Thirteen Reasons Why Paperback Release and Giveaway

Lately, there's been a lot of talk about how YA is too dark and whether or not that's good for teens. I have a lot of feelings on the subject, but one book I know that tackles a dark issue and has been a huge source of inspiration and hope for teens is Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. In fact, it was pretty awesome to see Entertainment Weekly do a story on the book in this week's issues.

I reviewed Thirteen Reasons Why awhile back, but the paperback edition is out now along with a new website. Here's some info about the book:

Thirteen Reasons Why is the story of a girl named Hannah Baker who takes her own life. But before she does, she records several cassette tapes explaining why and sends them to the people she feels pushed her toward that decision. The story is told from the point of view of Clay Jensen who spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah’s voice as his guide. He becomes a first-hand witness to Hannah’s pain, and learns the truth about himself—a truth he never wanted to face.

The anti-bullying anthem was published in hardcover in October 2007 by Razorbill, and quickly became a word-of-mouth favorite among teenaged readers with fans claiming, “This book changed my life.” The novel has been on the New York Times children’s hardcover bestseller list for 65 weeks, foreign rights have been sold into 30 countries and it has been acquired by Universal Pictures and will star Selena Gomez.

And the new site, the 13RW Project.

Penguin launched the 13RW Project at www.13RWProject.com as a place for fans of Thirteen Reasons Why to record their thoughts, stories, videos and photos relating to the book, and to view what other readers from all across the country have shared. Each review is logged on a map to show the many locations that viewers are posting from, and all content is shareable through Facebook and Twitter.

It's a pretty cool site and you'll definitely want to check it out and see the power a book can have!

Courtesy of Penguin, I have two paperback copies of Thirteen Reasons Why to give away. This giveaway is open to residents of the United States. Winners will be emailed after June 20th, 2011.