Dandelion

by Gabbie Hanna

New York Times bestselling author Gabbie Hanna delivers everything from curious musings to gut-wrenching confessionals in her long-awaited sophomore collection of illustrated poetry.

In this visually thrilling installment of the inner-workings of Gabbie’s mind, we’re taken on a journey of self-loathing, self-reflection, and ultimately, self-acceptance through deeply metaphorical imagery, chilling twists on child-like rhymes, and popular turns of phrase turned on their heads. Through raw, provocative tidbits, Dandelion explores what it means to struggle with a declining mental health in a world where mental health is both stigmatized and trivialized. The poems range from topics of rage and despair to downright silliness, so if you don’t know whether to laugh or cry, just laugh until you cry.

Exclusive bonus content: a collection of uncomfortably honest personal essays about Gabbie’s childhood and relationships.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction, Mental Health, Audiobook, Contemporary, Adult, Biography

240 pages, Paperback

First published October 13, 2020

About the author

Gabbie Hanna is an American YouTuber with over 6,000,000 subscribers. She is the author of Adultolescence, a comedian, actress, and singer-songwriter.

Reviews

[caitriona · Rating 1 out of 5]

gabbie is not a poet. thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[Nicole · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought the book and I was way more impressed with her first one. Dandelion reads like a bunch of tweets with a poetic tilt but no actual development. Some of the poems were okay at best. She's a better storyteller than a poet.

Also she's begging her Patreon subscribers to leave five star reviews and amp up the book's rating which REALLY rubs me the wrong way

[lily · Rating 1 out of 5]

this book takes surface level to a whole new level !! this collection of poems was so unreadably terrible , i laughed so much. it was the novelisation of the “i’m 14 and this is deep” meme, the “s(he ) be(lie)ve(d)” in poetic constructs. i would put it nicer , but it was a waste of paper.

[Inma · Rating 1 out of 5]

Why do people keep calling this "poetry"? This is not poetry, it's tumblr content.

[Abbie Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Guys stop the hating there’s no need nobody made you read anything. You know what you say can hurt people right ? You don’t know that the stuff you say can push someone over the edge imagine being the reason for someone ending their life? Then when they do it you’ll all be saying how bad it is! If you don’t like her then don’t read about her or follow her or anything

[Katie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was really disappointed, this is essentially just a book of tweets. In fact, one of the ‘poems’ is literally a tweet from July last year, and while that’s the only one I’ve physically seen I have no doubt there’s more. I had higher hopes for this but honestly don’t waste your money. She’s also requested on her Patreon for people to flood the reviews with five star reviews because there are ‘too many one stars’.

[courty ✧ · Rating 1 out of 5]

i read one page.

that was more than enough.

[Maceo · Rating 5 out of 5]

All the hate is getting unnecessary, people rating this poem book 1 star when it hasn’t even came out

[Divya · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.7-2/5

Much better than the first one. I can see how Gabbie's imagery has developed since then. A lot darker themes and topics e.g. death, abuse, suicide, anxiety, depression. However, I fear it suffers from the same too many filler poems as the first book.
The poems are relatable but I don't feel as if relatability is strong enough. The poems are about the mediocre but instead of being a statement, it feels surface level - even if the poetry is about darker issues. I'm missing the emotional connection, reflection and exploration that I like in poetry.

I also have a video on this on my channel http://youtu.be/5lxAkPhXRWg

[Kelsey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow, what a disappointment. I truly wished she would have listened to critiques, spent a couple years in writing workshops, and strengthened her writing ability. The poems seem like unfinished first drafts of ideas for poems, yet she is charging people money for them. Gabbie, please take poetry classes. Do the work. Earn the respect of poetry lovers beyond your immediate fan base.

[H.R. Lock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stop hating on this book! It hasn't even been released yet! What has this world come to?! Honestly.

[Kirryn · Rating 1 out of 5]

There's this...thing...with the Instapoetry crowd. Before anyone starts on me: yes! I do think Instapoetry is legitimate poetry! Much the way William Topaz McGonagall's writings were also legitimate poetry. I hate both of them, but that's not the point.

