POISONED APPLES

A powerful and provocative collection of poems that bring classic fairytale characters and themes into the modern teenage girl’s life. Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson meets the TV show Once Upon a Time.

Where are the fairy tales about gym class / or the doctor’s office or the back of the bus / where bad things also happen? / No need for a bunch of trees. / You can lose your way anywhere.

Christine Heppermann’s powerful collection of free verse poems explore how girls are taught to think about themselves, their bodies, their friends—as consumers, as objects, as competitors. Based on classic fairytale characters and fairytale tropes, the poems range from contemporary retellings to first person accounts set within the original stories. From Snow White’s cottage and Rapunzel’s tower to health class and the prom, these poems are a moving depiction of young women, society, and our expectations. Poisoned Apples is a dark, clever, witty, beautiful, and important book for teenage girls, their sisters, their mothers, and their best friends.

Christine Heppermann has an MA in Children’s Literature from Simmons College and an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Hamline University. She lives with her husband and two daughters in Highland, NY.