Gr 9 Up—After classic movie aficionado Min Green breaks up with good-looking, popular athlete Ed Slaterton, she dumps a box full of mementos at his doorstep along with a very long "letter." The letter-the text of this book-explains step by painful step the reasons for the breakup and why their relationship was doomed from the start. Each chapter is introduced with a complementary, full-color painting of a memento, ranging from bottle caps to movie tickets to condom wrappers to rose petals, each representing an important element in the progression of and subsequent decline in their romance. Min's exposé begins at the end and flashes forward through meeting and falling for Ed, losing her virginity, and realizing that the course of true love rarely follows a Hollywood script. Characters are vivid, and their portrayal is enriched by realistic dialogue. Despite Min's somewhat distracting tendency to expound on feelings, experiences, and images in a run-on fashion, and that her unusual perceptiveness stretches belief in her voice as that of a high school girl, the story ultimately comes together. Handler offers a heartbreaking, bittersweet, and compelling romance with a unique angle and flare that will satisfy those who immersed themselves in Jandy Nelson's The Sky Is Everywhere (Dial, 2010).—Diane P. Tuccillo, Poudre River Public Library District, Fort Collins, CO
Filled with long, lovely riffs of language…exquisite scenes of teenage life and the sad souvenirs of one high school relationship, Why We Broke Up is a silken, bittersweet tale of adolescent heartache.
—The New York Times Book Review
Handler and Kalman (13 Words) craft a book-length breakup letter from Min (short for Minerva) to her ex-boyfriend, Ed. Accusatory yet affectionate—directed at “you, Ed”—it accompanies a hefty box of souvenirs Min accumulated during the two-month romance. Between chapters, readers gaze at Kalman’s almost totemic still lifes of each nostalgic item, which range from handwritten notes (“I can’t stop thinking about you”) to secondhand-store finds and movie tickets. Min loves classic cinema, and Handler invents false film titles like “Greta of the Wild” that Min and her platonic pal Al name-drop like an “old married couple.” Proceeding chronologically, Min recounts her doomed affair with Ed, a basketball star who shrugs at movies and commits gaffe after embarrassing gaffe in front of Min’s friends. They can’t understand what she’s doing with him, but readers won’t have that problem—Handler shows exceptional skill at getting inside Min’s head and heart. Halfway through Min’s impassioned epistle, readers may realize that Ed, even if he cares, lacks the wherewithal to read it—lending real pathos to Min’s memorabilia and making her sorrow all the more palpable. Agent: Charlotte Sheedy Literary Agency. Ages 15–up. (Dec.)¦
* "Characters are vivid, and their portrayal is enriched by realistic dialogue....Hander offers a heartbreaking, bittersweet, and compelling romance with a unique angle and flare."—School Library Journal, starred review
2012 Printz Honor Book
ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults Title
School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
Kirkus Reviews Best YA Book of the Year
Booklist Editor's Choice Pick
Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College Outstanding Book of the Year
"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."—Entertainment Weekly
"It's easy to predict how Handler's story will conclude from the book's few pages. It's more difficult to take such an everyday tragedy with a predictable ending and elevate it to an end point of enduring, emotionally effective art."—Los Angeles Times
* "Characters are vivid, and their portrayal is enriched by realistic dialogue....Hander offers a heartbreaking, bittersweet, and compelling romance with a unique angle and flare."—School Library Journal (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."—Booklist (starred review)
* "As objects from the box are revealed in Kalman's vividly rendered paintings, readers are taken beneath the surface of what will no doubt be one of the most talked-about romances in teen literature....A poignant, exhilarating tale of a love affair gone to the dogs."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
* "Handler shows exceptional skill at getting inside Min's head and heart...lending real pathos to Min's memorabilia and making her sorrow all the more palpable."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
* "Handler is at his best when he's creating verbal collages of ordinary, recognizable high-school moments....Like the perfect breakup song, this turns the searing experience of losing your heart into a cathartic work of art."—The Bulletin (starred review)
* "Kalman's spare illustrations of the objects heighten the overall enjoyment and perfectly complement Handler's accomplished prose."—The Horn Book (starred review)
"Happiness, passion, betrayal, and despair are detailed in stream of consciousness....Why We Broke Up is real and compelling."—VOYA
"Sure to resonate with all young adults."—Library Media Connection
"Anyone who's ever dealt with a bad breakup will love this book."—American Cheerleader
"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."
"It's easy to predict how Handler's story will conclude from the book's few pages. It's more difficult to take such an everyday tragedy with a predictable ending and elevate it to an end point of enduring, emotionally effective art."
* "Handler is at his best when he's creating verbal collages of ordinary, recognizable high-school moments....Like the perfect breakup song, this turns the searing experience of losing your heart into a cathartic work of art."
* "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."
* "Kalman's spare illustrations of the objects heighten the overall enjoyment and perfectly complement Handler's accomplished prose."
Min is writing the mother of all break-up letters to Ed, which she will add to a box of mementos of their doomed relationship and dump at his door. Khristine Hvam, surprisingly, never lets bitterness or regret take over her first-person narration as the jilted girl. Hvam particularly shines in the voicing of Min, Min’s friends, and Ed's friends. The story is well trod, but what sets this tale of heartbreak apart is the collaboration between Handler's bittersweet prose and Maria Kalman's quirky illustrations. For the audiobook, the artwork comes in PDF, but nothing cues the listener to view the images. Instead, seemingly random sound effects vary in clarity, quality, and effectiveness. This is why the printed version of this book is the better choice. M.M.O. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine
A toy truck, bottle caps, rose petals, a cookbook and a box full of other seemingly unobtrusive mementos are dumped on the doorstep of Ed Slaterton by his ex-girlfriend, Min. Their unlikely romance lasted just over a month. On the exterior he's a gorgeous basketball-jock douchebag; she's an outspoken, outsider, romantic-movie buff with frizzy hair. They're opposites, and no one else in the novel sees why they're together. But as objects from the box are revealed in Kalman's vividly rendered paintings, readers are taken beneath the surface of what will no doubt be one of the most talked-about romances in teen literature. Handler frames their lives together with a sharp, cinematic virtuosity that leaps off the pages. Their relationship sparks and burns with so much passion, honesty, enlightenment and wonder that readers will feel relieved when they finish those chapters that don't end with "…and that's why we broke up." The ordinary becomes extraordinary: A thrift-store cookbook explodes into a madcap dinner party for an aging imaginary film star. A rubber band causes readers to wince in pain when it's ripped from Min's hair. Torn condom wrappers induce smiles of knowing amusement as Min jokingly describes her first time. All is lovingly connected via a roster of fantastically drawn films and stars that readers will wish actually existed. The novel's only fault lies in its inevitable conclusion, which can't help but be a letdown after 300+ pages of blazing romance. A poignant, exhilarating tale of a love affair gone to the dogs. (Romance. 14 & up)
