Things I have to tell you: poems and writings by teenage girls

Franco, Betsy (Ed.). Things I have to tell you: poems and writings by teenage girls. Cambridge: Candlewick Press.

Annotation: Teenage girls are given a voice to say the things they’d like people to hear. These are raw and real words from a teenager’s heart.

Review: This book was a little too negative for my taste. I think that while it painted a raw picture of the hardships of adolescence, this can also be a time of great freedom and wonderful friendships and a positive outlook on life. Only one entry stands out to me as being positive and it is a letter to a great-grandmother expressing gratitude for everything she had done.

Most of the entries were quite dreary and negative. Adolescence is a tough and confusing time, and I’m sure that’s where the negativity came from.

I think this book could appeal to some teenage girls. I do not think it would be very popular, as my perspective is that most poetry books wouldn’t be. There are some that I think would really enjoy it and relate to it, and maybe it would inspire them to creatively express their emotions too.

This book could be good for someone working with adolescents, as it could help them understand the things going on inside a teenager’s world.

I do not nominate this book. I think it is too negative and does not appeal to a big enough audience.

Genre: Poetry or Verse Novel