To send a letter is a good way to go somewhere without moving anything but your heart.
Phyllis Theroux
Dear Tens,
In 1997 we released the first Chicken Soup book written especially for teens. Since that time we have been deeply moved by your responses to the books, especially in the form of letters you have written to us. Your letters have been filled with heartfelt thank-yous and detailed descriptions of how a particular story or stories helped you and gave you a newfound faith in the process of life.
When I was interviewed for the book, I remember saying many times that this generation—so often accused of being selfish and ill-mannered— took the time to sit down and write beautifully articulate thank-you letters. I, a generally grateful person, had never done the same and I wanted people to know how kind and thoughtful this generation is—despite what many would have us believe.
These thank-you letters continued to pour in and we found that reading them brought us even closer to teens and to the issues they were dealing with. More often than not, the letters were as personal and as insightful as the stories they were thanking us for. Some of the letters were so honest and revealing that the teenagers on our staff were compelled to write their own personal letters in response.
Now that there are a total of five Chicken Soup books for your age group—Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul I, II, III, Journal and College Soul— this phenomenon only continues to grow. More and more we find ourselves telling each other that we should do a book of “the stories behind the stories.”
Many of you have written to us asking, “What happened to Lia Gay? Is she still in love?” or, “How is Mike doing? Do you ever hear from him?” Because many of the contributors have their contact information in the back of the book, they receive letters personally from the teens who were particularly touched or changed by their story. More than once the writers have told us that they received a thank-you from a reader at a time when they were doubting their own worth or struggling with their own issues, and the thank-you letter came at the perfect moment.
The main reason we were compelled to share this book with you is because we want to share the caring and generosity that continues after the books are read. When we first used the slogan “Teens Helping Teens,” we couldn’t have dreamed of the enormity of that statement.
It is very important to us that as you read these stories and letters you understand that we are very clear about where the credit belongs for all of this. You the reader, you the teenager, you the one who opened up your heart either to help or to be helped, are the ones responsible for this. You, the teens who shared the deepest part of yourselves, who with trust and great hope looked for an answer, you with a heart full of gratitude who wrote us a thank-you, and you, who cared about people you didn’t even know and wrote to us to find out how they were doing. You are the ones who have created this cycle of love and healing.
It is our deepest hope that the healing continue and that you, the reader, know how incredibly grateful we are for being a part of and being able to continue nurturing this community of teens helping teens.
This book is for you!
With great love,
Kim, Jack and Mark