Name: Briar Rose's review of Poisoned Apples by Christine Heppermann
Item: Poisoned Apples
Rating: 2
Author: Briar Rose

Christine Heppermann

Every little girl goes through her princess phase, whether she wants to be Snow White or Cinderella, Belle or Ariel. But then we grow up. And life is not a fairy tale. Christine Heppermann's collection of fifty poems puts the ideals of fairy tales right beside the life of the modern teenage girl. With piercing truths reminiscent of Laurie Halse Anderson and Ellen Hopkins, this is a powerful and provocative book for every young woman. E. Lockhart, author of We Were Liars, calls it "a bloody poetic attack on the beauty myth that's caustic, funny, and heartbreaking." Cruelties come not just from wicked stepmothers, but also from ourselves. There are expectations, pressures, judgment, and criticism. Self-doubt and self-confidence. But there are also friends, and sisters, and a whole hell of a lot of power there for the taking. In fifty poems, Christine Heppermann confronts society head on. Using fairy tale characters and tropes, Poisoned Apples explores how girls are taught to think about themselves, their bodies, and their friends. The poems range from contemporary retellings to first-person accounts set within the original tales, and from deadly funny to deadly serious. Complemented throughout with black-and-white photographs from up-and-coming artists, this is a stunning and sophisticated book to be treasured, shared, and paged through again and again.

Poems for You, My Pretty

Poisoned Apples

Briar Rose

Mythos

2/5 stars

I believe that a shorter version of this book would have been better. I stopped reading at around 75%. The poems do deal with many serious topics, including eating disorders, SA, etc. Some are well executed, while others are not. The poetry itself didn't flow well either, and it relied a lot on cliches and fairy tales. After a while, it felt as if the concept of fairy tales was being forced. I had a hard time reading it and just kept going because of the photographs.

I wouldn't recommend this book unless it was for them to see the pictures that are included alongside the poems. I'm sure that there are other books with similar concepts that have better execution than this one.

Maggie Gordon

Now this is the feminist poetry book I want for teens. Unlike The Princess Saves Herself, Poisoned Apples actually feels like poetry instead of declarative sentences with weird punctuation. The entire volume deals with feminist issues such as anorexia, and the volume is filled with gorgeous photos as illustration. Want to give your kid an introduction to poetry? This this one!

Jen Estrella

This book screams wit, charm, danger, darkness, and courage all at the same time. I particularly liked Gingerbread. It goes like this:

  I knew I had to get out of there
before the icing cracked and they discovered
that I'm burnt around the edges, 
doughy in the center,
that what they thought was sugar
is salt. 

If I was a good girl, 
if I could satisfy their cravings,
if every dream in my misshapen head
didn't bite, I might have stayed at the table.

Wouldn't you run, too,
from such voracious love?

It's a good place to start your 2017 reading challenge (though I might be the only one who is way behind schedule). 
Bonus: haunting photographs 

and here's a photo of another piece that I liked:

Jennifer Merchant

ashley hopkins

These are 100% my opinions and if you don't like it. I don't care. There are plenty of other people who loved this book. I am but just one reader.

If it weren't for the interesting pictures this would of sucked. 

I know it's harsh, but I can't understand what everyone sees in this book. 

The sad thing is I rarely read stories that I dislike.

Am I just WAYYYYYYY over thinking the poems? 

I felt like they would hurt someone instead of having this powerful message that others said the poems seemed to have.

I don't see the powerful message in these poems. (I honestly wouldn't even call them poems.) 

There's one poem called Red-handed that seems to me like it's negative.

I get that they're suppose to be these darker, grittier poems that are re-tellings, but REALLY?

The upside is that it was short, and I didn't waste to much time reading.

I think I just don't like this modern, feminist poetry. It was 108 pages long, and I kept checking how much was left after each poem.

I think there are a lot of weird stops, half baked ideas, and too much reliance on the reader knowing the fairy tale to fill in the gaps. There was a decent poem about tampons, but really, I've seen that all over the internet. Nothing moved me or made me want to read more of her work.

Gabriela Roxana 

Enjoyable and very original, this little world has appealed to me from the first page. Funny and whimsical, this book is very enchanting, but fails to deliver enough emotional depth for my taste.

Briar Rose &
Poisoned Apples by Christine Heppermann

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Briar Rose &Poisoned Apples by Christine Heppermann

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Join the club

Briar Rose &
Poisoned Apples by Christine Heppermann