Growing pains are an essential part of teenage life, for better and for worse. Some “mistakes” turn into positive, life-changing experiences, and some apparent triumphs seem, in retrospect, like low points. Some first kisses leave you feeling on top of the world, and others can make you want to hide under a rock. In Dear Teen Me, your favorite YA authors — including Lauren Oliver, Ellen Hopkins, Tom Angleberger, and Carrie Jones — revisit critical moments from their young lives and offer advice and guidance to their teenage selves. Listen to find out...

• Who had a really bad first kiss?
• Who found her true love at 18?
• Who wishes she’d had more fun in high school instead of studying so hard?
• And who skipped prom to go to a Grateful Dead concert, only to wind up stranded and alone?

The letters cover a wide range of topics, including physical abuse, body issues, bullying, friendship, love, and enough insecurities to fill an auditorium. Some authors focus on a hilarious mistake or one especially big day, others offer words of hope for desperate times. So whether you’re a theater kid, a band geek, a bad boy, a good girl, a loner, a stoner, a nerd, or a jock, you’ll find friends — and a lot of familiar faces — in Dear Teen Me.