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You Are Here This Is Now: Poems, Stories Essays, and Art from the Best Young Wri
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First published March 1, 2002
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About the author
David Levithan
119 books19.4k followersDavid Levithan (born 1972) is an American children's book editor and award-winning author. He published his first YA book, Boy Meets Boy, in 2003. Levithan is also the founding editor of PUSH, a Young Adult imprint of Scholastic Press.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 11, 2019
Found this at my local bookstore for a quarter a couple years ago & decided it was time to start diminishing my TBR shelf. For the most part, this was a pretty solid anthology. Nice variety of voices from the Scholastic Arts & Writing Awards 1999-2001 winners. Favorites include: Sea Salt; The Red Divide; A Dead Woman’s Hairpins; Citrus; Meeting That Dude.
I wish Push still put together collections of winner’s works, but it looks like the last one was done in 2014? Sad.
I wish Push still put together collections of winner’s works, but it looks like the last one was done in 2014? Sad.
March 16, 2024
This is one of those books I pick up every few years and reread my favorite bits. Since it is a compilation of short stories you can really ignore the bits you don’t like or don’t serve the mood you are in. Some pieces I didn’t like/get at 15 hit so different at 24 or 31).
“Painting to Berlioz” is a seminal piece of literature in my life and a crucial piece of the grieving process anytime I go through a breakup. When I’m ready to read “Painting to Berlioz” I know I have finished my mourning and am ready to seek love again. It is kind of hard to fathom how Jena Barchas Lichtenstein’s short story has stayed relevant to me during 3 different decades of my life.
Other pieces I love and usually read when I revisit the book are: Red Divide, Faith, Searching, and Virgin (which in my head was Virgin Field).
Pieces that hit different (in the best way) after 25: Faking it, Fifth Gear, and Ice Cream Sundae.
“Painting to Berlioz” is a seminal piece of literature in my life and a crucial piece of the grieving process anytime I go through a breakup. When I’m ready to read “Painting to Berlioz” I know I have finished my mourning and am ready to seek love again. It is kind of hard to fathom how Jena Barchas Lichtenstein’s short story has stayed relevant to me during 3 different decades of my life.
Other pieces I love and usually read when I revisit the book are: Red Divide, Faith, Searching, and Virgin (which in my head was Virgin Field).
Pieces that hit different (in the best way) after 25: Faking it, Fifth Gear, and Ice Cream Sundae.
July 13, 2024
It was a good book, took a while to get into the poems and essays but overall a good variety of topics explored. Had it on my bookshelf from middle school and wanted to read it before donating it. Glad I did, my two favorite essays were “A dead woman’s hairpins” and “Guffy”.
November 25, 2014
CRITIQUING CHAPTERS: The first critique should be overview of plot and character.
1.Does it make sense? Yes it does make sense, the authors write about important issues but also about daily tasks that almost everyone can relate to. Example: One of the authors wrote a poem about love titled QUESTIONS Pg.95, he explained his thought about the topic and his naive opinion, he eventually found his soul mate and realizes that the things people said who were in "love," were right.
1.Does it work with the chapter before it? No it does not because there are no chapters. There is a variety of authors artists and writers each with their individual pieces.Example: There is a variety of artwork between pg's 118-119.
CHARACTERS
2.Does each character sound different? Yes each character is original and have their different styles, tempo and rhythms as well as tones.THE GIFT is an example of a genuine poem written by a 16 year old girl stripped of her innocence. Pg.124
2.Do they have a voice of their own? Yes, they do. They express it through their creativity and art.One of the readings that stood out to me was one specific paragraph by Ian Ferguson on pg 3.
POINT OF VIEW
3.Would a scene work better from another characters point of view? No, it wouldn't work due to the fact that their work is often based solely on personal experiences.
3.Is there only one view point character in each scene? There is often one individual character but multiple viewpoints.
INTERIOR MONOLOGUES
4.Could this information or emotion be expressed in dialogue or action? The information and emotions already are expressed in the dialogue and also has its some action depending on the artist. Example "I was ready to throw the foul-smelling shoes across the room or at Nicole when i saw a photograph that slipped to the heal of her sneakers. It was our father."(P.64) This creates a very powerful visual and demonstrates the characters anger and sadness.
4.Is the character telling too much. No they are not. They thoroughly describe objects or people and explain situations well including the setting plot and climax if any.
LANGUAGE
5.Does cause and effect happen correctly? In the short stories, cause and effect does happen correctly. Example from FAKING IT short story ("Furniture repossessed," it said,"as payment for debts. Balance due: $980.67.) P.75
5.Is she showing rather than telling? In most poems and passages the authors are narrating so they do tell story. However because of the wide range of authors as well as styles there is bound to be a few exceptions.
FANTASY, FUTURISTIC & PARANORMAL ELEMENTS
6. Is it logical? Very. Many topics are habitual & life related. Giving you multiple perspectives but also the authors own opinion and oftentimes experience.
6.Is the word building well throughout? The word building is not well. It is great, rich. An alphabetical ocean. "1)The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog."(p.201)
1.Does it make sense? Yes it does make sense, the authors write about important issues but also about daily tasks that almost everyone can relate to. Example: One of the authors wrote a poem about love titled QUESTIONS Pg.95, he explained his thought about the topic and his naive opinion, he eventually found his soul mate and realizes that the things people said who were in "love," were right.
1.Does it work with the chapter before it? No it does not because there are no chapters. There is a variety of authors artists and writers each with their individual pieces.Example: There is a variety of artwork between pg's 118-119.
