With the popularity of social media, our young people are now more than ever inundated with a false sense of perfection. As a teacher, I have seen how this affects students self-esteem during a critical time of development. I Am Me by Tom Worthen, Ph.D., is an excellent book for teens because it has art and poems written by teens that addresses being oneself and being ok with who you are. The art is outstanding and the poems are well written. I liked how the book is designed with art on one page and a poem on the adjacent of a similar subject. This allows the reader to have a visual image in mind while reading the poem.

This book is composed of short poems and drawings by high school aged authors and artists.
These bring me back to high school when you are trying to figure out things.
The are is beautiful as well as the touching words.
This would be great for high school to adult aged people.

Between the artwork and the poetry, the message is nothing short of powerful.  As an adult, many of the poems spoke to me and would definitely speak volumes to my students.  This book is unique in its reading experience and the connection between the artwork and poems are strong.  Each poem speaks of issues faced by teenagers and even adults and focuses on the need to persevere through any struggles faced. This book can be brought into classrooms across the world and connections to the text can be made.  I enjoyed the read and look forward to implementing some of the poetry in my classroom during a social injustice unit.

Looking at it, this book is what you'd expect from the title. It's a collection of art and poetry by teenagers about being themselves. 

Some of the art here is wonderful. Way better than I'd expect from high schoolers, truly fantastic. The curating work here is also very good. It works and tells a story in such a way that shows time and thought were put in. 

The poems are this book's weak link. When I first read this, I was sure that the poets were international because that explained why the style was so simplistic. As in, I can excuse this type of writing when it's someone's second language but as a first language, I expect poetry to be better. 

Instead, the poetry was repetitive. Most poets favored the type of writing found in journals attempting to be revolutionaries ("We are the girls you try to shut up but now we will rise" type of style). I felt like one poem like that could have been enough. 

I don't know if that's what's popular in teenage writing but I felt like that was a shame, as the art was lightyears ahead of the poetry. 

All in all, this is cute. It reminded me of having a low self esteem as a teenager, of figuring out how to love yourself. I think if the poetry was different, I could truly love this book.

Wonderful, thought-provoking work from our youth. I am looking forward to sharing this work with my students.

Utterly stunning. If I told you it was just artwork and poems it would be an utter diservice to this amazing collection of work. The artwork by teens is so good it restores your faith in the arts. I'd rather pay 10 million for one of these than a pickled shark. The poems are also excellent - perhaps a little too much about being accepted for who you are - there's only so many times I can read the point being made - but still fantastic pieces of poetry. I am going to reccomend this on a parental e-group as well. Absolutely worth having for your teen.