Me on Girl Meets Boy

Title: Girl Meets Boy: Because There Are Two Sides to Every Story
Authors: Kelly Milner Halls, Chris Crutcher, Rebecca Fjelland Davis, Terry Davis, Terry Trueman, Rita Williams-Garcia, James Howe, Ellen Wittlinger, Joseph Bruchac, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Sara Ryan, Randy Powell
Editor: Kelly Milner Halls
Release Date: December 28, 2011
Publisher: Chronicle Books

This review might be a little different, but the book is a little different.

Girl Meets Boy is a collection of stories, the he said and she said sides of love and relationships. 12 YA authors joined together to form 6 pairs, a male author writing the boy's side and a female author writing the girl's side. Put together, this book gives the reader 6 unique takes on love, heartbreak, and relationships, proving that there really are two sides to every story.

What first drew me to this book was the concept. Getting to know both sides of the story provides so much character insight but also character flaw. The reader will never really know the actual truth, just two differing view points. It's like we get to talk to both sides of the same coin, learning some actual truth, but the entire situation can only be explained by the hand that flipped that coin. Still, it was interesting to see the opinions and ideas and reactions of each character. I think this worked more in some pairings than others, like Rita Williams-Garcia and Terry Trueman's, or James Howe and Ellen Wittlinger's. While all pairings were enjoyable, were honest and surprising about love and relationships, those two pairs in particular provided my favourite stories.

Because this book is a collection of short stories, I could talk about each pairing, but I feel that it would take something away from reading the book as a whole. I went in mostly blind, knowing only what I've told you here, and what I was given was more than I'd expected. The only complaint, if it could be called that, is that I want to know what happens after the stories end, but I suppose that often happens with collections like this, just glimpses of important events. Still, what could be more important to a teenage boy or girl than how they felt when falling in love?

(I received an advance copy from Raincoast Books.)