In “Hold On Tight” I talk to my teen self about the rape and torture I’m surviving, the wanting to die, the lack of safety, but also my strength, escaping my abusers, and finding good people.

Dear Teen Me includes advice from over 70 YA authors (including Lauren Oliver, Ellen Hopkins, Carrie Jones, Tera Lynn Childs, Mitali Perkins, and Cheryl Rainfield) to their teenage selves. The letters cover a wide range of topics, including physical abuse, body issues, bullying, friendship, love, and enough insecurities to fill an auditorium. So pick a page, and find out which of your favorite authors had a really bad first kiss? Who found true love at 18? Who wishes he’d had more fun in high school instead of studying so hard? Some authors write diary entries, some write letters, and a few graphic novelists turn their stories into visual art. And whether you hang out with the theater kids, the band geeks, the bad boys, the loners, the class presidents, the delinquents, the jocks, or the nerds, you’ll find friends–and a lot of familiar faces–in the course of Dear Teen Me.