasses. Sure, not everyone has deep, scary traumas (though some do!), but most every kid out there is struggling with something. And we're not going to deny you that. That's why we think Dear Teen Me is an important book. And that's why we hope teens will read it. It's a jungle out there. But we want you to know you're not alone.

Thanks for the interview, Kristin, and thanks to Zest Books for letting me a part of this tour! And YOU--thanks for stopping by, and be sure to read this book--TRUST ME!