30 Days to Getting Over the Dork
You Used to Call Your Boyfriend:
A Heartbreak Handbook
by Clea Hantman
You Used to Call Your Boyfriend:
A Heartbreak Handbook
by Clea Hantman
30 DAYS TO GETTING OVER THE DORK YOU USED TO CALL YOUR BOYFRIEND by Clea Hantman
Category: Non-Fiction
Age Recommendation: Grades 6+
Release Date: 1/8/08
Publisher: Delacorte
Reviewed by: Katie Hayes
Rating: 5 Stars
A breakup can seem like the end of the world to a teenage girl. Clea Hantman, author of the new book 30 DAYS TO
GETTING OVER THE DORK YOU USED TO CALL YOUR BOYFRIEND, realizes this and treats her readers with
sensitivity. But along with offering some advice and perspective, Hantman also offers a lot of fun.
When you’re mourning the loss of a relationship, she writes, you go through the five stages of grief: denial, anger,
bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The book is divided into parts based on these five stages, and for each of the
thirty days, she offers an activity.
At first these activities include things like putting all reminders of “the dork” in a box and writing down all the things that
were wrong with him, but eventually they move on to things like exercising, volunteering, even feng shui. Every day also
has a song that’s relevant to that day’s activity and is, usually, pretty cool. (I made some additions to my iTunes after
reading this book!)
The book is also sprinkled with pop culture references that teenagers can relate to and concludes with the lists, “Girls
Who Have Dumped with Aplomb,” “Girls Who Have Been More Famously Dumped Than You (And Lived to Tell!),”
“Movies About Being Dumped,” “More Break-Up Songs,” and “Books About the Ups, Downs, and In-Betweens of
Relationships.”
I don’t know how effective this book would be for getting over a serious relationship that lasted for years, but I think it
provides a lot of guidance and sympathy for most teenage girls dealing with breakups. For everyone else it will, at the
very least, provide a smile.
Category: Non-Fiction
Age Recommendation: Grades 6+
Release Date: 1/8/08
Publisher: Delacorte
Reviewed by: Katie Hayes
Rating: 5 Stars
A breakup can seem like the end of the world to a teenage girl. Clea Hantman, author of the new book 30 DAYS TO
GETTING OVER THE DORK YOU USED TO CALL YOUR BOYFRIEND, realizes this and treats her readers with
sensitivity. But along with offering some advice and perspective, Hantman also offers a lot of fun.
When you’re mourning the loss of a relationship, she writes, you go through the five stages of grief: denial, anger,
bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The book is divided into parts based on these five stages, and for each of the
thirty days, she offers an activity.
At first these activities include things like putting all reminders of “the dork” in a box and writing down all the things that
were wrong with him, but eventually they move on to things like exercising, volunteering, even feng shui. Every day also
has a song that’s relevant to that day’s activity and is, usually, pretty cool. (I made some additions to my iTunes after
reading this book!)
The book is also sprinkled with pop culture references that teenagers can relate to and concludes with the lists, “Girls
Who Have Dumped with Aplomb,” “Girls Who Have Been More Famously Dumped Than You (And Lived to Tell!),”
“Movies About Being Dumped,” “More Break-Up Songs,” and “Books About the Ups, Downs, and In-Betweens of
Relationships.”
I don’t know how effective this book would be for getting over a serious relationship that lasted for years, but I think it
provides a lot of guidance and sympathy for most teenage girls dealing with breakups. For everyone else it will, at the
very least, provide a smile.