Why We Broke Up: Summary and book reviews of Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler, plus links to an excerpt from Why We Broke Up and a biography of Daniel Handler.
I'm telling you why we broke up, Ed. I'm writing it in this letter, the whole truth of why it happened.
Min Green and Ed Slaterton are breaking up, so Min is writing Ed a letter and giving him a box. Inside the box is why they broke up. Two bottle caps, a movie ticket, a folded note, a box of matches, a protractor, books, a toy truck, a pair of ugly earrings, a comb from a motel room, and every other item collected over the course of a giddy, intimate, heartbreaking relationship. Item after item is illustrated and accounted for, and then the box, like a girlfriend, will be dumped. Ages 14+
I loved this book. If I'd read this book when I was 14, I would have written that with capital letters and exclamation points, the page soggy with tears. Remember when you could read a book and feel like it was written just for you?... The qualities that make it so hard to be a teenager are also the reasons why they are such ripe receptors for fiction; they're gravely serious, they understand true drama, and they experience emotions with crushing severity. If you start reading Why We Broke Up, and it feels too over-the-top for you, I urge you to pass it along to a 13- or 14-year-old girl. Her emotions are full to the brim, and aching for somewhere to go. A book seems like a nice safe place, no? (Reviewed by Lucia Silva).
Entertainment Weekly
The Lemony Snicket author (writing under his own name) convincingly inhabits the mind of Min, a teenage girl reeling from her first heartbreak. This poignant, bittersweet novel centers on a box of objects infused with memories of her brief, unforgettable love.
Booklist
Starred Review. A bittersweet diatribe of their break-up arranged around objects... all the more powerful because of how they evoke truth more than any mere relaying of facts.
Kirkus Reviews
Starred Review. A poignant, exhilarating tale of a love affair gone to the dogs.
School Library Journal
I was excited about how much this book is not like the Lemony Snicket books. It's totally different, it's totally wonderful, and all I can say is Handler is a darn fine writer... [T]his is a beautifully designed book. The paper is a high quality gloss, like you'd see and feel in a picture book.
Library Media Connection
Sure to resonate with all young adults.
Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Handler shows exceptional skill at getting inside Min's head and heart.
Recent Reader Reviews
Rated of 5
by w8heier Only a few pages I have only read a few pages in this book. More like about 60 pages and I love,
Love,
Love
It.
I cant stop reading it but I of course have to stop reading it for school. yay. This book has many wonderful pictures and so many descriptive words... Read More
Min's narrative-through-objects reminded me of a "commonplace book" I kept in high school at the urging of my (wonderful) 10th grade English teacher. Commonplace books became very popular during the Renaissance, used as a kind of intellectual filing system, whereby one collected poems, proverbs, quotes, and other material around a particular subject or theme.* Over time, the idea expanded to encompass a more modern combination of a scrapbook and a diary filled with sketches, photographs, articles, mementos, even mathematical equations.
Freed of the aesthetic demands of a traditional scrapbook, or the literary expectations of a diary, the rules are yours to make and break. I was never good at keeping up with a diary, but I loved my commonplace journal. I would select a seemingly unimportant artifact from my day, paste or tape it into my journal, and use that as a jumping-off...
Told in alternating voices and filled with music, friendship, and romance, A Little Wanting Song is about the kind of longing that begins as a heavy ache but ultimately makes us feel hopeful and wonderfully alive.
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The first biography of Clarence Birdseye, the eccentric genius inventor whose fast-freezing process revolutionized the food industry and American agriculture.
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(940 words).
Entertainment Weekly
of 5
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Freed of the aesthetic demands of a traditional scrapbook, or the literary expectations of a diary, the rules are yours to make and break. I was never good at keeping up with a diary, but I loved my commonplace journal. I would select a seemingly unimportant artifact from my day, paste or tape it into my journal, and use that as a jumping-off...
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