The Bizarreness of Teen Minds

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My middle son (18) asked me to take him into town today to buy a gift for a school friend - Something to cheer her up a little after her father died. I thought, 'What a nice sentiment.’

I dropped him in town on my way to the library for the meeting of my writers’ group. He was going to meet me there after he found a gift.

This is what he brought.


He was completely at a loss to my horror in his choice.

‘But Nightmare Before Christmas is her favourite show,’ he said. ‘What’s wrong with buying her this?’

What answer should I choose? There were so many. I finally decided on. ‘Her father just died and you are giving her a solar powered bobble headed skeleton to cheer her up! Nice.’

I know he means well, but the bizarreness of how the teenage mind works completely eludes me at times. This is not a good sign for someone trying to write YA fiction.

Teaser Tuesday # 6 - TH1RTEEN R3ASONS WHY

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This weeks Teaser Tuesday is the New York Times Bestseller – ‘Thirteen Reasons Why’, the debut novel by Californian author Jay Asher. This novel is one I have been hanging out for since I read the reviews last month. It finally arrived today.

The novel deals with teen suicide and taking responsibility for your actions. I have to admit, this is not the most uplifting topic in the world but the premise of the book intrigued me enough to order it direct from the US even with the lousy exchange rate.


What was so intriguing? There are two main characters. Clay Jensen, a high school student who receives a mysterious package containing seven audio tapes recorded by the second main character, Hannah Baker. Only Hannah committed suicide two weeks earlier. The tapes contain her recorded message to the thirteen people responsible for the thirteen reasons why she killed herself. Clay is devastated to discover he is one of those reasons.



Excerpt:

Wait. Wait. I need to think.

I pick at a speck of dry orange paint on the workbench. Why am I listening to this? I mean, why put myself through this? Why not just pop the tape out of the stereo and throw the entire box of them in the trash?

I swallow hard. Tears sting at the corners of my eyes.
Because it's Hannah's voice. A voice I thought I'd never hear again.

I can't throw that away.


Now, that's a little more than the two sentence excerpt I was supposed to write but... Well no excuses, I cheated.