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Rating:  Summary: This book is the greatest. Review: I love this book so much, i read it in a few hours! THere are many stories in here that will appeal to everyone's interest's. I would recommend this book to anyone.Everyone should go out and buy this book, it is money well spent!
Rating:  Summary: Great, truthful book Review: I was persuaded to read this book since its by megan mccafferty. This was a great book and I enjoyed reading all the stories. All the stories were entertaining and honest. With a justa hint of humor,entertainment,honesty and sexuality, this portrays the reality of being a 16 yr old teenage girl. Displaying teenage love, angst and friendship. I'd reccommend thsi book to all teens out there even adults.
Rating:  Summary: Not *amazing*, but definitely not disappointing either Review: McCafferty says in the intro that she only asked for stories from authors that she respects. I don't know what to say about that...it's a good thing she respects so many popular authors? Actually, I do find that many short story collections fall short due to their abundance of no-name authors. So the line-up here certainly made for a more promising book.
Basically, it's authors you know doing what they do. Good thing they all do what they do pretty darn well. Sarah Dessen opens the collection with a gentle story about an introspective teen looking at both getting her driver's license (and driving) and going "all the way" with her boyfriend. Sonya Sones offers a little suite of 7 or 8 great poems. MT Anderson's piece is weird and thought-provoking. McCafferty offers us a Jessica Darling "prequel" which is rather whelming, but certainly appreciated. And, etc.
The stand-outs of the line-up are Ned Vizzini's (Teen Angst? Nah...) coming of age Western and MT Anderson's (Feed, Burger Wuss) philosophical piece set in ancient Greece. I suppose it's not surprising that the male contributors are the ones giving us something we haven't seen ad nauseam. Overall, it's a nice collection - neither shocking nor dazzling - certainly sell-able, and very enjoyable.
Rating:  Summary: Megan, WHY?!? Review: Megan Mccafferty is one of my favorite authors of all time, but as an editor, not so much. I was looking forward to this compilation because Megan has a knack for writing attention-grabbing novels, and I had faith in her selection of authors. I enjoyed roughly half of the stories. To my surprise, one or two were so bad that I couldn't even get through the first page. Very few of the authors managed to write a satisfying short story, and even though Megan had the crutch of her other books to fall back on, she kept her story safe and rather bland.
If I could fix anything in this book (besides the selection of some authors), I would lengthen the stories. After finishing this book, I was thoroughly unsatisfied and I'm sure others were (and will be) too. The gems in this book are overshadowed by many bland, boring and realy too out-there stories. My favorites were "Mona Lisa, Jesus, Chad and me", "Infinity" and "the alumni interview". Borrow this one from a friend, maybe, but certainly don't waste your money.
Rating:  Summary: Be "SIXTEEN" again Review: Megan McCaffery, author of SLOPPY FIRSTS and SECOND HELPINGS, brings a nice mix of YA short stories meant for both the teenage and adult crowd, I do believe. Athough this book is indeed titled SIXTEEN, speaking of that "sweet and bitter birthday," adults can still enjoy this anthology just as much as teens. McCafferty's Jessica Darling prequel, all about the fifteen minutes before her best friend, Hope Weaver, moves from Pineville, is the perfect tie-in for the two Jessica novels. It's just as amusing and wonderful as Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings and the Jessica we know and love is still the same girl. Jessica Darling fans will really like this one. Also, there are stories by my favorites Sarah Dessen and Carolyn Mackler, as well as a hilarious verse-style story done by Sonya Sones. Dessen tackles the subjects of driving and losing virginity in INFINITY, while Mackler addresses the end of a summer friendship in MONA LISA, JESUS, CHAD AND ME. Sones' CAT GOT YOUR TONGUE? is all about a girl who has just received her driver's license and has fallen in lust. Even though I've never read stories by Jaqueline Woodson, Ned Vizzini, or Sarah Mlynowski, their contributions of NEBRASKA 99, RUTFORD BECOMES A MAN, and THE PERFECT KISS were all worthwhile. They address coping as a teen mother, losing it to a prostitute as a b-day gift from Dad, and what to do when your boyfriend has a three-some while you're sick with mono. As oddly as I've described these, you're sure to like them. Emma Forest does not do YA novels but her GRIEF DIET all about two confused, naive 16 year-olds who become friends, is an amazing read. Lara is a rich beauty who sleeps around while the narrator is quite different personality-wise. She's affected daily by her father's death and coping with it the only way she knows how. Now for some that weren't favorites. :( RELENT/PERSIST by Zoe Trope wasn't the greatest. Told through e-mails and letters, the reader sees how a relationship between a teen boy and girl form before they actually meet. I found it to be a bit of a bore, which is probably putting it kindly. I heard Trope's PLEASE DON'T KILL THE FRESHMEN sucked, so I wasn't expecting anything great anyway. Tanuja Desai Hidier's COWGIRLS AND INDIE BOYS also left me unsatisfied, which really is a shame since I was planning on reading her novel, BORN CONFUSED Surprisingly, M.T. Anderson's THE MUD AND FEVER DIALOGUES, all about the teachings of philosophers, was also a big-ass yawn. The thing is, I wasn't expecting to love all these stories. As far as anthologies are concerned, that scarcely happens. Yet SIXTEEN truly has its few memorable tales of angst, triumph, and tragedy, and receiving first kisses. The few stories that do what they do, capturing the essence of the age that is, do it extremely well.
