#Review of Poisoned Apples: Poems for You, My Pretty by @cmheppermann ~ Crossroad Reviews

Every little girl goes through her princess phase, whether she wants to be Snow White or Cinderella, Belle or Ariel. But then we grow up. And life is not a fairy tale.
Christine Heppermann's collection of fifty poems puts the ideals of fairy tales right beside the life of the modern teenage girl. With piercing truths reminiscent of Laurie Halse Anderson and Ellen Hopkins, this is a powerful and provocative book for every young woman. E. Lockhart, author of We Were Liars, calls it "a bloody poetic attack on the beauty myth that's caustic, funny, and heartbreaking."

Cruelties come not just from wicked stepmothers, but also from ourselves. There are expectations, pressures, judgment, and criticism. Self-doubt and self-confidence. But there are also friends, and sisters, and a whole hell of a lot of power there for the taking. In fifty poems, Christine Heppermann confronts society head on. Using fairy tale characters and tropes, Poisoned Apples explores how girls are taught to think about themselves, their bodies, and their friends. The poems range from contemporary retellings to first-person accounts set within the original tales, and from deadly funny to deadly serious. Complemented throughout with black-and-white photographs from up-and-coming artists, this is a stunning and sophisticated book to be treasured, shared, and paged through again and again.

ARC

About the Author

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Biography

Christine Heppermann is a writer, poet, and critic. Her book of poetry for young adults, Poisoned Apples: Poems for You, My Pretty, will be published by Greenwillow Books in September, 2014. Poisoned Apples has been called "a bloody poetic attack on the beauty myth that's caustic, funny and heartbreaking" (E. Lockhart) and a "powerful and provocative exploration of body image, media, and love" (Rae Carson).

Christine's first book, City Chickens (Houghton Mifflin, 2012), is a nonfiction story about a shelter for abandoned and unwanted chickens in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

In 2015 Greenwillow Books will publish the first book of the Backyard Witch Series, written by Christine and Ron Koertge. The middle-grade series follows three best friends and a mysterious visitor who appears for curious adventures just when they need her most.

Christine was a columnist and reviewer for The Horn Book Magazine from 1996 until 2013. Her poems are published in 5AM, The Magazine of Contemporary Poetry; Poems and Plays; Kite Tales; Nerve Cowboy; The Mas Tequila Review; and The Horn Book Magazine. Her reviews of children's and young adult books have appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines. She has an MA in Children's Literature from Simmons College and an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Hamline University.

My Review 1 Sour Apple

Can I get a H*** NO! Ok this one I so wanted to read that cover is just AWESOME!! But, the poems are deranged, weird, and well just really ugh after a while.

Go Into This One Knowing

its a thin book that they want $17.99 for it which is crazy and the poems are really weird.
"All opinions are 100% honest and my own."

Buy The Book

“It’s a bit of a mystery how a slender, subversive book of flayed fairy tale poetry can chronicle how the world tries to rob young women of power, while at the same time handing them back that power. Teen girls should read this—so should their mothers, their aunts, their grandmothers…” (Gayle Forman, author of the New York Times-bestselling Just One Day/Just One Year duet)

“A bloody poetic attack on the beauty myth that’s caustic, funny, and heartbreaking.” (-- E. Lockhart, author of The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks and We Were Liars)

“Over and over again, Christine Heppermann’s poems reveal the worm in the messages young women get about love, sex, food, and bodies. These poems cast a harrowing but irresistible disenchantment.” (Sara Zarr, author of National Book Award finalist Story of a Girl)

“Simply phenomenal. Heppermann’s honest voice grabs the reader with urgency. This collection is a champion for teens and adults who see our world as an advertisement for perfection that doesn’t exist. Readers will want to read these poems aloud over and over again.” (A.S. King, Printz Honor author of Reality Boy and Ask the Passengers)

“Heppermann’s collection of teen angst is like a velvet bag full of gems to be poured out into the palm, held up to the light, studied, and saved to be brought out again and again on fitting occasions.” (Karen Hesse, Newbery Medal-winning author of Out of the Dust)

“This powerful and provocative exploration of body image, media, and love broke my heart and made me gasp aloud with its relentless truth. Dark, unsettling, and altogether brilliant, Poisoned Apples is not to be missed.” (Rae Carson, author of the best-selling Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy)

“Anyone can read these wonderful poems, but I know women and girls especially will open Poisoned Apples and immediately tell their friends, show their friends, loan the book out, get it back, read it again and again until the cover falls off .” (Ron Koertge, author of Stoner & Spaz)

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Disclaimer: Thanks to Goodreads and Amazon for the book cover, about the book, and author information.