But, you know, as awful as McGonagall's poetry is, I have to give him credit that I can't give to the Instapoetry set: he did not give two shites what anyone else thought of his writing. You can't say that about Instapoets. The amount of knickers I have seen gotten into twists about people not "understanding" this sort of poetry (read as: not enjoying) and thus being dreadful people has been...I mean, mostly annoying (anyone recall Lang Leav's passive aggressive "I make more money than you so therefore your opinion on my poetry is void teehee" Tumblr post?), but also mildly amusing. And credit where credit's due: Gabbie "I AM The Victim" Hanna has taken this apparently required facet of being an Instapoet (because come on, we all know she is) to all new heights. I would be impressed if I wasn't so disgusted by the way she has gone after wholly well-meaning, fair critics who have taken the time out of their lives by giving her honest and helpful critique when they could be doing something entirely more useful, for all the good it did.

Yes, Hanna writes about heavy subjects -- sometimes. (Mostly she writes about herself and how awful and dreadful and difficult her life and everyone in it is.) Excuse my Klatchian, but that. doesn't. mean. shit. Tough themes are not a bloody get-out-of-jail-free card in poetry. (Again, back to McGonagall: "The Tay Bridge Disaster" honors the 75 lives lost in the incident the poem gets it title from. Horrible sad subject, yes, but the poem is just dreadful.) Her imagery is still shallow and weak, she shows no knowledge of form or rhythm, and she has no interest in improving (because she obviously thinks she's perfect). I can only assume that this shows how little she values poetry on the whole. I mean, what else am I supposed to think?

Mature, dedicated writers crave deep and dedicated critique. As a writer, I think I would go absolutely mad without someone willing to tear into my poetry and tell me where the weaknesses are and what the strengths are, what I might be overlooking, what could be added. Does a writer have to change everything their critics say should be different? No! You use what you think could work and muse on what you think doesn't, ask yourself why you think it would or wouldn't work, so on, so forth. If you value your work, be brave and honest enough to tear it apart. It is really, really hard to do this by yourself, and that's why critique is pure gold to any writer!

And Gabbie, should you read this: critique is N O T bullying. Misrepresenting a video of constructive criticism from someone who openly displays knowledge about and a deep love for poetry as a "hate campaign" and calling said reviewer misogynistic slurs, however, certainly is. Not everybody is going to find you a poetic genius or deep or magical or whatever other smoke your publishers have been blowing up your backside (and yes, publishers will definitely lie to you -- they're in it to make money, very few care about the quality of what's being published. "Published" is not a synonym for "good", it's a synonym for "marketable"). Either your poetry is legitimate literature, and thus can be critiqued (not just by people you approve of/will kiss your backside, either), or it's beyond criticism, in which it's not poetry any more, it's just a glorified Twitter rant in book form. If you can't take the heat, spare us all your wastes of trees. Literally nobody is required to pad their critique in cotton wool just because your fragile ego cannot handle any criticism at all.

The nastier part of me wants to tell people who act this way to simply put their pens down, but that wouldn't help anything. So instead: try to become a better poet. As let down by her work and as disgusted by her behaviour as I am, even Gabbie can still do this. Whether she will or not is up to her.

(I won't hold my breath.)

[Dusty Kirkland · Rating 5 out of 5]

I definitely loved and related to this book more that Adultolescence. It’s the same poetry style as the first book (so if you didn’t like that one then you probably wouldn’t like this one either). The poems seem very simple, but the more you think about some of them the deeper they can get. I was able to relate to a lot of these. I will definitely be rereading. I am also really glad I got the target edition.

[Allie Berry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I had this when I was in highschool. I can see my teenage self in a lot of the poems. I can see my current self in a lot of them too. I like that it's easy to read, interesting to look at, and relatable.

[☽ Nanna Brochdorff ✧ · Rating 1 out of 5]

There’s relatability in this and the poems have improved slightly, in my opinion, since the last one: “Adultolescence”. However, I still don’t find these types of “poems” to even be poetry, and Gabbie Hanna certainly doesn’t manage to convince me that they are. That being said, the “poems” that were longer than 1-5 lines were much better than the shorter ones.
Most of these “poems” just fall victim to the same old thing that happens every time I read these sorts of books: they come off like tweets. Tweets, tumblr posts, a Facebook update from 2010, whatever sounds depressing and appeals to the emo kids. I think it’s wonderful that the author is able to vent and get stuff off her chest, but monetizing that is maybe not the way to go? If you put a book out there, it really needs to give people something amazing, but a short sentence that might as well have been found on Twitter is not really worth paying for, in my opinion.
Overall, I’m just not a fan of the genre nor this particular book (I’m not giving a low rating because of the author at all, I normally rate newer poetry collections very low).

[Janelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received this book as a gift by accident (they ordered the wrong “Dandelion”) never heard of Gabbie Hanna before in my life, decided to give it a try. This was painful to read. If this poetry came from, say, a young teenager, I would probably be impressed. It would at least make more sense. But this is apparently coming from a full grown adult brain? Honestly it makes me sad. So many brilliant writers out there with beautiful and vulnerable things to say and yet we’re giving book deals to this drivel because of YouTube clout, I guess? Anyway, don’t waste your time.

[nat🐇 · Rating 1 out of 5]

i’m not sure why no one is mentioning this but
TW for blatant mentions of : anorexia, sexual assault, suicide, depression

1.5

more than she needs about 100 writing classes, gabbie needs a new therapist because obviously the one she has now isn’t really doing their job

[mikey · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNFed at 25%. I have no will to get through this book, I tried but Gabbie Hanna just isn’t a poet.

[Oscar Wilford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing !!!

[Tahni · Rating 1 out of 5]

I work at a bookstore and sometimes they leave the books that don’t sell in the basement for employees to take home. there’s a reason this didn’t sell, that’s all I gotta say

[Kiera · Rating 2 out of 5]

*2.5 stars

It had a really slow start but there were better poems and bits towards the end. But like AFTER the middle type end.

[Gohnar23 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Books read & reviewed: 3️⃣8️⃣🥖4️⃣0️⃣0️⃣


╔⏤⏤⏤╝❀╚⏤⏤⏤╗


3️⃣🌟, stilla mid but more comedic
——————————————————————
➕➖0️⃣1️⃣2️⃣3️⃣4️⃣5️⃣6️⃣7️⃣8️⃣9️⃣🔟✖️➗


Tumblr entries whom exude a genuinely relaxed vibe.




✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*Pre-Read✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

Tumblr posts and actually chill

[Ditte · Rating 1 out of 5]

some of this is just blatant plagiarism. the rest is a waste of trees. greta would be disappointed

[Virginiadare · Rating 1 out of 5]

I believe if you liked her other book you will enjoy this one, I, however, do not share the sentiment. I wanted to see growth from her writing however it remained pretty much the same (very 2013 tumblr post-esc), with few minor exceptions (being a slight effort in the form). The rhythm is off, it's wrong and boring and that makes the poems hard to read. Sometimes you think she is going to give a poem a steady beat but suddenly it falls flat (not only in the rhythm but also in creativity). The lack of rhythm really shows how each poem has nothing important enough to emphasize. Her repetition is somehow too much and lacking.
Some poems have better form and structure that makes me believe she has improved (ex. sever), the only problem is the point that is being expressed is extremely boring and uncreative. It seems as though you can never get both form and quality from her; looks as if she must sacrifice form for creativity or vice versa. What's worse about this is most of the time her poems fail in both aspects and never succeeded.
that said, I truly hope she grows.

[Pastel · Rating 5 out of 5]

can’t wait to read!

[Jenn Summitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all, I (at 52) have watched Gabbie on YouTube with my son, since she started 6 years ago. She has definitely grown both as a person and an entertainer. During the years of watching her videos and find Gabbie to be very down to earth person; honest and caring. Love her music, too! Now, about her books...Enjoyed “Adultolescence” a lot and “Dandelion” is another winner! Bravo Gabbie! Love your words, thoughts and drawings! Keep up the great work.

[Faviola · Rating 1 out of 5]

In the first page she talks about how her grandmother kept her first poem from 2004, okay she's basically gone downhill since then. I went into this not knowing anything about the writer. There was some so-so stuff, but overall it was not good. Plus she writes mostly short poems and then does 10 short stories??? It just doesn't mess well.

[Amanda Richards · Rating 1 out of 5]

Had this sitting on the shelf for awhile and decided to read it after the recent internet drama.

It was ✨awful✨. It read the same as the stuff I wrote for a quick completion grade in my HS creative writing class.

Additionally, I will not continue supporting a writer/creator that feels it’s appropriate to attack competent book reviewers for clout. There was name calling the author thought it was ok to send her millions of Insta followers over to the reviewers page which ended in the reviewer’s account being suspended.

Don’t buy this book if you’re a fan of poetry or don’t like supporting trolls and bullies.

I will not be throwing it away as that is wasteful. Instead I will use it as kindling for future bonfires 🔥.

[Makenzie Herrera · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best way to enjoy is to not have expectations. It is not a grand display of deep poetry, it is a collection of art pieces with individual humor and hurt and experiences that can be shared.

[Emily Hewson · Rating 1 out of 5]

a compilation of shitty millennial "fake deep" one liners. to call this book "poetry" would be offensive to actual poets and to the art of poetry itself.