Teen.com Book of Poetry, Volume 1

Rating:
Summary: Poetry
Review: ... three years ago, I was published in this book, on page 86, with a poem entitled "What Happend." As a matter of fact, it never rhymed, and it is still a poem that came from every ounce of my once 16 year old body.

As for the "myth that all poems have to rhyme".. true, people think they MUST RHYME when they do not, but alas, this doesn't make non-rhyming poems undesireable. Though none of these teen poets compare to my hero-poet Edgar Alen Poe, his most famous poem, "The raven" rhymed in almost every stanza.

Defending other poets in this book, at the ages of 14 to 16, you gennerally only have to worry about losing your boy/girlfriend and God... what other deap thought do you expect a teen of that age to think about. (though at that age, I was thinking of the earlier years.. which I still do).

All in all, i think anyone looking for some good clean poetry for a change will adore this book. Everyone can relate to these poems, and it is very enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: Poems of Love
Review: I love all the poems in this book. I've sent Teen.com poems every month and am so happy that there is a printed book with "the best of" Teen.com poetry.

I can hardly wait for Vol #2 !

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Rating:
Summary: Still Beautiful & Uplifting
Review: I'm 21 yrs old now, and it's been many years since I received my copy of this book. I wrote a poem that was selected and included: "You." I remember thinking that this small volume was a)nice to look at, b)a great way for young minds to venture into writing, and c)a way for others to understand the minds behind the poems. The book is separated into categories so that you can find something for whatever mood (i.e. love, God, family). After all of these years, I still find myself flipping through the pages and smiling at how wonderfully, each teen presented his/her own circle of experience. A beautiful choice if you want to share the love of poetry with a teen that is just discovering the wonder of poetry--rhyming or not.

Rating:
Summary: Teens do great things - thanks Teen.com!
Review: It sure is great to see the hundreds of teenagers featured in this terrific book. The writing is just fantastic. Share this book with people young and old. Thank you TEEN.COM - you're the best! xoxoxoxxXoOXOooXOO

Rating:
Summary: Great Book!
Review: It's about time we got a poetry book written by teens and from the heart!

Rating:
Summary: Good Book
Review: This is my first really negative review of any book I have purchased from Amazon. However, I feel no guilt in rating this book with one star. If there was a rating of no stars, this book would get that rating from me. The one positive thing about this book is it is obviously written by teenagers. Any reader of this book will learn really fast that the act of writing is something special, if only because the reader can see that the writing and editing of this book shows no real effort.

To be clear, I was excited to buy this book. I wanted to use it in my upcoming creative writing class as a text. I was more than prepared to have my principal buy twenty copies of this book---that is until I saw it in the flesh.

This book is nothing more than a collection of horrid, pedantic, smarmy poetry written by teenagers overwrought with what they think poetry should be. Not one poem escapes rhyme. Not one poet shows any love of poetry. Figurative language, the very essence of poetry, is rare as hens teeth. And when figurative language does show its face, it is full of abstraction.

Rather than include poetry of merit, the editors either show an incredible lack of understanding of poetry by the poems they selected, or they show poor editing skills by taking whatever came across the internet to be quality writing. I literally feel that the editors called for a submission of poetry and they decided to include the first day's submissions for the book regardless of quality. When reading this book, I get the feeling I am stuck in a 12 step program meeting the week after the counselor asked everyone to write about their deepest feelings in a poem.

This book only helps to show young poets what they need to transcend before they can call themselves serious about writing. Teachers need to avoid this book if they want their students to learn about figurative language and how to write about more than lost love or God or friendship and the like. As a poet, I am ashamed that this book exists because it might give a reader the wrong idea of what poetry really is and what it should be.

Rating:
Summary: Why I Loved this book.
Review: Well, I personally loved the book.I received it in the mail for free because I wrote one of the poems. I feel that all of the poets in this Wanderful book are very talented and gifted writers.I can promise you that if you buy this book, you will be completely satisfied. Also, to think that this book was writen by "Teens" including Me and many others, It just amazes me. I encourage you to buy this AWESOME Teen.com poetry book.

Rating:
Summary: Restating the obvious
Review: You make the "classic teacher mistake" of getting too hung up on semantics and proper prose. I think that this book deserves 5 stars because it communicates the fact that there are plenty of teens interested in writing! That is the essence that should be exploited. You missed the big picture; how sad...