Rating:  Summary: it had so much potential Review: Okay so you look at the BEAUTIFUL cover, and you go wow this books gonna be great. You look at all the wonderful author names, and you think this book will be wonderful. However, looks are very decieving. This book had a few good stories, but it also had some REALLY bad ones. I mean what father sends their kid to a whore house? And I have no problem with lebians and gays, but personally it's not the kind of things i like reading about, like im sure they arent huge on straight relationship books, and there are 4 of these stories. Not to mention just poor written ones... I would not recommend spending any money on this book for a few good stories, a whole lot of mediocre, and a lot of REALLy bad ones
Rating:  Summary: ? Review: Seeing other reviews of this book left me feeling slightly confussed. Personally, I found it horrible. It was full of stories that had been writen so long after the event, that it had lost all emotion tied to it. However, Sixteen has appeared on many " Greastest Teen Books..Ever!" lists, although might I add so did the WHOLE Princess diarys series, which lost them a bit of credability. A compelation of , in my opinion, a little too-short, short stories, Sixteen just doesn't have any meat to it. I was required to read it over the summer, otherwise I would probably have quit less than halfway through. Don't waste ya money.If you must...check it out.
Rating:  Summary: UGH Review: There are 16 stories in the anthology but only 2 or 3 are that good. I was expecting more from Jacqueline Woodson and Carolyn Macler b/c theyre my favorite authors but their stories were filled with annoying cliches and stereotypes. Sarah Desen was boring and pointless and i really liked This Lullaby so naturally i was expecting more. I liked the stories by Megan McCafferty and Emma Forest and Sonya Sones even tho it was written in free verse which i'm normally not into. Other than those 3 short stories it isn't worth reading so u should really go to the store and read those 3 while your there but don't buy it. Or get it from the library. A lot of these stories had me weirded out and confused, like Ned Vizzini's story b/c it takes place in the west in a different century and MT anderson's story was also one that seemed to take place during a different time. I better like stories that deal w/ the present cuz theyre easier to relate to.
Rating:  Summary: Horrible. Review: This book was a huge disappointment... I didn't even want to finish it, actually, but I just kept going with hopes that it might get better. The stories were very vague and poorly written, in my opinion... Just because it's a collection of "short stories" doesn't mean that details have to be omitted... Half the time I wasn't even sure of the genders of the characters, especially in "Relent/Persist." And finally, I didn't find that a single story in that book would be easy to relate to. Some of the topics were completely off the wall, like "Rutford Becomes a Man." Oh well, at least Sarah Dessen's story made it worthwhile, along with Megan's prequel... Still, don't waste your money...
Rating:  Summary: 16 was not like this at all.... Review: Wow, I was looking forward to the normal teenage girl stories I've read like Sloppy Firsts, Georgia Nicholson's, Feeling Sorry for Celia,ect. but most of these were really out there & are grossly perverted. Sure, everyone can use a lil perversian but they were way overblown. Most of the charectors are empty shells doing confussing things (sucking on their best friends nipple then having her dad give her oral sex... alrighty then did not need to read that garbage. Do not be fouled by the happy cover of this book. It is a sham of happiness. And stories about people sweet & bitter 16's they were not! Bleh... I'm bored even writing about this book.... I can say three stories were good, the first one "The Perfect Kiss" and "Fifteen going on"
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