CHARACTERS
2.Does each character sound different? Yes each character is original and have their different styles, tempo and rhythms as well as tones.THE GIFT is an example of a genuine poem written by a 16 year old girl stripped of her innocence. Pg.124
2.Do they have a voice of their own? Yes, they do. They express it through their creativity and art.One of the readings that stood out to me was one specific paragraph by Ian Ferguson on pg 3.
POINT OF VIEW
3.Would a scene work better from another characters point of view? No, it wouldn't work due to the fact that their work is often based solely on personal experiences.
3.Is there only one view point character in each scene? There is often one individual character but multiple viewpoints.
INTERIOR MONOLOGUES
4.Could this information or emotion be expressed in dialogue or action? The information and emotions already are expressed in the dialogue and also has its some action depending on the artist. Example "I was ready to throw the foul-smelling shoes across the room or at Nicole when i saw a photograph that slipped to the heal of her sneakers. It was our father."(P.64) This creates a very powerful visual and demonstrates the characters anger and sadness.
4.Is the character telling too much. No they are not. They thoroughly describe objects or people and explain situations well including the setting plot and climax if any.
LANGUAGE
5.Does cause and effect happen correctly? In the short stories, cause and effect does happen correctly. Example from FAKING IT short story ("Furniture repossessed," it said,"as payment for debts. Balance due: $980.67.) P.75
5.Is she showing rather than telling? In most poems and passages the authors are narrating so they do tell story. However because of the wide range of authors as well as styles there is bound to be a few exceptions.
FANTASY, FUTURISTIC & PARANORMAL ELEMENTS
6. Is it logical? Very. Many topics are habitual & life related. Giving you multiple perspectives but also the authors own opinion and oftentimes experience.
6.Is the word building well throughout? The word building is not well. It is great, rich. An alphabetical ocean. "1)The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog."(p.201)
April 5, 2009
Title: The Best Young Writers and Artists in America
Author: David Levithan
I never really liked the title of this book, as it seemed too plain to me. It seemed as if the person putting this analogy together was getting pretty lazy and didn't really bother to make the title sound more catchy. But yet, I decided to give it a shot. Most of the stories in this book were about kids and their issues. Some I did not understand because it was too complicated, or maybe too sad that I just didn't want to accept it's truth.
There was this one story in their by a pregnant teen who at 17, had to work at an ice cream shop. It was Ice Cream Sundae on page 4 of the book. I found it to be interesting because the writer did not come right out that she was pregnant. It was a motif, her pregnancy and the way people treated her because of it. She did not like that she had to work in an ice cream shop just because the condom broke and because of that, she had to work in an ice cream shop. She wanted to tell all those people that she was a honors student, she wasn't a slut.
This book is rather sad, but for those who want something harsh could read it. It was hard for me to accept. But I did like the pictures. Especially the one that had a train track, but the stuff ahead was foggy. I liked how that person was able to draw it like that and it really gave out the message that what's ahead you'd never know, but the train has got to continue moving on the train track.
Author: David Levithan
I never really liked the title of this book, as it seemed too plain to me. It seemed as if the person putting this analogy together was getting pretty lazy and didn't really bother to make the title sound more catchy. But yet, I decided to give it a shot. Most of the stories in this book were about kids and their issues. Some I did not understand because it was too complicated, or maybe too sad that I just didn't want to accept it's truth.
There was this one story in their by a pregnant teen who at 17, had to work at an ice cream shop. It was Ice Cream Sundae on page 4 of the book. I found it to be interesting because the writer did not come right out that she was pregnant. It was a motif, her pregnancy and the way people treated her because of it. She did not like that she had to work in an ice cream shop just because the condom broke and because of that, she had to work in an ice cream shop. She wanted to tell all those people that she was a honors student, she wasn't a slut.
This book is rather sad, but for those who want something harsh could read it. It was hard for me to accept. But I did like the pictures. Especially the one that had a train track, but the stuff ahead was foggy. I liked how that person was able to draw it like that and it really gave out the message that what's ahead you'd never know, but the train has got to continue moving on the train track.
January 26, 2009
I picked up this book from my advisory class because I had nothing else to read and the book seemed to have a lot of information that I could gather. When I started to look through the book, it was filled with poems, essays, illustrations and other writing. Some of them were interesting but some were not that captivating. There was one poem where I believe it talked about one's daily routine and how one started to brush their teeth in the morning and such. It was somewhat amusing. I would recommend this book to those who are interested in reading the works of others and about literature. But those who enjoy reading books with themes and such should not look into this book.
April 8, 2009
This book has a variety of different poems and stories. Each of the short story shares an experience of the person itself with many discriptive words and visuals which allow pictures to creep inside the reader's heads. I can relate to this book because most of the authors of the short stories are from the perspective of teenagers around my age. They experience the same things i do and talk about it in exclusive writing that reveals even what i am feeling inside. In this text, it's hard to identify the message in it because most of what was written had confusing sudden setting changes, difficult character reading, and many thoughts are being considered in the text as well.
January 11, 2012
I thought this book was really good and I enjoyed it very much. I saw some really good poetry in that book and it amused me. Some of them made me laugh and some made me say "aw." That book was interesting to me because all those poets were young and talented. I learned a lot of facts in the book from the poets and what they had to say I was amazed. So thats all I have to say about it and I enjoyed it and had fun with it bye.
July 26, 2008
See you in a year or so
October here i come!
If you must know ask
but i dont promise answers
October here i come!
If you must know ask
but i dont promise answers
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews