Read by: Anna/Copley Teen Room Librarian for the TBOM group meeting on May 8th, 2013. This is the stories of multiple teens struggling to find themselves and figure out who they are in the world. It’s told from their multiple points of view in poem and song lyric formats. This was an interesting read for me because I wasn’t expecting it to be in poetry format. I was expecting a novel. On the other hand, I really enjoyed the way these stories were told. Each poem and song interwove themselves seemlessly with each of the others. Some responded to what had happened in other poems, some wrote their poems to another person who had a poem in the book. It was a unique take on writing a book in verse. Obviously, each person who “wrote” a poem was a character that came from David Levithan’s head, but he did a really great job with the characterizations and making each one as unique as the next. The first poem and the last poem are connected, which was a nice circle back to the beginning once you got to the end. I really felt that the emotions of the teens he was writing about were clearly stated, or were just as confusing for the reader sometimes as they can be for teens in real life. It was realistically done, and a book I would highly recommend to anyone who enjoys stories told in this fashion or thinks they would like to try one for the first time. The fact that some of the characters are gay is not stated in such a way as to hit the reader over the head with it, and there are some who appear straight. Some are lesbian. There is a good mix of characters and experiences to round out the story over all.

I'm a huge fan of Levithan but this work i felt did'nt measure up with his other novels. It was alittle boring i felt and i kept becoming confused with the different characters. There were two plot stories that i enjoyed (anorexia, goth girl writing on the desk) but the others i felt were dull. I highly surgest reading his other works if you felt left down with this one.

I loved how David Levithan wrote about many aspects of a teenager's life, like love, sex, friendship, change, family, and reputation. It was such a good read!

Totally cute and touching! Very fun and fast paced as it is from 20 different perspectives in various unique styles. So much better then Wide Awake by David Levithan but not as good as Boy Meets Boy but still a good read.

One of my favourite books. It touches on so many aspects of the teen experience--friendship, romance, sex, loss--in touching, respectful and beautiful ways. It's also a great intellectual challenge to sort out the social web of the various speakers. A book I hope to read over and over again.

This was a fantastic read! Telling the characters' stories through poetry and song lyrics was refreshing! It is somewhat confusing to find the connections between them at first, and an adjustment from reading regular prose, but the honesty in the stanzas was compelling. I liked it a lot!

Grade 9 - 12