I'm Not What They Call Me

We are labeled. We are stereotyped. We are teenagers, and we will use our voices to rewrite the story of adolescence. In this honest and inspiring collection of diary entries, vignettes, and prose poems, seventeen brave 9th grade students at Hoboken Charter School in Hoboken, NJ share the struggles and triumphs of the adolescent experience. I'm Not What They Call Me: Rewriting the Narrative of Adolescence tells the real stories of "teenagehood" in order to defy the stereotypes adults place upon teenagers. It's time adults began to ask teenagers, "How can I understand you?" rather than claim they know who we are. On these pages lies the real story of us.