Red: Teenage Girls in America Write On What Fires Up Their LivesToday

by Amy Goldwasser (Editor)

Overview

'Unsparingly frank and perceptive' (Vanity Fair) personal essays by teenage girls.

For every teen girl who thinks she's alone, and every adult who's dared to try to figure her out, comes this eye-opening collection in the spirit of New York Times bestseller Ophelia Speaks. In Red, fifty-eight girls-ranging in age from thirteen to nineteen, and writing from across the spectrum of geographic, socioeconomic, racial, and religious upbringings-share 'heartbreaking, hilarious, and often harrowing' (Francine Prose) essays about everything from politics to pop culture; from post-Katrina New Orleans to Johnny Depp; from the loneliness of losing a best friend to the loathing or pride they feel about their bodies.

The authors of Red are brave and honest documentarians of their own lives. These girls are the best shades of red (not pink): a little bit angry, a lot passionate. Theyfire on fire, and their essays speak gloriously for the future.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780452289833
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/28/2008
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Amy Goldwasser has edited and written for publications including Seventeen, The New Yorker, Vogue, The New York Times, Salon, New York Magazine, and Outside. She teaches editing in the Columbia Publishing Course and writing at the Lower Eastside Girls Club.

Table of Contents

Red Teenage GirlsAmy Goldwasser Introduction

The Body and Various Thoughts on Beauty

Amy Hunt Sleeves
Alison Smith Curve
Jane Horowitz The Jewish Hair
Tiffani Hortman Muscle
Emily Kaplan Ode to My Breasts
Caro Fink Lucky
Charlotte Steinway The Weather Report
Meike Schleiff The "Beautiful" Cause of Death That Had Me Dying for a While

People You Have to Live with and Other Family

Alicia Davis Country
Claudia Berger The News
Hannah Morris The Two of Us
Sarah Morris To See How They Look on Me, on You
Emma Considine Bloody Red Heart
Jordyn Turney Mascara Wands Are Instruments of War
Zulay Regalado Pots nd Pans
Annie Littlewood TLC: Three Days
Maxine Keyes Ghost Stories

What Can Be Learned at School

Emily Knox The Best Kind of Popular
Laura Lowe A Retelling of the Black-Letter Days, The Red-Letter Days, and the Fine Line That Ties Them Together
Elizabeth Case Hey You, Freshman with the Face!
Sara Harari Life Goes up a Wall
Carey Dunne Gym at Riverton
Lisa Chau Stuck in Traffic
Deborah Kim Packing

Friendships: Gone Well, Gone Poorly, Just Gone

Sarah McIntosh Lies We Have Told
Sarah Harrison Tampoons
Rebecca Murray Big Shoes
Elizabeth Metzger An Orchid, If That Is What It Is

Crushes Sweet and Excruciating, Sex, and a Love That Ends in Desert Rehab

Jocelyn Pearce The Match
Jasmine Sennhauser Decent Guy on the Planet
Eliza Appleton Cribs
Hayley Hoover The Sun's Shining Hotter
Jessica Goodman Boy One
Samantha Lewin Finding Myself in Utah

Anytyhing Extracurricular: The Beach, the Horse, the Bee, the Lousy First Job, the Stellar Future Career, etc.

Kirsten Oldroyd Mini Mountain
Kelly Otterness Lately
Erika Kwee East
Lucy Bennett The Hamptons
Jaclyn Humphrey Pediatrics
Anna Saxon The Management
Samantha Gillogly Apiarian Days
Lindsay Erin Sellers Alone

Media, Pop Culture, Johnny Depp, Freakdom, and Fandom

Sarah Schelde What Truthiness Taught Me About Being (Un)Cool
Kali Moriarty Appeal from an Angry Not So Emo
Grace Habegger The Depth of Depp
Olive Panter Play
Saskia Boggs Just Watch

The World and What's Wrong (Sometimes Even What's Right) with It: Battle Cries

Dani Cox Ms. President
Cammi Henao Once in a While
Aarian Marshall Burning in Heaven
Zoe Mendelson Places of Worship
Danielle Norman Repeat
Cindy Morand The Border
Kathleen Hicks Bodies of Water
Maya-Catherine Popa The Dial Life—and Him
Emily-Nicole Johns New City
Carla Perez-Gallardo To Do

Editorial Reviews

Funny, smart, dark, observant.

Salon

Red is a revelation.

Time Out New York